University of Rhode Island

PROGRAM CONTACT INFORMATION (2011-12)

Susan Roush, Chair - Admissions Committee
Physical Therapy Department
25 West Independence Way
URI Physical Therapy
Kingston, Rhode Island 02881
Phone: 401-874-5626
Phone (alternate number): 401-874-5001
Email: Roush@uri.edu
Website: www.uri.edu/hss/pt

APPLICATION DEADLINE for 2012 ENTERING CLASS

PTCAS Application Deadline	November 1, 2011
Deadline Type	FIRM Deadline
Application Close Date (for soft deadlines only)
Program Has Rolling Admissions Process?	NO
Important Dates (if any): Highly qualified applicants will be invited to meet with a member of the Admissions Committee; these interviews will be scheduled in January or February 2011 with the exact dates posted at www.uri.edu/hss/pt. These interviews are by invitation only and the incoming class will be selected from the pool of interviewed applicants.

EARLY DECISION

Program participates in the PTCAS Early Decision Applicants MUST apply and submit all materials to PTCAS by AUGUST 15.

SUPPLEMENTAL REQUIREMENTS

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

Supplemental APPLICATION required?	YES
Supplemental MATERIALS required?	NO
If yes, list of items	Applicants are required to submit an application to the University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School. That application can be found at www.uri.edu/gsadmis/gs_apply.html. Please note: you do NOT need to send transcripts or GRE scores, or have letters of recommendation sent to the URI Graduate School even though the application will indicate you do. Whatever you have sent to PTCAS does NOT need to also be sent to the URI Graduate School. Concerning the URI Graduate School application instructions related to letters of recommendation: please enter your own email address where it asks for the email address of your references. Upload a blank piece of paper when asked to upload your transcripts. Finally, the $65 application fee has been waived for DPT applicants. Once you indicate you are applying to the DPT Program (for the Summer Semester), the fee waiver is automatic; you will not be asked for payment information at the time you submit your application.
Supplemental FEE required?	NO (see above)
If yes, amount
Supplemental deadline(s) DD-MM-YYYY	01-Nov-2011
Link to supplemental forms or instructions	www.uri.edu/gsadmis/gs_apply.html
Custom (program-specific) questions on the PTCAS application

PROGRAM PREREQUISITES

Course Prerequisites

Must applicants earn a Bachelor's degree prior to enrolling into the PT program? VARIES - Early Contingent Admission considered for URI Kinesiology and Biology majors.
Link to program’s prerequisite web page: http://www.uri.edu/hss/pt/admission

#	COURSE SUBJECT	COURSE LEVEL	4-YR *	LAB **	SEM HRS	ACCEPTABLE COURSES	COURSE DESCRIPTION
1	Anatomy	General or College	NO	REQ	4	A&P: SEPARATE courses A&P: COMBINED courses A&P: Animal A&P: Comparative A&P: Human A&P: Mammalian A&P: Vertebrate	Two semesters of a combined Anatomy and Physiology (Anatomy & Physiology I and II) are acceptable for the Anatomy and Physiology requirement. All science courses must be designed for science majors and include a lab.
2	Physiology	General or College	NO	REQ	4	A&P: SEPARATE courses A&P: COMBINED courses A&P: Animal A&P: Comparative A&P: Human A&P: Mammalian A&P: Vertebrate	Two semesters of a combined Anatomy and Physiology (Anatomy & Physiology I and II) are acceptable for the Anatomy and Physiology requirement. All science courses must be designed for science majors and include a lab.
3	Biology/Biological Science	General or College	NO	REQ	4	Biology: Cell Biology: Embryology Biology: GENERAL Biology: Genetics Biology: Histology Biology: Microbiology Biology: Molecular Biology: Zoology	A total of 4 semester hours in biology or biological sciences is required in addition to anatomy and physiology.
4	Chemistry I	General or College	NO	REQ	4	Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry: Organic	All science courses must be designed for science majors and include a lab.
5	Chemistry II	General or College	NO	REQ	4	Chemistry: Biochemistry Chemistry: Inorganic Chemistry: Organic	All science courses must be designed for science majors and include a lab.
6	Physics I	General or College	NO	REQ	4	.	All science courses must be designed for science majors and include a lab.
7	Physics II	General or College	NO	REQ	4	.	All science courses must be designed for science majors and include a lab.
8	Psychology	General or College	NO	NO	3	Psychology: GENERAL	.
9	Psychology (specialized)	General or College	NO	NO	3	Psychology: Abnormal Psychology: Adolescent Psychology: Death & Dying Psychology: Developmental Psychology: Human Behavior Psychology: Growth & Dev. Psychology: Life Span Dev. Psychology: Rehabilitation Psychology: Social Psychology: Sports	.
10	Math	General or College	NO	NO	3	Math: Pre-Calculus	The prerequisite is pre-calculus.
11	Statistics	General or College	NO	NO	3	Business: Statistics Math: Statistics Psychology: Statistics	.
12	Communication / Speech / Public Speaking	General or College	NO	NO	3	.	The prerequisite is a total of 3 credits of communications and either oral or written communication courses are acceptable. Acceptable written communication courses include English composition, technical writing, etc. "Writing Intensive" courses do not meet this prerequisite.

