Doctorate in Physical Therapy Admissions Details

Become a doctor in Physical Therapy at The Ohio State University.

As a future physical therapy professional, you will be entering a challenging but rewarding career in health care that helps individuals recovering from injury or illness or prevents the loss of skills among those at risk. In order to achieve success as a physical therapy professional, you will need to be able to think and act independently, be decisive, make accurate diagnoses, and solve problems knowledgeably and creatively.

Admission Requirements

Please note the admission criteria for the 2023-2024 application cycle.

1. BACHELOR’S DEGREE:  A bachelor’s degree (B.S. or B.A.) from an accredited North American college or university or comparable degree from a recognized foreign college or university in any major.

2. PREREQUISITES:  Completion of the following prerequisite courses or acceptable approved equivalents with a grade of C or higher before the start of the program. Credit awarded through AP exams may be used toward direct equivalent prerequisites. The DPT program will accept Pass/Non-Pass for any courses taken from Spring 2020 to Summer 2021 only due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The prerequisites for Ohio State's DPT Program are:

  • General Biology I (lab required)
  • General Biology II (or an upper-level Biology course, such as Genetics, Microbiology, or Neuroscience)
  • General Chemistry I (lab required)
  • General Chemistry II (lab required)
  • General Physics I (lab required)
  • General Physics II (lab required)
  • Introductory Psychology
  • Human Growth and Development or Lifespan
  • Human or Vertebrate Anatomy (lab required)
  • Human Physiology
  • Exercise Physiology
  • Statistics or Research Design

If you have questions regarding prerequisites, please contact Graduate Program Office at HRSGraduateStudentServices@osumc.edu Please include with your email the institution(s) attended, course descriptions and transcripts, if possible.

Courses must be completed before the start of the program, but applications will still be accepted as long as courses are in progress or scheduled for a future semester.

3. GPA:  A minimum 3.0 overall cumulative GPA (on a 4.0 scale). The GPA will be computed using ALL grades earned from ALL undergraduate coursework from accredited institutions attended

4. GPA Consideration:

  • To better align with the revised Graduate School Handbook, Graduate and Professional Admissions will only consider the institutional GPA of the last degree earned when sending evaluations to the Graduate School for further review. 
  • Evaluations where the last degree earned was from an unaccredited institution or on a non-traditional grading scale will also be referred to The Graduate School. All other coursework is not considered when sending an evaluation to the Graduate School. 
  • GP Admissions will still perform complete evaluations with all grades and a cumulative GPA for all schools attended to best serve program needs. 
  • Note that this guideline is only for petitions/referrals and does not apply to fellowship consideration. 
5. GRE: The GRE is NOT REQUIRED for the 2023-2024 application cycle. If submitted, scores will be considered as part of a comprehensive review of academic performance. Applicants wishing to submit scores must send their scores to PTCAS using Ohio State's designated code: #7796

6. HOURS OF OBSERVATION:  At least 40 hours of observation under the direct supervision of a licensed physical therapist completed by the application deadline.

7. LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION:  Three (3) individuals who can supply personal/ professional evaluations

  • (1) Registered and practicing PT with whom the applicant spent the major portion of the required experience hours in Physical Therapy
  • (1) Professor or teacher in the applicant’s undergraduate course of study, or participated in extracurricular experiences with
  • (1) (a) Current or former employer, (b) supervisor in a non-clinical volunteer, research, or extracurricular experience, (c) a coach in a collegiate sports activity in which the applicant participated

The PT Division has composed a guidance document to assist recommenders with writing their letter of recommendation, should they have any questions about what to include: Guidelines for Writing a Letter of Evaluation

 

** If you've used up all of your available (4) letter allotments and still need to meet one of the criteria above, you can submit a document version of the evaluation and letter. The reference form can be found on the following page:  PTCAS Reference and Evaluation Form. Once completed, you can upload this additional document in the Program Documents Section of your OSU PTCAS application.

8. PERSONAL ESSAY: As part of the general PTCAS application, applicants must complete and submit a personal essay that responds to the following: “Every person has a story that has led them to a career. Since there are a variety of health professions that “help” others, please go beyond your initial interaction or experiences with physical therapy, and share the deeper story that has confirmed your decision to specifically pursue physical therapy as your career.”  Visit the PTCAS website and click on the "Applicant Help Center" for detailed instructions regarding your PTCAS application.

9. TOEFL (International Applicants ONLY):  For students whom English is not their primary language, a minimum Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 550 on the paper‐based, 213 on the computer‐based test or 79‐80 for the internet-based test will be required.