Colleges with 3+3, direct freshman entry, accelerated program for Physical Therapy?

Duquesne has a 6 year DPT program as far as I know. They might give merit of $10-$20k depending on stats.

Also look at St Francis University, in Loretta PA, they have a good reputation for PT.

The SUNY program has a direct entry 3+3 program with Suny upstate. You spend 3 years at one of the SUNY schools and 3 years at upstate. If you make honors or are instate it can be pretty affordable.

I would recommend you take a look at Northeastern; full disclosure im a student lol. Their 6 year degree includes 2 6 month coops during which you do not pay tuition. Also you are counted as an undergraduate for 5 years. This lets you get financial aid for longer(if that is a consideration for you.it changes the number a lot for me). Though it isnt great for electives if there is other stuff you want to do. We have maybe 6 electives or so? But that is a problem in most 3+3 programs. Cost of getting it done early. That year has to go somewhere.

University of Indianapolis or University of Evansville could be good direct entry choices but not sure if they meet the location requirements from Ohio.

@atlgal2016 I wouldnā€™t write off direct entry ā€œin case she changes her mindā€. It is MUCH easier to transfer out of PT to another major than to transfer in or get accepted to DPT programs. Actually really easy to transfer out. Friend of mine started out direct entry PT then she decided she wanted OT. The school let her do a transfer after first year from direct entry PT to the direct entry OT program. Nothing lost.

I have been investigating DPT programs and University of Delaware, Pittsburgh,Wash U, and Emory are at the top of the list with 98-100% of students passing the exam and a program of 2.5 (Delaware) - 3 year length. (After BA I assume) Delaware stats: 100% pass the exam and the retention rate is 98%! The information on employment is also quite good at all of these schools. Cost is lowest at the public universities of course> UDel and Pitt so we are considering these most highly. We are also looking at research opportunities and growth on campus. For instance, what facilities are there and how many opportunities for clinical practice, etcā€¦

Just a note regarding schools - for DPT, its all about getting in. Everyone must pass the same national exam. We looked at the schools passing rate, that was our main criteria. DS also looked at the philosophy and teaching methods of the schools as well as access to cadavers and varied internships but in the end, everyone must pass the same exam and one really wants a school who has high success rates. ā€œSpecialtiesā€ can be obtained thru internships following successful licensing.

DPTā€™s are in high demand, no one cares where my DS went to school, they want to know about his experiences since he went to school. As to where he went might get a blink of attention but in the end, he has the required license.

My best advise, keep the undergrad costs as low as possible because if your child does not get into a public DPT program the Privates are very expensive. Save the education dollars for graduate school.

Hi- just want to clarify for anyone interested that Scrantonā€™s program is NOT 3+3, at least according to their FAQ page. Iā€™m a recent Scranton grad, didnā€™t study PT but know people who are in the program now. Qualified high school applicants can get guaranteed seats to the DPT program, everyone else has to apply to the program their senior year of undergrad if they want to continue at Scranton. So itā€™s a 4+3 program. I will say that the program has become very popular in recent years and they just opened a new building for PT and OT, so their facilities are brand new.

http://www.scranton.edu/academics/pcps/physicaltherapy/programs/dpt/index-backup-faq.shtml

We visited the University of Evansville this summer. I really liked it.

They have both 3+3 and 4+3 options depending on the undergraduate major you pursue. Most 3+3 majors are exercise science. Most 4+3 are athletic training majors. Athletic training majors work with the schoolā€™s Division I athletic programs from freshman year on.

Something to considerā€¦Evansville is a direct admit DPT program as a freshman, so if you qualify, you are guaranteed admission into their PT program (which is a doctorate graduate level)as long as you have a minimum GPA. Other schools, you will still have to apply to the PT program, which may be very competitive.

Evansville also offers the option that whatever scholarship you received for your undergraduate degree applies to your PT years as well, which could be a huge financial savings.

Last draw for Evansville - their PT program is moving into a brand new state of the art facility in downtown Evansville (a city of about 130,000 people) that is associated with IUā€™s medical school and will also partner with the University of Southern Indianaā€™s Occupational Therapy program, so a very integrated community over three schools. Evansvilleā€™s facilities were already very nice, but now they will be first class.

