Withdrawal and Deceleration Policies

Students who must interrupt the Program for reason of prolonged illness or compelling personal reasons must formally withdraw from the Physician Assistant (PA) program.  Requests for withdrawal must be submitted in writing to the faculty advisor, the Program Director, and the Registrar.

A withdrawal is considered to be official when a student notifies the Program Director.  Students should discuss this process with their faculty advisor prior to this action.  Students who do not officially withdraw will be considered enrolled in courses until an appropriate academic participation verification point.  If it is determined a student is no longer academically participating at the regular check points, the student will be officially withdrawn by the College.  Per South College policy, the withdrawal policy cannot be used to mitigate poor academic performance after week 7 of any quarter.  Because of the lock-step nature of the Program, students cannot withdraw from an individual course.

Deceleration is defined as the loss of a student from the entering cohort, who remains matriculated in the physician assistant program (ARC-PA Accreditation Manual for Standards, 5th edition, July 2021).  The program does not offer or permit deceleration or leave of absence during the didactic phase of the program.  A student may petition the Student Progress Committee for a brief leave of absence of no more than 3 months during the clinical year in rare circumstances.  If granted, this will result in a delayed graduation for the student.