California State University, Fresno

ANNOUNCEMENT – Applicants must e-submit the PTCAS application by December 10. Applicants must also submit their supplemental form and signed PT Hours forms directly to CSU-Fresno by no later than December 10. Applicants who fail to e-submit the PTCAS application and all required materials by 12/10/08 may not be considered for admission for the 2009 entering class.

PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION

Penny Lacy
Admissions Coordinator
California State University, Fresno
Department of Physical Therapy
2345 E San Ramon Ave
M/S MH 29
Fresno, California 93740
Phone: 559-278-5027
Phone (alternate number): 559-278-5791
Email: pennyl@csufresno.edu
Website: www.csufresno.edu/physicaltherapy

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Final PTCAS Application Deadline	Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Deadline Type	Firm Deadline
Program has rolling admissions process?	NO

Other deadlines (if any):

Additional Deadline Information: Interviews typically occur first part of February. Notification of acceptance for an interview will occur no less than 2 weeks prior to the interview date.

PROGRAM PREREQUISITES

Course Prerequisites

Must applicants earn a Bachelor's degree prior to enrolling into the PT program? YES
For more information about course prerequisites, visit the program Web site: www.csufresno.edu/physicaltherapy

Course prerequisite fields will be blank if program data is not available or applicable.

Course Prerequisite Name or Subject Area	Req, Rec, Crq*	SEM hrs	QTR hrs	Lab Required (Y/N)	Additional Program Information
Intro. Gen. Chem w/lab	REQ	4	-	YES	(Fresno State Chem 3A (4 units) or 1A (5 units))
Intro. Organic & Biochem	REQ	4	-	YES	(Fresno State Chem 3B (4 units) or 1B (5 units))
General Physics I w/lab	REQ	4	-	YES	(Fresno State Physics 2A)
General Physics II w/lab	REQ	4	-	YES	(Fresno State Physics 2B)
Human Physiology w/lab	REQ	5	-	YES	(Fresno State BIOL 65)
Elementary Statistics	REQ	3	-	NO	(Fresno State Health Science 92 or Math 11)
Intro. Psychology	REQ	3	-	NO	(Fresno State Psych 10)

* “Req” = required course; “Rec” = recommended course; “Crq” = conditionally required course

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

GRE: Required
Last acceptable GRE test date( if applicable): 10/31/2008
Oldest GRE score considered (if applicable): 2002

GRE table below may contain blank fields if program data is not available or applicable.

GRE Section	Minimum GRE Score	Average GRE Score for Accepted Students
Verbal	.	479
Verbal Percentile	.	.
Quantitative	.	622
Quantitative Percentile	.	622
Analytical	.	.
Analytical Percentile	.	.
Writing	.	4.45
Writing Percentile	.	.

Additional information about program’s GRE requirements:
Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores are required; exam to be taken no later than October 31, 2008. (Only GRE scores later than 2002 will be accepted). There is no minimum GRE requirement, however total scores of > 1000 are recommended.

References

Total number of references required by program: 3 References

REFERENCE TYPE	Reference Type Is Required, Recommended, Accepted, Conditionally Required, NOT Accepted, or Other
Teaching Assistant	Not Accepted
Supervisor	Not Accepted
PTA	Not Accepted
Professor (Science)	Required
Professor (Math)	Accepted
Professor (Liberal Arts)	Accepted
Pre-Health Advisor	Not Accepted
Politician	Not Accepted
Physical Therapist (1)	Not Accepted
Physical Therapist (2)	Accepted
Health Care Provider	Not Accepted
Friend	Not Accepted
Family Member	Not Accepted
Faculty Advisor	Accepted
Employer	Required
Co-Worker	Not Accepted
Clergy	Not Accepted
OTHER	N/A

Additional information about program’s reference requirements:
Three letters of recommendation; one each from a licensed physical therapist, an employer, and a non-physical therapy professor.

PT Observation Hours

Enter your PT observation hours on your PTCAS application. Login to the PTCAS application and print each customized PT Observation Hours form, if the program requires a physical therapist to verify your hours with a signature. Mail the signed form directly to the PT program, if required. Do not mail to PTCAS.

