Admissions Requirements
The Programs in Physical Therapy invites applications from individuals who have or will have received at the time of enrollment a baccalaureate degree granted by a college or university of recognized standing. If accepted, students would be enrolled full-time and begin the program in the fall semester of that year.
* Advanced placement (AP) and International baccalaureate (IB) courses accepted by your University are not accepted as a replacement for our prerequisites.
* For on-line classes with labs, we will accept pass/fail or credit/no credit grades for courses taken in Spring 2022 in addition to Fall 2021. Beginning in Fall 2022, all science prerequisite courses are preferred to be in person. However, hybrid courses with on-line lecture but in person lab experiences will be considered.
* Letter grades, if given an option, are preferred over pass/fail or credit/no credit grades for all prerequisite courses.
* PT observation hours are used to gauge the student’s awareness of and interest in the profession. Diversity of physical therapy practice settings is preferred. PT observation hours ranging from 75-100 are adequate and are used in the overall assessment of the applicant.
A full list of prerequisites with detailed information (use drop down arrow) is provided below.
The prerequisite checklist will assist you in verifying that you have completed all of our requirements.
Supplemental Materials Required
Please refer to PTCAS(link is external and opens in a new window) for a complete list of courses. It is highly recommended that a minimum of 14 of the 17 prerequisites for admission, including all coursework in the sciences, be completed by the October 1st application due date. Students on the quarter system must take a 3-part series or 3-part courses to fulfill requirements.
For any additional questions regarding admissions, you may send an email to ptadmissions@cumc.columbia.edu(link sends e-mail). Don't forget to include your name and contact information.