FAQ

Below is a list of questions which are often asked to our faculty members regarding various aspects of the Physical Therapy Program. If you have a question which is not listed, or for further information on a topic discussed here, fill out the form in order to contact us.

	How can I know my application status online? Each applicant is assigned an account in Physical Therapy Program website once he/she submit the online application form. To check the application status, the applicant can log on the website to check the details.
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	How can I apply to the physical therapy program? Visit the Admisssion Application section of this website for more information.
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	Do I have to wait until after I graduate from my undergraduate degree program before applying? No. About half of our applicants apply during the fall of their final undergraduate year, less than half of the applicants have already graduated at the time of application. In addition we typically have several applicants who apply during their junior year.
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	What are the types of clinics that the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Rhode Island has? University Physical Therapy serves the University and local community by providing an array of physical therapy services. For more information, see the Clinics section of our website.
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Why should you choose URI?

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 Program excels in all of these categories. Letâ€™s look at each:

Cost

We believe it very wise to consider costs as you are choosing grad school. Of course the major costs of a full time graduate program are living expenses and tuition, and these should be balanced against income while in school and expected salary after graduation. Located in rural Rhode Island, the costs of living are relatively high compared nationally (we are in New England after all), but much lower than living in major metropolitan areas of the Northeast.

URIâ€™s 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, in the frame on the left, click on Education ,then in the frame on the left click on Accreditation [CAPTE] , then in the Accredited Programs box on the right, click on PT Programs .

While offering many financial aid packages similar to other schools, URI-PT also offers a limited number of Graduate Assistantships, and Clinical Traineeships. 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, and value them for their support as well as allowing students to put theory into practice, honing their newly learned clinical skills in an actual practice setting.

In the end, students should consider the total net costs of their education and balance their expected debt load against their expected starting salary. URIâ€™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. Need we say more?

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. Our facilities are described more fully in the "Facilities" section of our website.

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.

How many pre-requisites may be in-process when I submit my application?

We do not have a limit of prerequisite courses that can be "in progress", but you need to submit a plan of how you would get them all done by September of the year you enter PT. All prerequisite courses must be passed at a level of C (2.00) or better. Also please realize that each prerequisite course "in progress" will be a question mark on your application because we simply have no way of knowing how well you will do in that course. When comparing applicants, you can understand that we will be concerned about applications with question marks, so it is best to have as much done as possible before the Jan deadline.

	Is it possible to take a pre-requisite course after the DPT program has commenced? No, all prerequisite courses need to be done before you start.
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I am having difficulty registering for a Human Anatomy or Human Physiology course because they are consistently overbooked at my local community college. Will you accept an online Human Anatomy or an on-line Human Physiology class?

The Human Anatomy and Human Physiology courses needs to be a 4 credit courses with labs. Often these are either seperate courses, or are combined in Human Anatomy and Physiology 1 and Human Anatomy and Physiology 2. Applicants cannot mix the style of preparation in this area. For example, if you have taken a Human Anatomy course, you must take a Human Physiology course; or if you have taken Human Anatomy and Physiology 1, you must take Human Anatomy and Physiology 2. We have not yet heard ofon-line courses that include lab components. As a result, on-line anatomy and physiology courses have not been sufficient.

	Will any two Chemistry courses or any two Physics courses suffice? The Chemistry and Physics courses need to be lab courses and need to be an introduction and second level. Often these are offered as Physics 1 and Physics 2; General Chemistry 1 and General Chemistry 2. Many applicants have also taken Introduction to Chemistry and Organic Chemistry; that sequence also works well.
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	Will any two Psychology courses suffice? As with the Chemistry and Physics requirement, an introductory and an upper level psychology course is required. Developmental Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, and Experimental Psychology are common upper level courses taken by applicants.
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	I'm applying and have AP credit for a prerequisite course. How do I indicate that on the form? Enter the course name in the appropriate box with an "-AP" at the end. Enter 0 (zero) for the credits, and leave the grade field blank.
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	My school uses "AB" as an intermediate grade, not an "A-" or "B+". How do I indicate that on the form? We will make corrections by hand later once we review your transcript. For now enter the higher of the two grades on the form (so an AB becomes an A, and a BC becomes a B).
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	How can I ask a current student a question? Students will be monitoring a special email account, and will try to answer any question you may have. The email address to ask a sDPT a question is: askasdpt.etal.uri.edu
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	Does URI offer the DPT? Yes. Our proposal to offer the DPT as the entry-level degree was accepted by the Board of Governors of Higher Education in September 2005. We will graduate the first class of DPT students in may of 2007.
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	What is the goal of the Physical Therapy Program at the University of Rhode Island? To train clinical scholars who are able to function as autonomous practitioners providing treatment and education aimed to enhance human capacity and potential
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