Prerequisites

Doctor of Physical Therapy Prerequisites

• Biology with laboratory (8 semester hours/12 quarter hours)
• Chemistry with laboratory (8 semester hours/12 quarter hours)
• General physics with laboratory (8 semester hours/12 quarter hours)
• Human anatomy and physiology with laboratory (8 semester hours/12 quarter hours)
• Statistics (3 semester hours/4 quarter hours)
• Any psychology (3 semester hours/4 quarter hours)
• English composition or writing (3 semester hours/4 quarter hours)
• Applicants must complete anatomy and physiology courses within the last eight years, prior to application, or demonstrate ongoing work experiences that have kept this knowledge current (e.g. physical therapist assistant, athletic trainer, etc.).

*Please Note – In our commitment to holistic equity-based admissions and to reduce barriers to entry-level DPT education, BGSU DPT has removed the 2nd psychology prerequisite course for applicants to the Fall 2024 Start/Class of 2026 cohort. 

IMPORTANT- Applicants seeking late admission to the Fall 2023 Start/Class of 2025 will still be required to have 2 psychology courses consistent with the standards used to review all other applicants in the 2022-2023 cycle/cohort.   The 2nd psychology prerequisite course will be reviewed and manually fulfilled by the program from official transcripts provided in PTCAS.  Please ensure that you have selected the cohort you wish to be considered for and understand your eligibility for consideration before submitting your PTCAS application.   Please reach out to dpt-admissions@bgsu.edu with any questions or concerns.

Prerequisite Course Descriptions

Biology course with lab: Cell biology, cellular structure, and function, energy metabolism, photosynthesis, membrane structure and function, DNA, RNA, and proteins. Cellular division (mitosis & meiosis) and classical genetics.

Biology course with lab: Cell biology, mechanisms of speciation and evolution, taxonomy, viruses, prokaryotes, and eukaryotes, including animals, plants, fungi, algae, and protozoans.

Chemistry course with lab: Atoms, molecules & ions, chemical reactions and stoichiometry, gas behavior, thermochemistry, atomic theory & quantum mechanics, and chemical bonds.

Chemistry course with lab: Chemical bonding, molecular geometry, solution chemistry, chemical kinetics, equilibrium, acid-base chemistry, complex ions, thermodynamic state functions, electrochemistry, and nuclear chemistry.

Physics course with lab: Gravitational forces, work, energy and momentum, simple harmonic motion, wave motion and sound; kinetic theory of matter, behavior of gases, calorimetry, and change of state.

Physics course with lab: Electricity and magnetism, light (reflection, refraction, interference, polarization); relativity; quantum mechanics.

Anatomy and Physiology courses with lab: Structure and function of all relevant human body systems including nervous, cardiovascular, respiratory, hematologic, musculoskeletal, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, reproductive, integumentary, and immunologic. May require 4-8 semester hours dependent on if one course is comprehensive or if two sequential courses (A&P I & A&P II) are taken to satisfy this requirement. Animal physiology is NOT acceptable.

Psychology course: Perception, learning, research methods, mental disorders, psychotherapy, history, and systems of psychology.

Psychology course: Human development, lifespan issues focusing on growth and development, including personality, language, cognition, and intelligence. An alternative is abnormal psychology or cognitive neuropsychology.

Statistics: Theory of probability and statistics including frequency distribution, binomial distributions, normal distributions, means, variances, standard deviations, sampling, confidence limits, and testing of hypotheses with a parametric and nonparametric analyses.

English Composition or Writing: English writing skills, grammar, usage, and reading comprehension.

Introductory-level science courses are not accepted.

Completing Prerequisite Coursework

Courses must be completed before matriculation into the DPT program, but applications will still be accepted as long as courses are in progress or will be completed prior to matriculation. At the time of application submission, prospective students must have at least seven of the 11 required pre-requisites complete in order to be considered for admission, as reflected by submitted transcripts. All pre-requisite courses will be assessed for fit on a case-by-case basis.

• Complete all required prerequisite courses with a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) and prerequisite course GPA of 3.00 or greater on a 4.00 scale.
• All prerequisites must be completed with a grade C or better.
• No more than six calendar year 2020 prerequisite course hours can be submitted in pass/fail format; anatomy, physiology and physics pre-requisite courses must be reported as letter grades.
• If a course is repeated, the repeated course needs to be a grade C or better. The prerequisite and science/math GPAs will be determined using the highest course grade achieved; however, both grades will be calculated into the cumulative overall GPA.
• Credit awarded through AP exams may be used toward direct equivalent prerequisites if the AP credit was accepted by the prospective student’s undergraduate institution.
• All letter-graded prerequisite coursework (with the exception of anatomy and physiology courses) is acceptable, no matter when the coursework was completed.
• Anatomy and physiology prerequisite courses must be taken within eight years of the admissions cycle year (e.g., If applying in 2021, then courses taken since January 2013 will be accepted). If anatomy and physiology courses were taken more than eight years prior to application, demonstrated ongoing work experience(s) that have kept this knowledge current (e.g., physical therapist assistant, athletic trainer, etc.) is required within a waiver application.
• The rigor of the institution will be taken into consideration, and it is recommended that all courses be taken at a four-year accredited institution. However, courses from two-year accredited institutions will be accepted.

General Guidelines for Prerequisite Courses

• Introductory-level science courses are not accepted.
• Prerequisite courses taken at institutions other than Bowling Green State University are evaluated through review of course catalog descriptions and/or syllabi to determine appropriateness of course material and level of rigor.
• Quarter System Courses: In MOST instances, completion of three (3) quarters of biology, physics and chemistry are required to fulfill the two-semester requirement. These courses will be reviewed on an individual basis as institutions have different requirements and standards.
• Science prerequisite course descriptions should state that they are “for science or pre-health majors” or be taught in a science department and should contain a lab.
• Applicants requesting for waivers or exceptions to prerequisite coursework requirements may be granted on a case-by-case basis. Such requests must be made in writing to the director of admissions, and must include the course description/syllabi, the institution at which the applicant took the course, and the grade obtained.
• College Level Entry Program (CLEP) or aptitude tests are not accepted in place of having completed courses with a grade requirement; however higher-level subject matter courses will be considered as prerequisites on a case-by-case basis.
• Acceptable psychology prerequisites may include: Introduction or 101, human development, abnormal psych, personality or child psychology.
• Courses should cover developmental theories; lifespan is a plus. If an applicant has more than one psychology course beyond an introductory course, the two courses with the highest grades will be accepted.
• Biomechanics cannot count for the Biology prerequisite.