PT HOURS	PROGRAM REQUIREMENT
Description of Program’s PT Hours Requirement	PT hours are required - a licensed PT must verify hours with signed form
Total Number of Hours REQUIRED	100
Total Number of Hours RECOMMENDED	.
DEADLINE for Completion of All PT Hours	Novemeber 14, 2009
PAID Experience	Accepted
VOLUNTEER Experience	Accepted
INPATIENT Experience	Required
OUTPATIENT Experience	Accepted
Number of hours in each PT specialty (if specified)	.
Number of hours in each PT setting (if specified)	.

Additional information about program’s PT hours requirement: Completed a minimum 100 hours of observation in a physical therapy facility (within the United States) under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist, with at least 50 hours in a hospital (general acute care/in-patient), convalescent, senior care or extended care facility.

GPA Requirement

GPAs will be blank if program data is not available or applicable.

Name of GPA	Minimum GPA	Average GPA for Accepted Students
Overall Undergraduate Cumulative	.	.
Program-specific Prerequisite	.	.
Other GPA 1: Prerequisite GPA	3.00	3.50
Other GPA 2: Last 60 units	3.00	3.73

Additional information about program’s GPA requirements (if any):

Minimum grade point average of 3.0 in the 7 prerequisite courses (Inorganic/Organic Chemistry 3A and 3B with labs; Physics 2A and 2B with labs; Human Physiology with a lab; Intro to Psych; and Statistics) with a minimum "C" grade in each course.
CR/NC grading, correspondence courses, and independent study courses are not acceptable.
Student must verify equivalent coursework if courses are taken at colleges other than CSU Fresno (check California colleges using www.assist.org).
In the future no more than one repeat per course will be accepted from pre-requisite coursework.

PTCAS Essay Instructions

You can customize your PTCAS essay for each designated PTCAS program. The PT program may require you to respond to specific essay questions. If program instructions below are blank, respond to 3 of the 5 essay questions on the PTCAS application form.

What personal characteristics do you have that make you suitable for the profession of physical therapy?
What is your motivation for pursuing a career in physical therapy?
How has your background and experience prepared you to interact effectively with individuals who are different from you in their social, cultural, or economic perspectives?
What types of patients have you observed with the greatest frequency, and what have you learned from them? If you were to be accepted to two or more physical therapy education programs, what would help you make the decision regarding which program you should select?
REPEAT APPLICANTS If you have applied to a physical therapy program in the past five years, what have you done to improve upon, or enhance, your application for this current admissions cycle?

PROGRAM’S ESSAY REQUIREMENTS (If program instructions are blank, you must respond to 3 of the 5 essay questions on the PTCAS application form):

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

If supplemental materials are required, send items directly to the PT program.

ITEM	PROGRAM REQUIREMENT
Supplemental application required?	YES - For all complete PTCAS applicants
Supplemental deadline(s)	14-Nov-08
Link to supplemental application or instructions	Click here
Supplemental FEE required?	NO
If yes, supplemental fee amount	$
Briefly describe requirements for supplemental materials (if applicable)	Students must also submit the SUPPLEMENTAL FORM which will be available on our website. This is a one page form that the student must indicate which courses they have completed to count for pre-requisite and/or pre-professional course requirements.

Criminal Background Check

Are accepted applicants required to complete a criminal background check? Varies
Description of criminal background check process (if applicable): Students may be required to do criminal background checks for some clnic sites once they are accepted in the professional program.

FOREIGN APPLICANTS AND TRANSCRIPTS

The program’s foreign (international) transcript policies do NOT apply to study abroad coursework that is itemized on a U.S. college or university transcript. Study abroad is processed in the same way as U.S. coursework.

POLICY	PROGRAM REQUIREMENT
Program’s citizenship requirements (individuals listed may be eligible for admission):	U.S. citizens, U.S. permanent residents, Canadian citizens, Foreign (non-U.S.) citizens with a visa
Program requires non-native speakers to submit TOEFL scores?	YES
Program policy for submission of non-U.S. (foreign/international) coursework:	Send foreign transcript evaluation to PTCAS.
Program policy for CANADIAN coursework:	Same as instructions for foreign transcripts above.

