Admission

Qualified applicants will be contacted by Enrollment Management for review. Students can only matriculate into the 3+DPT program directly from high school. Highly selective admissions criteria will be used to invite students already accepted to Arcadia University to apply to the 3+DPT pathway. After a student has been accepted to Arcadia University, they will receive a notification if they are being invited to apply to the 3+DPT pathway. The profile of a typical invited student is as follows: a minimum 640 evidence-based reading and 650 mathematics on the SAT or a 28 or better ACT composite and rank in the top 10 percent of their high school class with As in AP level math and science courses. The student must have completed physics as part of their high school curriculum. Matriculated students will not be accepted into the 3+DPT program. (Note: Matriculated students can follow the 4+DPT pathway leading to assured admission in Arcadia’s DPT program for qualified students.)

At the end of the first year, students must have at least a 3.4 GPA in their major and overall to stay in the program. At the end of the second year, students must have at least a 3.4 GPA in their major and overall to stay in the program.

At the completion of their third year of undergraduate study, students will be evaluated to ensure that they meet the qualifications to begin graduate coursework. At this point the students must have met the following criteria:

At the start of their fourth year, students in the 3+DPT program begin their studies in the DPT program. Two undergraduate-level courses, BI475 and BI476 (Biomedical Foundations I and II), are taken in this fourth year and are only available to students in the 3+DPT program. These courses are equivalent to PT675 and 676 taken by the other DPT students.

By the Fall semester of their third year, students in the 3+DPT program must have completed, or made arrangements to complete, all application criteria for the assured admission program including observations in two clinical settings (one inpatient and one outpatient as defined by PTCAS). These observations are expected to be completed by November 1 of the year of application to the program. A letter of recommendation will be required from their academic advisor in Biology Department and, a currently practicing, licensed physical therapist. 

Students apply to the DPT program in the Fall semester of their third year through PTCAS (www.ptcas.org) by the November 1 deadline.

The GRE is required for admission to the DPT program. Students are strongly encouraged to take the exam after their first year of undergraduate study and no later than the summer preceding their third undergraduate year. Applicants are expected to meet the minimum required scores in all areas of the GRE: (1) individual Verbal ≥ 151 and Quantitative Reasoning ≥ 150, (2) Combined Verbal and Quantitative Reasoning ≥ 303, (3) Analytical Writing ≥ 4.NOTE: the GRE code for the DPT program is 7637.

A completed application is the application and all of the supporting documents (the three previously stipulated recommendations, GRE scores, and transcripts). Arcadia University students applying for assured admission must electronically submit their completed application by November 1. Applications are NOT reviewed until ALL materials are received by Arcadia. (This includes the PTCAS application, the required recommendations, and GRE scores.)

To meet the Assured Admission requirements, all of the criteria in the Arcadia University Undergraduate Catalog (by appropriate year of entry) must be met at the time of the application deadline; however, not all of the prerequisite courses need to be completed to apply or to be accepted. If accepted any remaining prerequisite courses need to be completed with a “C” or better in order to start the Physical Therapy program.

Upon acceptance into the program under the Assured Admission category, students will be required to pay a deposit in order to reserve a seat in the class. Scholarships are based on merit and any offer of scholarships or other assistance will be made known to the student along with the letter of acceptance to the DPT program.

Students whose credentials do not meet the requirements that assure them automatic admission to the DPT program will be decelerated to the traditional four-year Biology degree. They still may apply for assured admission to the DPT program, but they must meet the minimum requirements for assured admission at the time of application. 

To maintain the ongoing quality of the Physical Therapy program, the University reserves the right to limit the enrollment in all its offerings.

Essential functions are the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills necessary for a student to participate in the physical therapy program and become a physical therapist. View Essential Functions.