Kettering College Acceptance Rate, GPA, and Admission Requirements

Kettering College offers a Direct Admit Status (DAS) to its Master of Physician Assistant Studies program for exceptional high school applicants - a formal guarantee of a PA program interview if GPA requirements are maintained through undergraduate studies at Kettering. The DAS application requires an 800?1,000-word essay on your decision to become a PA, one recommendation from a science teacher, and completion of an in-person interview with the PA program director, medical director, and a faculty member (interviews typically occur in March and are strongly preferred in person on campus). To maintain DAS status through the undergraduate years, students must sustain a cumulative AND science GPA of 3.8 or higher in all Kettering coursework - evaluated at the end of every term. Students who fall below 3.8 receive a single term to recover; a second miss results in permanent loss of DAS. If the GPA is maintained, the student is guaranteed a MPAS interview and, if their GPA meets minimum criteria, is guaranteed an interview even after losing DAS. This is the most direct PA pipeline in the Dayton-Ohio region available to high school students.

Both the PA (MPAS) and OTD programs at Kettering College use a rolling admissions process from September 16 through mid-June, where offers are extended to qualified applicants in the order applications are completed and verified until all cohort seats are filled. Once capacity is reached, remaining applicants go on a deferred decision list. This means application timing - not just qualifications - determines admission outcomes. For the MPAS program through CASPA: CASPA verification takes several weeks after submission, so submit your application as early as August so it is verified and submitted to Kettering on or near September 16. Complete the CASPer/Altus Suite assessment separately and in advance - it is a required standalone component that cannot be rushed. For the OTD through OTCAS: applications open July 18 for Fall cohorts, and OTCAS verification also takes several weeks. Students who submit complete verified CASPA or OTCAS applications on the first day of the rolling window are competing for a full cohort of open seats. Students who submit in March are competing for whatever seats remain after six months of rolling offers.

Kettering College is physically located on the grounds of Kettering Health Main campus in Kettering, Ohio, and all clinical training for PA, nursing, respiratory care, radiologic sciences, and sonography students occurs within the Kettering Health Network - a 13-hospital faith-aligned regional system. Faculty who supervise clinicals are frequently active Kettering Health practitioners, and the preceptors evaluating your clinical performance are often the same professionals involved in departmental hiring decisions. The PA program specifically notes that clinical rotations occur within a nationally recognized hospital network and that this affiliation provides a direct pipeline to post-graduation employment. Students who consistently demonstrate initiative during rotations - asking preceptors about departmental staffing, career trajectories, and hiring processes - convert clinical relationships into employment offers at rates that the college's claimed 100% job placement rate reflects. Treat your clinical preceptor as a future hiring manager from day one of your first rotation, not a grader to satisfy.

The MPAS program at Kettering College requires completion of the Altus Suite/CASPer assessment as a mandatory, standalone component submitted separately from your CASPA application - it cannot be waived or substituted. CASPer is a situational judgment test presenting video and text scenarios involving ethical dilemmas, healthcare interactions, and teamwork conflicts. It is not a knowledge test; it cannot be crammed the night before, and reviewing anatomy or pharmacology will not help you perform better. What it evaluates is your instinctive reasoning about interpersonal and ethical situations under time pressure. Effective preparation includes familiarizing yourself with core healthcare ethics frameworks (beneficence, autonomy, non-maleficence, justice), practicing typed open-ended responses under timed conditions (each CASPer section allows approximately five minutes total), and understanding that there are no objectively correct answers - evaluators are looking for thoughtfulness, self-awareness, and consistency. Register for your CASPer sitting at least four to six weeks before your target CASPA submission date, as slots fill and score delivery takes time to process and attach to your application file.