The Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) is the preferred degree by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) and the American Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) and it reflects the current level of study that is required to meet the latest standards for physical therapy education.

Admission Requirements

Admission is through competitive applications submitted through the PT Central Application Service (PTCAS) and requirements include an earned bachelor’s degree, satisfactory completion of pre-requisite courses and Graduate Record Examination (GRE), acceptance to A-State Graduate School.

No specific field of study is required for the bachelor’s degree. Students are encouraged to select undergraduate majors consistent with their individual abilities and interests; however, the required prerequisite courses must be completed before entering the DPT program. Depending upon their selected major, students may have to complete more credit hours than the minimum required for graduation. Applicants must have an overall GPA score of 3.0 or higher to apply. The overall GPA includes concurrent high school, undergraduate and graduate credits.

Completing admission requirements does not ensure acceptance into the DPT program as students are admitted on a competitive space-available basis. Prior to admissions, students must verify they meet the Technical Skills and Ability for the program and successfully pass background checks.

Applicants must complete all pre-requisite courses with a letter grade of B or higher for the DPT program. Pre-requisite courses include:

• Medical Terminology (1 to 3 credits - Must be taken from an accredited college or university)
• Statistics (3 credits)
• General Physics I (4 credits - Must include lab)
• General Physics II (4 credits - Must include lab)
• Anatomy & Physiology I (4 credits - Must include lab)
• Anatomy & Physiology II (4 credits - Must include lab)

Application Process

Arkansas State University’s DPT program subscribes to the Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service (PTCAS). Applicants for admission to the A-State DPT program MUST apply online 1) using the PTCAS application, and 2) to the A-State Graduate School. Transcripts must be sent to both PTCAS and the A-State Graduate School.

To learn more about the PTCAS application process and to get started, please go to the https://portal.ptcas.org/. Information about the A-State Graduate School application is included as “supplemental material” on the PTCAS website. If you encounter difficulty with PTCAS, please contact their Customer Service at 617-612-2040 or ptcasinfo@ptcas.org.

Once a student submits an application through PTCAS, the transcript information is verified by PTCAS. This process takes time and depends both on the efficiency of PTCAS and the speed with which schools respond to the inquiries from PTCAS. A-State will accept completed, verified applications from PTCAS until February 1st.

If PTCAS has not completed the verification process by February 1st, the application will not be considered, even if it was submitted by the February 1st deadline. Therefore, applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications well before the deadline to ensure that the verification process will be completed by the deadline.

Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

The DPT program requires the GRE scores for admissions. Students must send GRE Scores to PTCAS (CODE #4108) and A-State Graduate School (Code #6011).

Spanish Proficiency

Spanish proficiency is not required for admissions. However, individuals with Spanish proficiency can earn up to 5 points based on Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in the admissions scoring process. Students will submit OPI results to the A-State Graduate School and through PTCAS. Students may get additional information on OPI using the following link: https://www.languagetesting.com/ltiapi/index/ products/.

The Department of Physical Therapy will begin reviewing applications after February 1st.

Application Deadlines

The application deadline is February 1st each year. Students may acquire detailed information about the application process and pre-requisite courses by contacting the Department of Physical Therapy at 870-972-3591 or visiting the department’s website at http://www.astate.edu/conhp/pt.

Our program uses a rolling admissions process from August until January 31st. Admission is awarded for applicants who score > 80 using the admissions scoring criteria listed on the program’s website (https://www.astate.edu/college/conhp/degrees/degree-details.dot?mid=e3ca7087-e029-48ec-8e76-bf031e71f16b).

The D.P.T. Degree and Physical Therapy Licensure

The D.P.T. is the entry-level degree for the practice of physical therapy. The curriculum associated with the degree prepares graduates for physical therapy practice while paying particular to the health and rehabilitation concerns of residents of the Delta region. Licensure to practice physical therapy is granted by the individual states and issued on scores obtained on the National Licensing Examination administered by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy. Graduation from an accredited educational program is a prerequisite to sit for the licensing exam. The DPT program at AState is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education.

Course Requirements

The DPT consists of 106 semester credit. The courses are a mixture of didactic and clinical learning experiences including several sections of extended weeks of full time clinical education. The sequence of courses appears below.

Additional Requirements

All students in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy at A-State must pass a comprehensive examination in the Fall of Year 3 prior to graduation.