Required Pre-Requisite Courses

Here are the required courses from four nearby PT schools, that must be taken in undergraduate school in order to apply for admission.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY

1 Semester of Pre-Calc or Algebra II

Intro to Statistics

General Biology

Two semesters of Gen. Chemistry w/Lab

Human Anatomy and Physiology

Health Science

Two semesters of Physics

Technical Writing

Intro to Psychology

Psychology (other)

George Washington University

Anatomy and Physiology (two semester sequence, or one semester of each; human focus preferred)

Physics (two semesters with lab)

Chemistry (two semesters with lab)

Biology (two semesters with lab)

English (two semesters: one composition, one literature)

Statistics (one semester; mathematical focus preferred)

Social Sciences (two semesters: must include psychology beyond the introductory level)

University of Maryland: Baltimore

Human Anatomy (with lab recommended, 4 semester credit hours).

Physiology (with lab recommended, 4 semester credit hours).

Biology (4-8 semester hours) not Botany

General Chemistry I (with lab 4 semester credit hours).

General Chemistry II with lab (4 semester hours)

General Physics I (with lab 4 semester credit hours).

General Physics II (with lab 4 semester credit hours). .

Statistics (3-4 semester credit hours).

Psychology (3 semester credit hours). Abnormal or Developmental Psychology recommended.

Human Behavior (3-6 semester hours)

University of Maryland: Eastern Shore

Biology with Lab OR Zoology with Lab	4
Human Anatomy and Physiology with Lab (or its equivalent)	8
Physics with Lab	8
Chemistry with Lab	8
Cell Biology with Lab OR Microbiology with Lab OR Histology with Lab Other upper level Biological Science Course may be considered	4
Sociology/Psychology (General, Abnormal or Child)	6
Math (Trigonometry or higher)	3-4
Statistics

I also recommend that you look at other requirements besides which courses to take. The requirements include the type and quantity of PT volunteer hours needed and who they want letters of recommendations from. Here are the websites of each school.

Howard University

http://www.cpnahs.howard.edu/AHS/Pt/prerequisites.pdf

George Washington University

http://www.gwumc.edu/healthsci/programs/dpt/admissions.cfm

University of Maryland: Baltimore

http://pt.umaryland.edu/pros_dpt_admin.asp

University of Maryland: Eastern Shore

http://www.umes.edu/PT/Content.aspx?id=4938

University of Delaware (ranked fourth in the nation)

http://www.udel.edu/PT/Study%20With%20Us/entrancerequirements.html

Academic Opportunities

Phi Alpha Epsilon:

Phi Alpha Epsilon (PAE) is a local honorary society open to undergraduate and graduate students in Family Studies, Health, Kinesiology, & Physical Education.The organization was founded in the fall of 1952 by students and faculty of the college that would recognize academic achievement and promote professional development. Members make a commitment to provide service to the college, university, and community.

Students are invited to join PAE after they have achieved junior standing and have a minimum GPA of 3.5 and a minimum of 24 credits at UMD.

If you feel you meet the requirements but have not been contacted, you can email the President, Jared Frank, at: jfrank19@msn.com

Kinesiology Honors Program:

Admission to the Honors Program is based on a multifaceted set of criteria and administered through the Departmental Honors Committee. Students interested in entering the Honors Program should submit a written request to the Chair of the Honors Program, described below in detail. Each application will be treated on an individual basis; therefore the Honors Committee may take work experience, leadership, motivation and maturity into consideration. Contact the Director for more information. The applicant must meet the following minimum requirements and is expected to participate in the Honors Program for a minimum of 3 semesters:

1. An overall GPA of 3.50 on a minimum of 45 credits. (Exception: Students who are close to achieving a 3.50 GPA may submit additional materials to the Honors Committee for consideration.)
2. Have a 3.50 GPA in courses taken within the Department of Kinesiology, to include at least 9 credits from the following courses:

KNES 287	Sociology of Sport
KNES 293	History of Sport in America
KNES 300	Biomechanics
KNES 350	Psychology of Sport
KNES 360	Exercise Physiology
KNES 370	Motor Development
KNES 385	Motor Learning and Skilled Performance

Students interested in entering the Honors Program should submit a formal letter of application to the Director of the Honors Program at least 1 month prior to the beginning of either the Fall or Spring semester (applications due Aug. 1 and Jan. 1, respectively). Students typically apply at the end of their Sophomore year. The letter should include the following points of information:

1. Your name, year, number of hours taken, overall GPA, GPA in the KNES core, and planned graduation semester.
2. Why you want to be in the Honors Program (in what ways you see it adding to your educational and personal development).
3. The area of kinesiology in which you would be interested in developing a research focus for your Honors thesis.
4. Describe your future career goals and how becoming an honors student will assist in achieving these goals.
5. What, apart from your academics, have you done that makes you an outstanding student?

