Academic & Career Center
Pre-Professional Guidelines

Pre-Physical Therapy

Currently there are approximately 150 accredited physical therapy programs offering degree through three routes: two year Master's, five year entry-level Master's or three year Doctorate. Admission into physical therapy schools is extremely competitive. Although admission requirements vary widely among schools, the following is one example of the admission requirements for one Master's level program:

3.5 grade point average
GRE 500+ Verbal 500+ Quantitative

• 12 semester hours of psychology (including Abnormal and Developmental)
• 3 semester hours math (algebra or higher)
• 3-4 semesters hours of statistics
• 8 semester hours of physics
• 8-14 hours of chemistry (including organic/biochemistry)
• 8 semester hours of biology
• 8 semester hours of human anatomy and physiology
• 3 semester hours of speech
• 6 semester hours of composition
• 3 semester hours of sociology
• 6-9 semester hours of social sciences
• 6-12 semester hours of humanities/fine arts
• 3 semester hours of computer education

Next to grade point average, the most important factors in determining admission to physical therapy programs are:

• Performance skills: problem solving, goal setting, interaction with people, etc.
• Student volunteer or internship experience in a variety of settings; outpatient, inpatient, sports medicine, rehab hospital, home health, skilled nursing
• Oral and written communication skills
• Student's ability to articulate why he or she is a good match with the profession
• Student has strong recommendations, especially from a physical therapist he or she has gotten to know well
• Student is knowledgeable of the profession; knows what physical therapists do; understands current trends and issues facing the profession; knows what physical therapists do; is familiar with physical therapy research and publications, etc.

Students should be encouraged to join and be active in the WVWC Pre-PT Club; involvement in the club provides information about current developments in the field, the opportunity to get to know other pre-pt students and exposure to early career and graduate school planning. The club frequently participates in volunteer physical therapy-related activities.

For additional help in advising pre-pt students contact the co-advisors of the WVWC Pre-PT Club - Jean Fruh (ext. 8002) , Kevin Boring at Davis Memorial Hospital (636-1548), or Kerri Myers at Davis Memorial Hospital (636-1548).

The American Physical Therapy Association is available on-line at http://www.apta.org or toll free at 1-800-999-APTA.