General Program Description

The DPT program is 36 months in length and consists of 120 semester hours of professional and graduate course work. Sixteen faculty allow a broad educational experience. The program is initiated each August with many of the didactic portions of the curriculum being presented simultaneously to both the parent (Lexington) and expansion (Hazard) campuses. Students average 20-30 hours in class weekly and perform and present, orally and written, a capstone project completed in dyads or triads.

Clinical Experiences
Students receive approximately 36 weeks of clinical education experience. Second-year students complete 1 week, 4 weeks and 6 weeks of clinical time. Third year students participate in 28 weeks of internships that include two 8-week rotations and one 10 week rotation, with a breadth of experiences including acute care, rehabilitation, outpatient, and/or a specialty area of focus.

Faculty
There are 16 full-time and about 20 part-time faculty members. Of the full-time faculty 100% hold post-professional doctoral degrees, three have specialty certification, and seven are engaged in clinical practice. Over the past 3 years the faculty has averaged 6.5 publications each in journals. The faculty to student ratio is 1:12.

Enrollment
University total enrollment is approximately 28,000 students. There are 48 students in each physical therapy class at the Lexington Campus and 16 students at the Hazard Campus.

Admission
The UKPT program uses the Centralized Admission System for program application. See the APTA web site for specific information regarding deadlines for application. While preference is given to in-state students, several out of state students are admitted annually. Students admitted to the professional program are selected on a competitive basis. Because of the large number of applicants, only a limited number will be invited for interviews prior to the final selection. The Admissions Committee will consider such factors as overall grade point average (GPA), academic performance in chemistry, biology, and physics (key GPA), and GRE scores. The personal interview explores areas such as experience and knowledge of the profession, evidence of initiative and motivation, evidence of leadership and responsibility, communication skills (verbal and written), demonstrated service orientation, and professional potential. Fifty hours of documented and confirmed physical therapy observation, volunteer or aide experience is required for admission to the professional program consisting of a minimum of 25 hours at each of two separate facilities. Experience in a variety of types of PT facilities is valued. Forms to document these experiences are completed in teh PTCAS application. Prior to the application deadline, five of the following six science prerequisite courses must be completed: 2 semesters of each: general chemistry w/labs (equal to that taken by science majors), general physics w/labs (equal to the class taken by science majors); and general biology, animal biology or zoology w/labs (botany, ecology, or entomology are not acceptable). It is strongly recommended that 1 semester of the biology sequence be comparative or human anatomy with lab. Pre-professional requirements which must be completed for the start of the professional curriculum include: 2 semesters of psychology (general and developmental are preferred); 1 semester of statistics (minimum of 3 credits including calculations of central tendency measures of variability, and hypotheses testing); 1 semester of a public and 1 semester of medical terminology (minimum of 2 credits; 3 credits preferred). A grade of C or better is required in all preprofessional courses. 40% of qualified applicants are admitted to the program (3-year average).

Outcomes
94% of admitted students graduate from the program (3 year average), 94% of the graduates passed the licensing exam on their initial attempt (3-year average) and 100% of those program graduates responding to surveys have successfully gained full-time employment (3-year average).

Tuition, fees and financial aid
Tuition and fees for the first year of the physical therapy program is $18,350for residents and $42,000for nonresidents. Tuition for the second and third years will be similar, with expected raises by the University of about 3-6% per year. Tuition costs are subject to change. For information on financial assistance, contact: Office of Student Financial Assistance, University of Kentucky, Room 127, Funkhouser, Lexington, KY 40506. http://www.uky.edu/financialaid/

Student life
For further information about the University of Kentucky and the physical therapy program, contact the Admissions Office, University of Kentucky, Room 100, Funkhouser, Lexington, KY 40506-0054.