General Program Description

Students enter the program in June (1st summer term) and continue through the program for 36 months to graduation in May. It is a full-time lock-step graduate entry-level curriculum consisting of 99 graduate credits, including three full-time clinical internships. The objective of the program is to prepare graduates to be competent autonomous clinicians. The DPT program seeks to distinguish itself as one of the region’s leading schools of physical therapy with problem-oriented, evidence-based instruction. All students present their research or case studies in their capstone course, and are encouraged to submit poster presentations or refereed journal submissions at regional, national, and international conferences. The program offers an integrated contemporary curriculum; approximately $1,000,000 worth of state-of-the-art equipment and labs (fine motor and gross motor motion, motor control, human performance, human anatomy and neuromuscular rehabilitation); and experienced professional faculty with a unique blend of educational, research and clinical expertise.

Clinical Experiences
The DPT curriculum includes clinical education in a variety of practice settings. It involves curriculum integration to local clinical facilities as part of assigned course work, in addition to the longer full-time clinical practicums. Acute Care Practicum (8 weeks) occurs during the second fall term, musculoskeletal practicum (10 weeks) occurs during the third summer term, and Neuromuscular Practicum (12 weeks) occurs spring of the third (final) year. Due to the nature and location of the clinical assignments, a student must understand the additional responsibilities and obligations required of this critical portion of the program. These responsibilities include provision for transportation as well as living expenses (e.g., housing, meals, etc.) for clinical practicums in addition to textbooks and educational supplies. Students are responsible for providing their own transportation for integration trips and clinical practicums; thus, a car is advantageous. It is recommended that all students practice outside Texas for at least one of the three clinical practicums. The student is required to make his/her own arrangements for housing, as most of the facilities are no longer able to provide housing. Additional expenses that may be required for clinical education include: lab jacket, tuberculosis test or chest x-ray, Hepatitis B vaccinations, updated Tdap and MMR immunizations, chicken pox vaccination (or evidence of chicken pox immunity by history or titer), criminal background checks, drug screens, and other possible health and/or safety requirements by the assigned facility.

Faculty
Currently there are ten full-time faculty positions; two part-time faculty members also participate in the teaching. The faculty mix includes a combination of tenure track and clinical track professors. Areas of faculty expertise and research include motor control/learning, cardiac risk factors (post menopausal women), educational design, manual therapy, wellness, geriatrics and statistics.

Enrollment
There are approximately 6,900 undergraduate students and approximately 900 graduate students at Angelo State University. DPT class size is capped at 26 persons per cohort to maintain our high faculty to student ratio.

Admission
The mean overall grade point average (GPA) for the 2014 cohort was 3.57. Applications for the DPT program are processed beginning August 1 with an application completion deadline of January 15 for traditional admission. Early admission deadline is October 15 with interviews in November and offers made by end of November. Traditional admission interviews are scheduled in February and March and offers are made by mid-March. Each new class begins first summer term. Minimum requirements for admission include overall GPA (minimum 3.00 on a 4.00 scale), prerequisite GPA (minimum 3.00 on a 4.00 scale), three recommendation forms, 50 paid or volunteer hours, personal interview, and a score of at least 2,500 points from the formula: (300 X GPA) + Verbal GRE + Quantitative GRE + Analytical Writing GRE. A minimum GRE score of 1000 is required for the verbal and quantitative portion of the GRE. The formula and GRE score are based on the prior GRE scale score. (Conversion is available at the GRE website.) The prerequisite courses include: 1 upper level biologic science course with lab; 2 courses with labs in Physics and Chemistry; one course each with lab in Human Anatomy and Human Physiology; one course each in Statistics, General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Technical Writing; Algebra and Trigonometry or better (i.e. Pre-calculus); and Medical Terminology.

Outcomes
91% of admitted students graduated from the program (2012-2014 graduates); 100% of the graduates have passed the National Board exam (2012-2014); and 100% of our program graduates who passed the National Board exam and sought employment as physical therapists are currently employed as physical therapists (2012-2014).

Tuition, fees and financial aid
For 2014-2015, in-state tuition, surcharge, fees, and textbooks for the DPT program total $35,595; out-of-state costs are $73,144 for the entire 36 month program not including clinical experience expenses. Carr DPT Scholarships are available to every accepted and enrolled DPT student. The amount of funding is proportional to a combination of GRE score and GPA. Upon award, tuition is calculated at ‘resident’ rate. Criteria and procedures for scholarship awards may be changed by ASU without notice. Physical Therapist students received $1,778,486 between 2000 and spring 2013. Other potential sources include the American Physical Therapy Association (apta.org) and non-profit organizations.

Student life
San Angelo, Texas is a safe, friendly West Texas community of approximately 100,000, with a 268-acre campus that includes ultramodern academic facilities in a beautifully landscaped setting. Students usually find local apartments close by campus with a 2-bedroom apartment ranging from $600-$700 per month inclusive (cable, etc.), except phone and electric. San Angelo is within a 3 hour drive to Austin, Ft. Worth and San Antonio. Visit our website at www.angelo.edu for links to community information. ASU’s athletic affiliations include NCAA Division II and the Lone Star Conference. San Angelo has professional baseball and football teams, the beautiful Concho Riverwalk, two lakes and San Angelo State Park where biking and horseback riding abound among the natural bison herds and wildlife. Angelo State University’s Lake House has canoes and kayaks available along with volleyball courts and picnic area.