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Early Assurance Pathway Application Requirements

The Office Of Admissions Works With First-Year Applicants Who Have Qualified To Be Considered For The Early Assurance Pathway To The SU Graduate Health Professions.

Please contact your Admissions Counselor or the Office of Admissions with any questions you may have about pathways to our graduate health professions. 

The Early Assurance (EA) Pathway, our most competitive option, is available to incoming first-year undergraduate applicants who meet rigorous high school GPA and grade requirements. This pathway guarantees an admission interview with a Shenandoah graduate program as long as undergraduate criteria are maintained at Shenandoah.

The graduate schools reserve placements within their programs for all EA students who meet the program requirements and pass the graduate school interview. For most programs, this is an accelerated pathway that structures a student’s transition into the graduate program by overlapping the first year of graduate school with the fourth year of undergraduate study.

Students Eligible: Incoming First-Year Undergraduate Applicants Only. Transfer students are not eligible for the EA Pathway but are eligible for the Articulated Pathway and Traditional Pathway.

Students who do not qualify for the EA Pathway can pursue the Articulation Agreement Pathway or the Traditional Pathway.

Early Assurance Pathway Programs at Shenandoah
Process for Consideration for the Early Assurance Pathway
  1. An incoming first-year applicant submits a first-year application for admission to Shenandoah.
  2. The Office of Admissions reviews the applicant’s eligibility for each program based on GPA, courses taken and grades received.

If a student qualifies to be considered for the Early Assurance Pathway, they will be notified via email how to:

  • Upload/submit the required observation hours.
  • Register for the required shadow/interview day with the graduate program on select dates listed below.

COVID-19 Impacts: Each applicant to an Early Assurance program will have an opportunity to explain barriers to achieving the requirements due to COVID-19, on a case-by-case basis, as part of the application to be reviewed for admission. 

Students are strongly encouraged to apply and submit their application materials prior to completing any supplemental requirements.

The Final Firm Deadline for ALL Early Assurance application materials is February 18, 2025.

Please note: Interviews are not available to Pre-Physician Assistant applicants on November 1. If you are a Pre-PA applicant, please select another interview date.

Application materials DEADLINE:

*Interview Registration & Supplemental Materials
must be submitted within the next week

Accompanying On-Campus or
Virtual Interview Date
Tuesday, October 22, 2024 Friday, November 1, 2024
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 Friday, December 6, 2024
Tuesday, January 7, 2025 Friday, January 17, 2025 (virtual)
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 Friday, February 14, 2025
Tuesday, February 18, 2025 Friday, February 28, 2025

After successful completion and submission of all required supplemental materials, and graduate faculty consideration, applicants may be offered a reserved seat into the graduate program via the EA Pathway.

Undergraduate Academic Criteria

The criteria each student must maintain during their undergraduate years of study for each EA Pathway are provided to the student in the form of an EA contract. If a student fails to maintain the criteria for their EA Pathway during their undergraduate studies, they are removed from the EA Pathway and they are eligible for the Articulation Agreement Pathway or the Traditional Pathway.