Accreditation
The Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant, Inc. (ARC-PA) has granted Accreditation-Continued status to the Shenandoah University Physician Assistant Program sponsored by Shenandoah University. Accreditation-Continued is an accreditation status granted when a currently accredited program is in compliance with the ARC-PA Standards.
Accreditation remains in effect until the program closes or withdraws from the accreditation process or until accreditation is withdrawn for failure to comply with the Standards. The approximate date for the next validation review of the program by the ARC-PA will be March 2035. The review date is contingent upon continued compliance with the Accreditation Standards and ARC-PA policy.
The program’s accreditation history can be viewed on the ARC-PA website at https://www.arc-pa.org/accreditation-history-shenandoah-university/.
| State | Sponsoring Institution for Accredited Program | Current Accreditation Status | Accreditation Actions History | Date First Accredited | Next ARC-PA Review |
| VA | Shenandoah University | Continued, D | View | 8/1/2001 | March 2035 |
Goals
- Maintain First Time Pass Rate on PANCE above the national average.
- Seventy-five percent of graduates will have permanent employment within 12 months of graduation.
- The percentage of new graduates who practice in primary care will be above the national average.
Physician Assistant National Certifying Exam (PANCE)
The SUPA Program is proud of its students’ performance on the PANCE. While candidates are encouraged to compare first-time taker pass rates between programs, there are many factors beyond the graduate’s program of study that may impact certification examination performance and pass rates. The factors include size of the PA Program, commitment to enrolling candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds, and personal factors related to the graduate at the time of testing.
The table below represents the performance of SUPA graduates for the past five years. As of March 2025, the SUPA Program has graduated 805 students who have taken the national certifying examination.
The Program’s overall pass rate for all years is 96% for first-time takers. Note: Our students graduate in December each year and the majority take the PANCE in the following calendar year.
NCCPA 5-Year Exam Performance Summary Report (PDF)
|
Class |
Graduation |
Number of |
SUPA |
National |
| 2020 | 2020 | 55 | 91% | 95% |
| 2021 | 2021 | 62 | 90% | 93% |
| 2022 | 2022 | 56 | 93% | 92% |
| 2023 | 2023 | 56 | 96% | 92% |
| 2024 | 2024 | 50 | 92% | 92% |
Goals (#2 & #3)
| Class Year | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
| Graduates | 51 | 55 | 62 | 56 | 52 |
| Graduates Employed |
75.86% |
72.73% |
100%(n=9/9) |
100%(n=14/14) |
97.5%(n=39/40) |
|
Graduates Employed |
27.59% |
9.09% |
33.3%(n=3/9) |
50%(n=7/14) |
15%(n=6/40) |
|
Nat’l Average (%)(based on most recent PAEA Student Report) |
25% |
24.3% |
19.8% |
11.9% |
13.1% |
**For class years through 2022, survey data represents 4-6 months after graduation. For the class years 2023 and on, survey data will represent 12 months after graduation.
SUPA data includes the Loudoun location since 2018.
Student Attrition
| Graduated Classes | |||
| Class of 2022 | Class of 2023 | Class of 2024 | |
|
Maximum entering class size (as approved by ARC-PA) |
60 | 60 | 60 |
| Entering Class | 61 | 61 | 61 |
| Graduates | 56 | 56 | 52 |
| *Attrition rate | 8.1% | 8.1% | 14.8% |
| **Graduation rate | 91.8% | 91.8% | 85.2% |
*Attrition rate calculation: Number of students who attritted from cohort (due to dismissal,
withdrawal, deceleration or leave of absence) divided by the entering class size.
**Graduation rate: Number of cohort graduates divided by the entering class size.