It is ridiculously competitive to get into grad school. They need to open more programs. I know a girl who just started PT school this year. She is a hardworking, successful student with lots of volunteer time in the field. She got into only 2 PT programs, and was thrilled. Many of her well qualified friends didnā€™t get into any, and are taking a year off to work and apply again. If your child can get a guaranteed seat in a grad program, you might want to grab it.

My daughter is a high school senior pursuing programs with the accelerated BS/DPT programs. She has been accepted at Quinnipiac with Merit and if certain gpa is maintained, they give money for the grad school portion.

Additional programs we have looked at include Arcadia, Gannon, U of Evansville, Bradley U, Gannon, Slippery Rock, Ithaca College, Duquesne, Northeastern, St. Louis U, Maryville Univ of St. Louis, Springfield College, Marquette, Daemon. There are more but these are the ones we were checking into.

You can look status APTA website and they have a directory of schools - sort by direct/freshmen entry programs.

accepted? Is your D an athlete?

Hi,

My daughter just changed her focus to PT. Iā€™d appreciate any direction you can give me in what schools are good for PT, including 3+3 schools. Thank you.

@JenPetraitis

Read this whole thread. It had a LOT of school suggestions for PT.

If your daughter is already in undergrad school and is looking for PT grad programs, you might want to start your own thread.

Clarkson University in upstate NY, if you can deal with winter, has a Freshman direct admit DPT program. Smaller university geared towards engineering. Private university, but the package we got was in the range of our public state university in OH. I believe on the APTA site was where I found the ability to filter on colleges that offer direct admit at the freshman level. There are only about 34 colleges in the entire US that have direct admit per the site. This is the way we are going b/c of how difficult it can be to get accepted into a DPT program once you have your 4 year degree. Doing the math for all the persons seeking to get into programs not direct admit, chances of getting in your first choices are around 10% or so depending on grades and other factors. Many of the schools with non direct admit as said on this board are highly competitive. Average is 300 applicants for 30-40 seats for the programs we contacted. We visited many schools, Duquesne, Scranton, Ithaca and others and liked Clarkson. Our situation is more likely unique. Our daughter hopes to ski on the Clarkson U alpine ski team. The only thing I would caution is to validate the degree you get if you do an accelerated program. Make sure your student wants to be a PT or in that field. Could be costly to change if you are halfway through an accelerated program and change your mind. Also validate tuition at the grad/doctorate level does it change or stay the same. Finally, We encouraged our child to do volunteer work at the local hospital (Cleveland Clinic) in the PT department to be sure she likes the field. Best of luck in seeking out the best program that suits.

Hey, i am in the same position as the person asking the question. If i could contact you for any helpful information about attending a college similar to the one your daughter is attending, that would be great.
Thanks, Kyle

Hi, my daughter is trying to choose between Marquette and SLU PT program, is your daughter happy with Marquette?

St Francis University in Loretta PA

I wonder ehy it is that it is that lower ranked schools seem to be the ones offering the freshman guaranteed seat admission and/or 3+3, while higher ranked programs do not. Iā€™m sure thereā€™s outliers, but this seems to be the case. Makes it a tough choice, guaranteed seat/3+3 or higher ranked / better known school.

@jnkam24

These are direct admit DPT programs. Reallyā€¦rankings donā€™t matter as long as the school is accredited. When the kid finishesā€¦they will have a DPT regardless of the ranking of the school.

I work in an allied health profession. The licensing, and experience the person brings to the interview is far more important than the school from which they graduate.

These accredited DPT programs have the same required courses, and number of externshipsā€¦regardless of their ranking.

@carolinamom2boys can you add to this?

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Just wondering because my sister got into the direct admit at both U of Scranton and U of Hartford. Scranton is pretty nice ranking aside but cost prohibitive, its her most expensive school. She was disappointed about that. Hartford is doable but she applied because my mom wanted her to and she wants nothing to do with it, mostly based on reputation of the school, not the program itself. She was rejected from the Muhlenberg/Jefferson 3+3 (accepted academically to Muhlenberg, but rejected by Jefferson for the accelerated program) She will probably be choosing Ohio State Health Sciences pre-PT major, but how risky is that not to do a guaranteed seat program?