8 Valuable Physical Therapy School Requirements To Get Into PT School

Deciding to apply to PT school is the easy part. Actually applying is the hard part. Applying to physical therapy school can be exciting, but it can also be overwhelming due to all of the physical therapy school requirements.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the essential physical therapy school requirements, including educational background, prerequisite coursework, clinical experience, and other key factors.

There are certain overarching requirements that a doctor of physical therapy program will have regardless of the school.

The admissions committee will require specific prerequisite courses, a bachelor’s degree, GPA requirement, GRE, letters of recommendation, observation hours and an interview. This post will clearly expand on each of the 8 most valuable physical therapy school requirements.

Take The Right Prerequisite Courses

• Planning out how you will take your prerequisite courses is very important for prospective students looking for a physical therapy education. Many prerequisite courses require you to take previous courses prior to being able to take them.
  • For example, many schools do not allow you to enroll in anatomy and physiology until you have taken biology I/II, chemistry I/II, and physics I/II.
  • If you don’t plan carefully you will run out of time to take these courses.
• Another important thing to remember for prerequisite courses is to take the correct ones.
  • For example NYU accepts zoology as a biology course, but Columbia University does not.
  • You do not want to waste your time taking a zoology course thinking it is going to fulfill your biology requirement.
  • It will be very frustrating to learn 6 months later that taking the course was a waste for the school that you are applying to.
• Now that you know which courses to take, you also must make sure that you are taking a required lab if it is necessary and your course has the same amount of credits as the list of prerequisites.

What Are The Prerequisites For Physical Therapy?

• 4 credits: Anatomy I with lab (Anatomy and physiology with respective labs will also fulfill requirement for anatomy and physiology 1)
  • Some schools don’t require a lab, but strongly prefer it.
  • I would highly suggest taking any courses that are preferred even if they are not required. Now is not the time to cut corners!

• 4 credits: Anatomy II with lab (Anatomy and physiology with respective labs will also fulfill requirement for anatomy and physiology 2)
• 4 credits: Physiology I with lab
  • Some schools don’t require a lab, but strongly prefer it.
• 4 credits: Physiology II with lab
• 4 credits: Biology I (Many schools require a specific type of biology course which does not include botany or zoology)
• 4 credits: Biology II
• 4 credits: General Chemistry I with lab
• 4 credits: General Chemistry II with lab
• 4 credits: General Physics I with lab
• 4 credits: General Physics II with lab

General Outline of Additional Prerequisite Courses

• 3 credits: Some type of psychology course: Some schools require you to take 2 or 3 courses in psychology
• 3 credits: Statistics
• 3 credits: Social/Behavioral courses: Some schools do not require any social or behavioral courses, however other schools such as Columbia University requires 5 courses. If you plan to apply to a school like this you need to make sure that you are accounting for it in your plan.

*** Please note that this is just a general list of the prerequisite requirements that most PT school’s require, however, each school requires different variations of these courses. For example, NYU requires one course in physical activity. They may be the only school that requires this so check each school prior to applying to make sure that your school does not have a prerequisite requirement unique to only that program.

Pass/ Fail

Pass/Fail: Historically schools did not accept pass/fail courses, however due to covid and the switch to more online learning they have made some suggestions to allow pass/fail depending on the school. It is still best to have a letter grade when possible.

What Is The Best Major For Physical Therapy?

• A common question for physical therapy school applicants is what is the best major? The truth is there technically is not a “right” major.
  • As much as everyone would love if there were a magic major that would guarantee admission, this sadly is not realistic.
  • What is true, however, is that some majors make it easier to apply to physical therapy school.
• For example all physical therapy schools have physical therapy school requirements or prerequisites.
  • These prerequisites are specific courses that you must take in order to even apply. Some science majors such as exercise science, kinesiology and pre-physical therapy already include many of these prerequisite courses in their curriculum.
  • By choosing one of these majors you could potentially save a a lot of time and money, however there are pros and cons to every major.
• I graduated college with a pre-physical therapy major.
  • Although I loved the classes I took, I did have worries about what my “backup plan” would be if I did not get into physical therapy school the first time.

Physical Therapy Related Major (Exercise Science, etc)

The pros of a physical therapy related major are you will take less classes overall since many courses in your major curriculum are prerequisite courses at physical therapy programs.

You will also inevitably meet more students who have similar goals and passions as you. Many of them will be going through the physical therapy school application process with you. This may be helpful for when you have questions about the physical therapy application process.

The cons of a physical therapy related major are that if for whatever reason you decide you don’t want to go to physical therapy school or you don’t get in, you have essentially pigeon holed yourself. People do it, but is is much more challenging to jump to a corporate job with an exercise science degree.

The pros of an unrelated major is that if you end up changing your mind on physical therapy school you have another option and can use your major to get a job in another field. You will also stand out in the PT school application process.

Interviewers will be interested in why you chose the major that you did. For example maybe you were psychology major and you love the psychology behind injuries and physical therapy. Be sure to have a good answer for why you chose your major.

