Healthcare
Physician Assistant
PAs do much of what doctors do — examine, diagnose, prescribe — with a shorter training path. It's consistently rated among the best-paying, most secure healthcare careers.
Median salary (BLS)
$130,000
10th–90th percentile (BLS)
$95k – $170k
Job outlook
+27% (much faster than average)
AI exposure
Early-career check: graduates of the matching programs below typically earn $93,000 ten years after starting college — an early-career figure, vs. the all-experience BLS median above. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard.
Plan a path to Physician Assistant
Education
Typical entry: Master's degree
Master's from an accredited PA program plus certification.
Plan my path to this →Typical progression
Junior Physician Assistant
Entry / Junior
$95,000
~2 yrs to advance
Physician Assistant
Established
$130,000
~3 yrs to advance
Senior Physician Assistant
Senior
$150,000
Key skills
A typical day
- •Examine and diagnose patients
- •Prescribe treatment
- •Assist in procedures
Fields of study
Biology · Health Sciences · Pre-Med
Top colleges for Healthcare
Explore all- Johns Hopkins University7% admit · $93,000 grad pay
- Harvard University4% admit · $119,000 grad pay
- University of Michigan18% admit · $87,000 grad pay
- Duke University6% admit · $105,000 grad pay
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill19% admit · $73,000 grad pay
Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.
Related careers
Other careers from this field of study
Mapped by field-of-study code (Biology, Health Sciences, Pre-Med), not by job-title guessing.