Additional information about program’s policy on foreign coursework: The MPT program has selective admissions and is a competitive profession in the United States. California State University, Fresno has a limited class size of 20 students. Many students apply more than one time before admitted. As an International student you would be eligible to maintain pre-professional post-baccaleureate status for 2 years. If you were not admitted to the MPT program you must be accepted in a graduate program at California State Universtiy, Fresno to maintain your student status.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

PT Degree Offered:	Program culminates in a Master's degree.
PT Program Start Date(s) For Entering Class:	8/1/2009
Dual-degree programs offered in conjunction with the PT degree (if any):	MPT/DPT

PROFILE OF MOST RECENT ENTERING CLASS

Items will be blank if program data is not available or applicable.

PROFILE INFORMATION	PROGRAM DATA
Size of Most Recent Entering Class	21
Anticipated Size of Next Entering Class	20
Percent of IN-STATE applicants accepted	90
Percent of WICHE applicants accepted (if applicable):	0
Percent of OUT-OF-STATE (non-resident) applicants accepted	5
Percent of CANADIAN applicants accepted	0
Percent of INTERNATIONAL (non-U.S/non-Canadian) applicants accepted	5

Additional information about the class profile:

Institution's religious affiliation (if any):

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

California State University, Fresno has a well-established graduate program in physical therapy. The Physical Therapy faculty members are an impressive group devoted to their students and the profession of Physical Therapy. Collectively, they are a professionally and personally diverse group with expertise in geriatrics, pediatrics, neurophysiology and neuro-rehab, clinical orthopedics, manual therapy, anatomy, exercise science, biomechanics, motor learning and motor control, electrophysiology, research methods and statistics. The faculty members have vast clinical expertise in all major areas of practice. The majority of faculty conducts research on an on-going basis and routinely present and publish work in collaboration with our students.

Students attending Fresno State will have an opportunity to work with faculty members in diverse research and clinical environments including fall reduction in the older adult, balance and gait, partial body weight treadmill training, motor learning and motor control, outcome measures in post total knee replacements, osteoarthritis, pediatrics, osteoporosis, gaze stabilization in athletes, reaching in children with cerebral palsy, effects of language barriers on outcome measures in physical therapy, and gait training in Parkinson's disease. State-of-the-art equipment, including the EquiTest Computerized Dynamic Posturography and Balance Master by NeuroCom International, Inc, 8 channel surface EMG (Noraxon), 3 D motion analysis (Peak Performance and Optotrak), 2 adult and 2 pediatric lite-gait units for partial body weight treadmill training are available for faculty and students as part of our Gait, Balance, and Mobility Research and Education Center. This center was developed to study best practice models for persons with gait, balance, or mobility disorders. In addition, faculty and students have access to the newly updated Human Performance Laboratory in the Department of Kinesiology for metabolic and body composition analysis.

The faculty are dedicated educators and highly accessible. In addition to the seven full-time physical therapist faculty members many other professionals contribute to the Program including physicians, physical therapists, and other health care professionals. We are very fortunate to have a community that is supportive of this program achieving its mission with our students.

The curriculum is contemporary and innovative. Students learn in small class sizes in well-equipped classroom facilities. They have ongoing patient contact in the Program such as patients visiting the classroom and regular trips to local clinics, as well as our on-campus Gait, Balance, and Mobility Education and Research Center that contains state-of-the-art equipment for testing and treating patients. Additionally, there is an 8 week full-time clinical practicum during the summer between the first and second year and 4 weeks during winter break in the final year. Post-graduation, students enroll in two 9-week full-time clinical internships. During the DPT, students also enroll in an advanced clinical practicum for 6 weeks full-time or 10 weeks part-time. The third year is a joint DPT program with the University of California, San Francisco and the majority of classes are on weekends and evenings so that students can work part-time. Students are reqired to travel to San Francisco approximately 6 weekends during the fall semester of that third year of the DPT.

As one of the public schools within California, Fresno State's program is most affordable, even with the implementation of the additional self-support DPT program (approximately $4,000/year tuition for the first two years and $18,000 support fee for the joint DPT in the third year).