The con of having an unrelated major is that you will spend more time taking additional courses. Some majors such as business or art may have very few if any overlapping courses with physical therapy school requirements.

PT School GPA Requirements

Prerequisite GPA is just as important, if not even more important than your overall GPA. The minimum prerequisite GPA is typically 3.0, however you should have a minimum GPA of at least a 3.2 or 3.3 and ideally 3.5 to increase your chances at securing your acceptance.

Physical Therapy School GPA Requirement

• Almost every single DPT program requires a minimum 3.0 overall GPA.
  • Although this is the minimum, it is very difficult to get into physical therapy school with a 3.0.
  • You should ideally have at least a 3.5.
  • I have seen students get in with a 3.2, but the rest of your application really needs to make up for the lower GPA in that case.
• Many schools also have an additional requirement of at least a 3.0 in the science prerequisite courses.
  • Most schools require that all prerequisite courses be taken within the last 10 years. This is something to note if you are applying to physical therapy school as a second or third career.

GRE (Graduate Record Examination)

• Although some schools have moved away from the GRE, I would still recommend taking it.
• Only applying to schools that don’t require the GPA is not a good idea.
• You want to have options and choose schools that will set you up to succeed.
• You are greatly limiting your options by only applying to schools that don’t require the GRE.
• Most schools only accept GRE scores within 5 years of your test date.
  • Every school has slightly different requirements, however, most schools that require the GRE require a mime score of at least scores to be in the 50th percentile or 150 in both quantitive and qualitative sections.
  • You can take the GRE as many times as you want and just send your highest score.
  • Some schools such as the University of Delaware even let you send your best scores from multiple tests.
• When you apply to PT programs you will need to submit your official gre scores.

Letters Of Recommendation

Most schools require a total of 3 letters of recommendation. Most schools require at least 1 from a physical therapist and one from a professor, preferably in the science field. Some schools require 2 PT’s and one professor, while others require 2 professors and 1 PT.

To be safe, I suggest having 4 letters of reference ready with 2 from physical therapists and 2 from professors.

Observation Hours

Every school has a different observation hours requirement. Observation hours physical therapy setting that you spent in a clinical setting observing a physical therapist. The average is usually 50-100 hours, however, the safe number of hours is at least 150 hours.

I would recommend having at least 3 settings even if it is only for 8-30 hours in each setting.

If a school has a minimum and a recommended observation hour requirement please do the higher recommended hours. Now is not the time to cut corners!

Observation hours are your way of proving that you have actually seen different settings and actually like PT. This will be your first experience prior to going to your own clinical experiences while in PT school.

Application

• Many schools participate in the PTCAS application which is a huge time saver. It is a centralized application in which you can apply to multiple schools from one place.
  • You will have to write an essay on the PTCAS website. All of the schools that you are applying to on PTCAS will see this essay so be sure to make it good and relevant to each school.
  • The point of this essay is to show the readers a part of your personality and why you have all of the great personality traits of a future PT.
• Not all schools use PTCAS so you may have to apply directly from their website.
• You may also have to either write an additional essay or change parts of your current essay to answer the question that the school is asking in their application.
• Please be aware that some schools that participate in the PTCAS application also require you to apply to their website as well.
• Pay attention to the application deadline and apply early!

Interview

Once your application is fully submitted you will hopefully get to the last step of the physical therapy school process which is the personal interview with a faculty member or even DPT students who have graduated.

The physical therapy school interview is the fun part of the admissions process! You can learn more about how to prepare for your interview by reviewing these 9 Important PT School Interview Questions You Need To Get Into PT School.

How Many Prerequisite Courses Should You Leave For After You Apply to Physical Therapy School?

It is important to take as many prerequisite courses as possible prior to applying to any graduate program, especially the science courses. The physical therapy schools want to evaluate you on these courses and if you have not taken them yet they will have no way of evaluating you.

It is ok if you have not taken all of them but you really should not leave more than 1 or 2 for your last semester. If you must leave more than that make sure it is a psychology or behavioral science course rather than anatomy and physiology.

Physical Therapy School Length

The typical physical therapy school length is 3 years to receive a doctorate of physical therapy for a total of 7 years of higher education (4 years of college + 3 years of PT school.) There are also some accelerate programs that will allow you to receive your doctorate in 2 to 2 and a half years.

Can You Be a Physical Therapist With a Bachelor’s Degree?

No, you cannot become a physical therapist with only a bachelor’s degree in the United States. You will need a bachelor’s degree in any major and a doctorate in physical therapy in order to become a physical therapist in the United States. In the past you were able to receive a master’s degree in physical therapy, however, all schools are now at a doctorate level.

Summary of Physical Therapy School Requirements

Now that you know the physical therapy school requirements needed to apply to physical therapy school it is time to go out and start applying!

Keep reminding yourself of why you want to be a physical therapist. Use that passion to check all of these requirements off your list and compete with the most competitive applicants.

Applying to physical therapy school is hard, but it will all be worth it in the end when you see that you have been accepted. For more tips, you can read my article on How To Get Into Physical Therapy School.