Students should attach a copy of their unofficial transcripts to this letter, and send it via e-mail to the Director of the Honors Program, Dr. Stephen Roth at the following email address: sroth1@umd.edu

Once submitted, each application will be circulated to the Departmental Honors Committee, whose members will vote on whether to accept the applicant into the program. Admission is based on both the application materials and space in this limited-availability program. Once made, the Director of the Honors Program will communicate the decision to the applicant.

Primannum Honor Society

The Primannum Honor Society is a University of Maryland Honor Society which represents two national honor societies, Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma. Both of these national honor societies recognize academic excellence during a student's first year in college.

Primannum Honor Society is an invitation only honor society. We have one induction each spring, and invitations are mailed early in the spring semester.
Alpha Lambda Delta and Phi Eta Sigma membership is open to all freshmen and transfer students who meet the following academic qualifications:

• the student must be registered for a full course of study leading to a bachelor's degree
• must rank in the top 20 percent of their freshman class
• obtain the minimum scholastic average required for membership, a 3.5 GPA

If you think you qualify for an invitation but have not received one, feel free to contact them at: PrimmanumHonorSociety@gmail.com

PTCAS

PTCAS is the "common application" for physical therapy schools.

http://www.ptcas.org/

A few things to keep in mind when using PTCAS:

- read the instructions FIRST!!!! there are a few details that can be overlooked... there are forms to use when mailing in your transcripts and observation hours that you won't know about unless you read the directions carefully

- the application will open in mid July, at that point you can begin filling out the application

- you can save and re-enter the program whenever you want

- before you start filling out the application gather all your information (work, resume, classes, extra activities). It will be easier & faster to fill everything in if you have a copy right in front of it

- Keep track of the official names of your classes, ESPECIALLY if you are a transfer student!!!!! They want to know the full title of the class at the University at which you took it.

- Order your transcripts early! You must mail a copy of transcripts to PTCAS and it takes them a few WEEKS to put all the data into their system. Also, if you attended other schools you have to order your transcripts which may take a while if you are not still a student there

- You also have to mail PTCAS a copy of your observation hours with signatures. Make sure you are documenting your hours and that they appear on official letter head and have a signature

- PTCAS will have one essay question and then each school you apply to will have an additional essay question. You can copy and paste the essays into PTCAS which is nice since it's one less thing to mail in.

- PTCAS will allow you to choose from a list of schools that use their application and you can track the status of your application for each school. It will also have a section that tells you when your grades and other documents have been received.

- make sure you submit your application as early as possible. Even if the deadline for a school is in December, it takes PTCAS about 3 weeks to verify all your information since they literally go through each application to confirm that everything is legit. After they confirm everything, it will take another week for them to mail out your full application to each school. Keep this in mind.

- the general rule is that schools will accept the application as long as you have submitted it to PTCAS by the deadline... however, at this point they will start giving out interviews so you are only hurting your chances by sending it in late. So... If the deadline is Dec 1 and you submit the PTCAS application that day, although you are technically safe, they will start reviewing the applications that are on their desk meanwhile your application still has 3-4 weeks before it gets to that school. So this gives other people 3-4 weeks to get interviews before you do. Also, some schools make decisions a few days after interviews so this means people are getting accepted while you are still waiting for PTCAS to verify and mail out our application. Bottom line- SEND YOUR APPLICATION IN EARLY!!!

- some schools have extra supplementary information that they want outside of what PTCAS has you submit. Check with each school... some may want you to mail them a resume directly to them rather than through PTCAS

*** IMPORTANT!!! -- PTCAS checks every single piece of information that you send them so DO NOT make things up! I have heard of people getting caught with fake information on their resumes. Also, if your grades must match what your transcripts. They check every single grade so don't try to change a B- to a B+... they will find out

Please post any questions you may have and I can do my best to answer them.

You will not be able to see ant part of the application until it opens in July so feel free to ask about it and I can let you know what it's like.

APTA

The APTA website is a great tool for looking up contact information for each school. Use the tool bar on the left side of the page to look up school names. Click on Education Programs and then accreditation. Select accredited PT programs and it will list all the schools by state.

http://www.apta.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

When you select a school it will list the contact information for the website, phone numbers and emails of the people in charge of admission questions. Feel free to email them with any questions about pre-requisites. They will be more than happy to answer you and help with any problems you might be having. This is especially useful if you are not sure whether a class will count towards the school's pre-requisites.

Also, once you get onto the school's website you should look for application information that they may have from last year and look for when they will be opening up their application for the fall.

PT Schools!!

What PT school are you interested in attending???

PLEASE post a comment with the schools you are interested in applying to. We can provide you with extra information, contacts, or things we have heard about the school. Also, I will be posting some information about the schools I applied to just incase they happen to be schools people are interested in applying to: (NYU, Columbia University, UMDNJ & Rutgers)

Open Houses etc.

TBD

Fundraisers/Community Service