* YES=course must be completed in a 4-year college/university and NOT in a community college.
** REQ=required lab; Rec=recommended lab; NO=lab not required; N/A=not applicable

Additional information about program’s course requirements:

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

For 2011-12 Cycle: Due to changes in the GRE, programs may require or prefer that you take the exam early and before the "GRE® revised General Test" is introduced on August 1. Early Decision candidates in PTCAS must take the GRE and request scores to be sent by no later than July 31.

GRE General Test = Testing on or before July 31, 2011
GRE REVISED General Test = Testing on or after August 1, 2011

Is the GRE required?	Required
Program’s GRE College Code for 2011-12 Cycle	# 8365 (new)
GRE Accepted by Program for 2011-12 Cycle	GRE® General Test and GRE® REVISED General Test accepted
Last acceptable GRE test date – DD-MM-YYYY (if applicable)
Oldest GRE score considered – DD-MM-YYYY (if applicable)	15-Nov-2006

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
Verbal Percentile		50%
Quantitative
Quantitative Percentile		50%
Analytical Writing
Analytical Writing Percentile
Additional information about program’s GRE requirements	A major revision to the GRE will be implemented starting August 1, 2011. The University of Rhode Island’s DPT Program will accept either ‘old’ (taken before Aug 1) scores or ‘new’ (taken after Aug 1) scores.

References

Number of references required by program: 2 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:

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 - no verification by a physical therapist
Total Number of PT Hours REQUIRED	30
Total Number of PT Hours RECOMMENDED	60
DEADLINE for Completion of All PT Hours DD-MM-YYYY
PAID Experience	Accepted
VOLUNTEER Experience	Accepted
INPATIENT Experience	Accepted
OUTPATIENT Experience	Accepted
Additional information about program’s PT hours requirement	Preference is given to applicants who have experience in more than one clinical setting.

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	3.00	3.60
Program-specific Prerequisite	3.00	3.60
Additional information about program’s GPA requirements (if any)

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 Canadian citizens Foreign (non-U.S.) citizens with a visa Foreign (non-U.S.) citizens Other non-citizens (e.g., refugees)
Program requires non-native speakers to submit TOEFL scores?
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

PROGRAM INFORMATION

PT Degree Offered	Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)
PT Program Start Date(s) For Entering Class DD-MM-YYYY	21-May-2012
Dual-degree programs offered in conjunction with the PT degree (if any)
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	32
Anticipated Size of Next Entering Class	30
Percent of IN-STATE applicants accepted	55%
Percent of WICHE applicants accepted (if applicable)
Percent of OUT-OF-STATE (non-resident) applicants accepted	42%
Percent of CANADIAN applicants accepted
Percent of INTERNATIONAL (non-U.S/non-Canadian) applicants accepted	3%
Additional information about the class profile

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

The Physical Therapy Department at the University of Rhode Island offers an entry-level Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree. It is accredited by the American Physical Therapy Association's Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education and prepares students for state professional license examination. The curriculum emphasizes clinical skill and research capacity development through a three-year graduate study plan of didactic coursework, faculty-guided research projects, and clinical internships. A limited number of teaching assistantships are available on a competitive basis.

The results of a nation-wide survey indicated that the top reasons for choosing a PT school included factors of cost, location, facilities, and licensure passing rate. The URI Physical Therapy Department excels in all of these categories:

Cost -- URI tuition and fee totals are among the lowest in the Northeast for both RI residents as well as for residents of other states. We strongly encourage applicants to explore and compare costs of PT education at URI to other schools in the region and nation. This, and other important information can be found at www.apta.org. While offering many financial aid packages similar to other schools, URI-PT also offers a limited number of Graduate Assistantships. These opportunities pay entry level students a stipend and/or a partial tuition waiver that helps offset the cost of their education. We believe these opportunities to be quite rare for entry-level programs. In the end, students should consider the total net costs of their education and balance their expected debt load against their expected starting salary. URI's program rises to the top in this analysis.

Location - URI is located in beautiful south Rhode Island, 15 minutes from some of the most scenic beaches in the country. Our building overlooks athletic fields, turf fields, and a horse farm. We are 90 minutes from Boston and about 3 hours from NYC. Amtrack has a major station located one mile from campus, TF Green airport is about 40 minutes away. Location, location, location is the saying: URI has it all.

Facilities - Our facilities are state-of-the-art and first-rate. Most of the classes are held in the Independence Square building built in 1991. The Physical Therapy space was designed by the PT Program faculty to maximize functionality for classroom, laboratory, and research purposes. Independence Square also houses the PT Faculty Clinic which is staffed by licensed academic and clinical faculty. Our clinicians have advanced training in orthopedic and neurologic rehabilitation. Student involvement in the Faculty Clinic occurs through both volunteer and formal classroom-related experiences.

Licensure Passing Rate - Graduates of URI's PT Program are extremely successful in passing the licensure exam. Our passing rates are consistently above the national averages.

(Page last updated 9/12/2011)