Student Demographics
The PA Studies student cohorts are composed of students of diverse ages, ethnic, geographic, and experiential backgrounds.
Age
Students apply to our Program from a variety of age ranges. The average age of the SHU PA Studies student is similar to the national average PA Student age, 25.6 years (PAEA 2019).
| Age | CO2019 | CO2020 | CO2021 | CO2022 | CO2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-24 | 13 | 9 | 19 | 21 | 25 |
| 25-30 | 19 | 24 | 21 | 18 | 14 |
| 30+ | 2 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| Average Age | 25.53 | 27.73 | 25.22 | 25.5 | 24.36 |
Gender
Nationally, PA students report gender as 75.5% female and 24.5% male (PAEA, 2019).
| Gender | CO2019 | CO2020 | CO2021 | CO2022 | CO2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 79% | 62% | 83% | 83% | 62% |
| Male | 21% | 38% | 17% | 17% | 14% |
Ethnicity
At Sacred Heart University, our cohorts have a significantly more diverse background than the national student population. Nationally, 81.5% of PA students listed their ethnicity as white (PAEA, 2024).
| Ethnicity | CO2019 | CO2020 | CO2021 | CO2022 | CO2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African American | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Asian | 10 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 7 |
| Asian Indian | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| White | 20 | 21 | 19 | 31 | 30 |
| Hispanic | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Two or More Races* | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 6 |
| Did Not Report | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
*The applicant option of “two or more races” was not an option until the CO2021 admissions cycle. This is applicant self-reported data, not the “official” SHU Colleague data.
Demographics
Demographic data is reported by applicants through the Centralized Application for Service for Physician Assistants and aggregated using the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS, 2020) reporting standards.
Our students come from all over the United States to study at Sacred Heart University.
| State | CO2019 | CO2020 | CO2021 | CO2022 | CO2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AK | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AZ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| CA | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| CO | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| CT | 8 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 19 |
| DC | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| FL | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| GA | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| GU | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| IL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| KY | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| LA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| MA | 5 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 10 |
| MD | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| ME | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| MI | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MN | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MO | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| NC | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NH | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| NJ | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| NV | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NY | 5 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 6 |
| OK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| OR | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| PA | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| RI | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TX | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| UT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| VA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| VT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WA | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| WI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| WV | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
References
- Collecting Race and Ethnicity Data from Students and Staff Using the New Categories. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2020, from NCES
- PA Education Association, By the Numbers: Student Report 6: Data from the 2022 Matriculating Student and End of Program Surveys, Washington, DC: PAEA; 2024. doi: 10.17538/ SR2022.0006