Curriculum

The Residential Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program requires 40 semester hours of prerequisites for admission and 100 semester hours (three years) of professional courses after entry into the program.

Admissions Requirements

Application Deadline: November 1

To be considered for admission to the Residential Doctor of Physical Therapy program, applicants must present official documentation of the following student competencies:

Application Process

1. Complete and submit your PTCAS application. Note: Your application will be considered incomplete if there is missing information, including GRE scores, and/or documentation by the published deadlines, and will not be processed due to the volume of applications received.
2. Complete and submit your supplemental application once UTMB Enrollment Services receives and processes your PTCAS application. Applicants will also need to send payment. Once both are received, applicants will be given a UTMB ID number for access to MyStar.
3. The UTMB Department of Physical Therapy will notify all applicants via email when their applications have been received and when the admissions decision has been made. Please allow several weeks for processing.
4. The top 150 candidates will be invited for an interview. Interviews will be held throughout the fall and final acceptance letters will be sent out early next year.
5. UTMB has a rolling admissions process; therefore, your application is open until you hear from us with a final decision. If you do not hear from us by December 1, please contact us 409-772-3068 or email utmbdptp@utmb.edu to inquire about the status of your application.
6. Once accepted, all selected students will be required to undergo a background check for security clearance in order to matriculate at UTMB and other off-campus clinical training facilities.
7. Admissions decisions are final; unsuccessful applicants may contact the Admissions chairperson for advice on how to strengthen their application and reapply in subsequent cycles/years. Requests for review will be assessed between April-June of each year. Email us at utmbdptp@utmb.edu.
8. Admissions decisions are based on a folder review and interview score. This holistic review allows the top 54 scoring applicants to be accepted into the program following the total sum of folder review from PTCAS and interview score as a holistic process.
9. The department admissions committee is comprised of 8 PT faculty members who are charged with selecting each incoming class based on folder review. Core faculty and associated faculty perform interviews on interview day.
10. All applicant communications with admissions staff may be considered as part of the application review, including email correspondence and phone calls.

COVID-19 Updates for New Applicants

PTCAS Application Submission Deadline

The admissions process above remains the same. PTCAS access will open on June 17, 2020. You will be allowed to access the application and begin inputting data.

On July 1, 2020, the application will open for submission and you may begin submitting on this date.

Deadline: November 1, 2020. We will review your application in the order in which it is received and verified.

Prerequisites

With undergraduate programs changing grading scales to Pass/Fail (P/F) or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (S/U), we will accept P/F or S/U grading for any 2020 coursework.

For all prerequisites, we are requiring a Pass or Satisfactory scoring. If you scored fail or unsatisfactory, credit will not be awarded for that prerequisite course.

We are accepting Pass or Satisfactory for up to 8 credit hours of prerequisite coursework in BIO, CHEM, PHYSICS, and PHYSIOLOGY.

We are accepting Pass or Satisfactory for all remaining prerequisite coursework in MATH, STATS, DEV PSYCH, and PSYCH.

Lab Coursework Prerequisite

With undergraduate programs transitioning to online coursework for Spring and Summer 2020 courses, we are waiving the in-person lab coursework requirement for science prerequisites. You may complete science prerequisites online in Spring and Summer 2020 only, with a cap of 8 credit hours on a P/F or S/U scale, no cap of online coursework for Residential grading scale for Spring and Summer 2020 only.

Additional Application Question

PTCAS will add an additional question to the application for the upcoming cycle. The new optional question is intended to allow applicants to share with designated programs how the COVID-19 pandemic has specifically impacted their journey toward a DPT education, either personally or educationally. We ask that if you feel you have been affected educationally, personally, or professionally, that you complete this optional additional question.

GRE

With test facilities closing in parts of the country and scheduled test dates being canceled or postponed, we have allowed for a deadline of October 1, 2020 as the last acceptable test date for this cycle. Additionally, we will accept the new at-home GRE testing being offered by ETS in place of in-person exams for this cycle only. More information on the home GRE testing is available on the ETS website.

PT Observation Hours

We are extending the deadline for completion of 80 hours as applicants may have difficulty obtaining or completing shadowing experiences as facilities adjust to providing care during this public health pandemic. Instead of 80 hours due at the time of submission of the application, we are extending the deadline to May 2021, when all degrees and prerequisite work is due. If you are accepted, we will be monitoring for completion of 80 hours and your acceptance to the program is contingent upon successful completion. We encourage you however to attempt to have as many hours completed at the time of application, as possible.