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Department of Physical Therapy

Doctor of Physical Therapy Admission Requirements


Admission for Fall 2025 Opens June 2024

See COVID-19 Updates HERE

**Admission Requirements are updated annually in March/April for the upcoming admission cycle starting in June.**

***No Changes for Fall 2025: If you are planning to apply in the future, be sure to plan**

Applications are processed through PTCAS.  See Fresno State's PTCAS Program Page for more details.

To apply to Fresno State's DPT Program, a student must complete ALL items below:

Bachelor's Degree

Hold or be eligible to receive a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university by the end of the spring semester/quarter prior to admission to the program. Any major is accepted.

Undergraduate Cumulative GPA

A minimum 3.0 GPA for all undergraduate coursework is also required.  The undergraduate cumulative GPA is calculated by PTCAS (not the institution where you received your bachelor's degree) and includes failed and repeated courses, even if they are later repeated for a higher grade or excluded from the GPA on the transcript. See PTCAS for more information on how the undergraduate cumulative GPA is calculated.  You must have a minimum 3.0 GPA at the time of application.

The average GPA for Accepted Students can be found in the PTCAS Program Directory.  

Prerequisite Courses (10 total)

In-progress Winter or Spring prerequisite courses will not be allowed.  Additionally, applicants can only have 2 prerequisite courses in progress during the Fall term in which they are applying.  All 10 prerequisite courses must be completed by the end of the Fall term in which the PTCAS application is submitted.   Applicants with prerequisite courses planned for Spring 2025 will have an incomplete application and will not be considered for admission.

Receive a grade of C or better in each prerequisite course and maintain a minimum prerequisite GPA of 3.0. You must have a minimum 3.0 GPA at the time of application.

The average GPA for Accepted Students can be found in the PTCAS Program Directory.  

All science courses must include laboratories and cannot be at an introductory level. Human Anatomy and Physiology must be taken from the Anatomy, Physiology, Anatomy & Physiology, Biology or Zoology departments. Combined Human Anatomy and Physiology courses will be considered only if a combined course sequence (2 semesters or 2/3 quarters) is completed.

AP credit, CR/NC grades* (See COVID-19 Updates HERE), correspondence courses, or independent study courses cannot be used for prerequisite requirements. 

Course equivalencies: If prerequisite courses are taken at a school other than Fresno State, please ensure they are equivalent by checking www.assist.org (for California universities).  If you have a course taken out of state and you are unsure if it is equivalent, please contact the Admissions Coordinator, Ashley Behlen, at abehlen@csufresno.edu to verify equivalency.  You will need the name of the institution, course number, term/year, course description, and syllabus (preferred). You can also submit this information through your PTCAS Application as a document upload.

Prerequisite Repeat Policy: No course may be repeated more than one (1) time and no more than three (3) prerequisite courses may be repeated.

Coursework older than 7 years is not accepted.  If you need to retake a course because it is over 7 years old, it does not count as a repeated course.  

For the current application cycle for admission for Fall 2025, courses taken in 2017 are accepted, while courses taken in 2016 are NOT accepted. 

Online Courses: (See COVID-19 Updates HERE)

 
Course Fresno State Students Non-Fresno State Students

Human Anatomy

 

Biol 64

or 

Biol 67A & 67B

 Human Anatomy with lab

(1 semester or 1/2 quarters,  5/6 quarter units)

*No online courses. Hybrid courses with lab in-person and lecture online are accepted. See COVID-19 Updates HERE.

Human Physiology

Biol 65

or

Biol 67A & 67B

 Human Physiology with lab

(1 semester or 1/2 quarters,  5/6 quarter units)

*No online courses. Hybrid courses with lab in-person and lecture online are accepted. See COVID-19 Updates HERE.

Biology

Biol 10, Biol 1A, Biol 20, Bio 103 & 104, Bio 120 & 120L

Only one semester is required.  Students can take any of the above courses.  

 

Biology (Life Science/Cellular)/Microbiology with lab

NOTE: Human Biology is NOT accepted

(1 semester or 1/2 quarters,  5/6 quarter units)

*No online courses.  Hybrid courses with lab in-person and lecture online are accepted. See COVID-19 Updates HERE.

Chemistry

Chem 1A, 1AL, 1B, 1BL series

OR

Chem 3A/3B/3BL series

 General Chemistry series with labs

(2 semesters/3 quarters)

*No online courses.  Hybrid courses with lab in-person and lecture online are accepted. See COVID-19 Updates HERE.

Physics

Phys 2A, 2B

 General Physics with labs including mechanics, heat, light, sound, and electricity

(2 semesters/3 quarters)

*No online courses.  Hybrid courses with lab in-person and lecture online are accepted. See COVID-19 Updates HERE.

