HELP Physical Therapy – DPT Print-Friendly Page

Physical therapists are health professionals who work with other members of the healthcare team to ensure optimal health and function in a wide range of people of all ages. Physical therapists provide interventions to facilitate the recovery process of people with physical and functional limitations or disability resulting from injury or disease. Examples of individualized interventions include therapeutic exercise, manual techniques, patient and family education, electrotherapy, and functional training. Physical therapists also provide prevention and wellness services, including screening and health promotion. These activities include conducting prenatal exercise classes, analyzing work settings and recommending changes to reduce work-related injury, developing exercise programs for people with chronic conditions such as spinal cord injury, and screening of community dwelling older adults for fall risk. Physical therapists interact with and practice in collaboration with a variety of professionals and engage in consultation, education, critical inquiry, and administration.

Statistics from the American Physical Therapy Association indicate that many physical therapists practice in acute care or subacute care hospitals, private physical therapy offices, community health centers, industrial health centers, sports facilities, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes, home health agencies, schools, or pediatric centers. Others work in research institutions or teach in colleges and universities.

The physical therapy program is an integrated undergraduate/professional graduate degree program leading to the bachelor of science and doctor of physical therapy (DPT). Admission to the physical therapy program as a freshman student and maintenance of an acceptable academic record during the first three years guarantees the student a place in the professional phase of the physical therapy curriculum.

Students entering in fall of 2008 and beyond will receive their BSHS after 4 years and their DPT after 6 years.

To maintain guaranteed admission into the physical therapy professional phase summer 2008–2010 of the DPT curriculum (years 4–6), students must achieve a minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.50 by the end of the fall semester of their third year.

Students entering the professional phase of the DPT program in summer 2011 and beyond must achieve a cumulative GPA of 3.00 by the end of the fall semester of their third year and maintain a 3.00 through the spring of the third year to maintain guaranteed admission into the PT professional phase.

Physical therapy students in the DPT program must achieve a grade of “C” (or “P” if taking pass/fail) in all courses with the prefix of PT (physical therapy) in the first professional year, however; in the second and third professional years, the student must achieve at least a “B-” to progress to any other courses for which the completed course is a prerequisite.

The guarantee of admission into the physical therapy professional phase of the curriculum will be revoked if any of the following occurs:

• A freshman student receives a grade of “D+” or lower in a course and the grade for that course when repeated is not replaced with a grade of “C-” or higher.
• A sophomore or junior student receives grade of “D+” or lower in a course, repeats that course, and the average of the original course grade and the repeat grade does not equal a “C-” average or higher.
• The student is actively on probation during the spring semester of the U3 year as a result of the findings of the Committee on Student Conduct. This includes situations where the Committee finds a student guilty of misconduct and/or infraction of the University regulations and takes one of the following disciplinary actions: disciplinary suspension, disciplinary expulsion, or disciplinary probation.

Applications are also accepted from undergraduate or graduate transfer students. The level in the curriculum to which transfer students are accepted will depend on the prerequisite courses they have completed. All conditions regarding guaranteed admission into the professional curriculum also apply to transfer students admitted into the first professional year.

Minimum Course Requirements for Transfer Students with a Baccalaureate Degree

The undergraduate curriculum for the first through third year for DPT students in the program of physical therapy provides the broad foundation of natural science, social science, and the humanities upon which the professional courses are structured. The professional component of the curriculum is designed to prepare physical therapy practitioners to apply scientific principles to prevent, identify, assess, correct, or alleviate acute or prolonged movement dysfunction. The physical therapy program recognizes the need to integrate theory and classroom instruction with clinical practice. The first professional year contains foundational clinical courses; in professional year two the program concentrates on the four systems of the body treated by physical therapists: musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiopulmonary, and integumentary; and in the last year of the professional curriculum, the courses represent a synthesis of classroom knowledge and clinical application. During the second and third professional years of the curriculum, students actively participate in a variety of clinical rotations that may include acute care, subacute care, orthopedics, sports medicine, pediatrics, rehabilitation, women’s health, industrial medicine, long-term care, or outpatient care. The clinical education program fosters and develops students’ transition into the physical therapy profession.

All students must pass the state-administered National Physical Therapy Examination to become licensed to practice physical therapy. The physical therapy program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education of the American Physical Therapy Association.

To qualify for the doctor of physical therapy, students must successfully complete all required courses. Passing the writing proficiency examination is a graduation requirement for students who entered in Catalog Year 2008 or earlier (see Catalog Year for Degree Requirements). Students who have failed the examination are urged to seek assistance from the Writing Center. Students who entered in Catalog Year 2006 or earlier must also pass the computer competency requirement.