California State University, Fresno

PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION (2009-10)

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 for 2010 ENTERING CLASS

PTCAS Application Deadline	Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Deadline Type	FIRM Deadline
Application Close Date (for soft deadlines only)
Program Has Rolling Admissions Process?	No
Important Dates (if any): Students must also apply to the universtiy online at www.csumentor.edu. California State University Graduate Application for Fall 2010 along with the required $55.00 fee must be submitted to the University Admissions Office as early as October 1, 2009, and no later than November 30, 2009, in order to advance to the early interview phase of the admission process. This also applies to CSU Fresno students who will be earning a Baccalaureate degree in Spring or Summer 2010. Interviews are held early to mid February 2010.

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

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

Supplemental APPLICATION required?	NO
Supplemental MATERIALS required?	NO
If yes, list of items
Supplemental FEE required?	NO
If yes, amount	$
Supplemental deadline(s) YYYY-MM-DD
Link to supplemental forms or instructions

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 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)

Is the GRE required?	Required
Program’s GRE College Code	# 4312
Last acceptable GRE test date – YYYY-MM-DD (if applicable)	2009-10-24
Oldest GRE score considered – YYYY-MM-DD (if applicable)	2002-12-31

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		434
Verbal Percentile
Quantitative		592
Quantitative Percentile
Analytical Writing		4.0
Analytical Writing Percentile
Composite (verbal & quantitative)		1026
Composite Percentile
Additional information about program’s GRE requirements

References

Number of references required by program: 3 References

EVALUATOR TYPE	Applicant must send one reference from this SPECIFIC type of evaluator	Applicant must send a reference from one or more evaluators in this category to fulfill program's requirements	Evaluator Type ACCEPTED	Evaluator Type NOT Accepted
Physical Therapist-1	X
Physical Therapist-2			X
Professor in Major			X
Professor	X
Academic			X
Supervisor/Employer			X
Teaching Assistant				X
PTA				X
Pre-PT Advisor				X
Politician/Elected Official				X
Health Care Professional				X
Friend				X
Family Member				X
Co-worker				X
Clergy				X
OTHER				X

Additional information about program’s reference requirements: Arrange for three (3) letters of recommendation to be sent to PTCAS on your behalf; one each from a licensed physical therapist, a non-physical therapy professor, and an employer or other accepted references from the list above.

PT Observation Hours

Enter your PT observation hours on your PTCAS application. Print the PT Observation Hours form from the PTCAS application or use online PT Hours signature process, if the program requires you to have your hours verified by a physical therapist. Send signed forms 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 PT Hours REQUIRED	100
Total Number of PT Hours RECOMMENDED
DEADLINE for Completion of All PT Hours YYYY-MM-DD	2009-12-01
PAID Experience	Accepted
VOLUNTEER Experience	Accepted
INPATIENT Experience	Required
OUTPATIENT Experience	Accepted
Additional information about program’s PT hours requirement	Provide evidence of knowledge of physical therapy through employment, volunteer work, or observation in a physical therapy department for a minimum of 100 hours. Fifty hours must be in a general in-patient setting; 50 hours may be in a special area of practice. All observation hours must be under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist.

GPA Requirement

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

GPA	Minimum GPA	Average GPA for Accepted Students
Overall Undergraduate Cumulative
Program-specific Prerequisite	3.00	3.42
Additional information about program’s GPA requirements (if any)	Students must receive a grade of C or better in each prerequisite course and maintain a total prerequisite GPA of 3.0. An overall GPA of 3.0 on the last 60 units completed is also required. CR/NC grades, correspondence courses, or independent study courses cannot be used for prerequisite requirements. Only those prerequisite courses completed by the end of the fall 2009 semester will be counted toward ranking of candidates for selection into the graduate program. Students must hold or be eligible to receive a bachelor's degree by the end of the spring semester prior to admission to the program.

Program Essay Instructions

Some PTCAS programs require applicants to respond to a custom essay question in addition to the standard PTCAS essay question. The PTCAS application will automatically prompt you to respond to the custom essays for your designated programs. The custom essay question for this program is below.

(NONE)

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.

Program’s citizenship requirements (individuals listed may be eligible for admission)	U.S. citizens U.S. permanent residents 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	Send foreign evaluation for CANADIAN coursework to PTCAS
Additional information about program’s policy on foreign coursework	International students cannot be admitted to the MPT-DPT program prior to coming to the United States for several reasons: the application for the MPT-DPT program requires completion of 7 prerequisite courses (with a C or above) to be taken at a U.S. institution, the required 100 contact hours with a licensed physical therapist must be in the United States (50 hours must be in-patient hours), and the applicant must be available in the Spring Semester prior to Fall Semester admission for an interview.

PROGRAM INFORMATION

PT Degree Offered	Program culminates in a Master's (MPT) degree.
PT Program Start Date(s) For Entering Class YYYY-MM-DD	2010-08-16
Dual-degree programs offered in conjunction with the PT degree (if any)	MPT/DPT
Institution's religious affiliation (if any)

Profile of Most Recent Entering Class

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

Size of Most Recent Entering Class	21
Anticipated Size of Next Entering Class	32
Percent of IN-STATE students in most recent entering class	100%
Percent of WICHE students in most recent entering class (if applicable)
Percent of OUT-OF-STATE (non-resident) students in most recent entering class
Percent of CANADIAN students in most recent entering class
Percent of INTERNATIONAL (non-U.S/non-Canadian) students in most recent entering class
Additional information about the class profile	Students must have an overall minimum 3.0 GPA for the 7 required prerequisite courses and a minimum of 100 observation hours under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist (50 hours must be in a general inpatient or acute setting). GRE scores and 3 letters of recommendation are required. If the above criteria are met, students will be invited for an interview the first part of February, 2010. Students with incomplete applications will not be considered.

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. In addition, faculty and students are involved in our Musculoskeltal clinic that provides physical therapy services for students on campus. 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. Students sit for the National Licensing Examination during the fall semester of the joint DPT. During the third year, 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 joint 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 $4,400/year tuition for the first two years and $21,000 support fee for the joint DPT with the Universtiy of california, San Francisco in the third year).