Psychology (General, Intro, Developmental, or Life Span)

Psych 10, Psych 155

 General psychology, developmental psychology or lifespan psychology accepted.

(1 semester/4 quarters units)

*Online courses accepted.

Abnormal Psychology, Psychopathology,  or 
Psychological Aspects of Disability

Psych 66, Psych 169

 Abnormal Psychology, Psychopathology. or Psychological Aspects of Disability

(1 semester/4 quarter units)

*Online courses accepted.

Statistics

PH 92, Psych 42, 
Math 11

 Any Introduction to basic statistics course

(1 semester/4 quarter units)

*Online courses accepted.

*Fresno State students: The Chemistry Department does not allow students to take the Chem 3 series after already taken or attempted the Chem 1 series.

Standardized Test Scores

Submit full GRE test scores. Take the GRE before the date below and arrange for ETS to send your official GRE scores directly to PTCAS Fresno State at code: 7798.  

COVID-19 Updates: GRE Test at Home (See COVID-19 Updates HERE) 

Last acceptable GRE test date for this cycle: 9/15/2024
Oldest GRE test date considered for this cycle: 9/15/2019

Observation Hours

Provide evidence of knowledge of physical therapy through employment, volunteer work, or observation in a physical therapy department for a minimum of 100 hours.

A minimum of 20 hours must be in a general inpatient setting (*See COVID-19 Updates on our Website); 80 hours may be in another area of practice such as outpatient, home health, or additional inpatient.

All observation hours must be under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist and are required to be verified through PTCAS.

Verification of all hours must be completed by the application deadline of 10/1/2024. Hours completed after the application deadline will not be considered.

All hours must be reported separately by each verifying physical therapist and not in a combined form.  If you are using the paper option, the PTCAS form for observation hours is required.  A log of volunteer hours is not accepted.  

Applicants are encouraged to have their PT observation hours verified electronically through PTCAS at the time they apply, rather than use a paper form. Non-PTCAS forms and logs of hours are not accepted.

*Link to COVID-19 Observation Hour Notes
https://chhs.fresnostate.edu/physical-therapy/prospective-students/covid-19.html

Community Service, Outreach, Leadership, Extracurricular Activity, and Honors

Although grades and test scores are important, we also look at other aspects of an applicant such as Community Service involvement, Outreach, Leadership Experience, Extracurricular Activities, and Honors. 

Examples that may be given consideration include, but are not limited to: a consistent pattern of volunteer work, has been recognized for distinct contribution and awarded (non-academic, community, sports awards: conference state or national awards, Eagle Scout), held a position of leadership (president, vice-president, chair).

These items will be reviewed and scored from the PTCAS Application section titled, "Experiences".  Physical Therapy observation hours are not counted for this component of the application.

Letters of Recommendation

Three (3) letters of recommendation (LORs) are REQUIRED

Arrange for three (3) letters of recommendation to be sent to PTCAS on your behalf. (See COVID-19 Updates HERE) 

(2) are REQUIRED to be from a licensed physical therapist. Fresno State physical therapy faculty are not acceptable references.

(1) is REQUIRED to be from a professor, who you have taken a course from (4-year university professor recommended)

If you submit more letters than required, only 3 LORs are considered. 

All LORs must be received by the application deadline.  It is the student's responsibility to ensure all LORs are submitted by the deadline. 

Preferred method: Use the electronic reference process on PTCAS and submit by PTCAS application deadline. If needed, the paper reference option is available on the PTCAS website. An original letter must accompany the reference request form in order to be accepted and must be in a sealed envelope on official institutional or business stationery. 

Submit a Cal State Apply Graduate Application

Submit a Cal State Apply Graduate Application by January 15, 2025

  • Arrange for all transcripts and GRE scores to be sent to Fresno State Graduate Admissions

In-Person Interview

  • COVID-19 could impact our in-person interviews; however, we will require a virtual interview if in-person is not feasible due to COVID-19
  • Meeting the foregoing criteria does not guarantee an applicant an interview.
  • If you have (1) fulfilled the minimum admission requirements and (2) you graduated high school from one of the following counties; Fresno, Tulare, Madera, Merced, Stanislaus, Kern, Tuolumne, Mariposa, or Kings, (or if you graduated from Fresno State) you will be invited for an interview. 
  • If you are not from one of the counties listed, you are still eligible for an interview

**Late and incomplete applications will not be considered.  Friendly reminder that PTCAS is on the Eastern Time Zone**

Tuition Cost:
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DPT Program Curriculum Matrix:
Go Here

Have more questions? Visit our FAQ section!