General Program Description

The program is a three-year, full-time day Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) Program housed within St. Catherine University’s Henrietta Schmoll School of Health. With more than 30 health professions programs, DPT students at St. Kate’s engage in a wide variety of interprofessional education experiences, including unique opportunities for interaction and collaboration with physical therapist assistant students. The DPT Program offers an innovative integrated curriculum that breaks away from more traditional curricula by integrating basic and clinical sciences in a way that is relevant and meaningful to today’s health care environment. The coursework is organized around physical therapy practice settings, cases, and issues, rather than academic disciplines, with students taking one course at a given time in the Program. The curriculum utilizes a variety of teaching methods including small group work, lecture, labs, patient experiences, problem-based tutorials, and periods of independent learning. The Program emphasizes the development of students’ leadership and ethical decision-making skills, provides the opportunity for a service learning experience (local, national and international sites) and develops students’ cultural awareness. Research skills are addressed and developed in clinically relevant ways throughout the curriculum and culminate in a collaborative research project typically undertaken with 2-4 students mentored by a DPT faculty research advisor. Graduation is in May each year.

Clinical Experiences
Integrated, Part-Time: Students engage in half-day clinical experiences on an ongoing weekly basis during the first year of the DPT Program. This clinical exposure provides students the opportunity to apply the information learned in the classroom to the clinical setting, on an ongoing basis. During the second year of the DPT Program, students are exposed to five specific areas of clinical practice for focused learning including cardiac rehabilitation, intensive care, spinal cord injury, wound care, and prosthetics. Full-Time: First-year students complete an 8-week, full-time experience at the end of the first year during June and July. Second-year students complete an 8-week, full-time experience in the spring, during April and May. Third-year students complete three 8-week experiences during September/October, January/February, and March/April. Since the DPT Program is designed to prepare graduates to practice as generalists, all students must have a variety of clinical experiences and are strongly encouraged to do one clinical experience at a general practice site (usually rural). All students with few exceptions can expect to relocate for up to four of their 5 full-time clinical education experiences. Clinical facilities are located primarily in the upper Midwest, but experiences in other parts of the US are available on a limited basis.

Faculty
There are eleven full-time and three part-time core faculty along with several clinical faculty and adjunct DPT faculty members. All but two of the core faculty hold post-professional doctoral degrees (PhD, DSc, JD). Three are certified as a clinical specialist (geriatrics, orthopedics & sports), three are certified athletic trainers, and a majority are engaged in clinical practice. Over the past three years, the faculty have averaged 3-4 faculty presentations or publications per year. The average student to faculty ratio is 7:1.

Enrollment
There are approximately 5,000 students enrolled between the St Paul and Minneapolis campuses. The Doctor of Physical Therapy Program is housed on the Minneapolis campus. The DPT Program accepts 34 students per year with these incoming cohorts of students beginning classes in early September of each year.

Admission
A minimum overall and pre-requisite GPA of 3.0 is required to apply. The mean overall and pre-requisite GPA’s of applicants accepted for the Fall of 2014 was 3.72 and 3.70, respectively, on a 4.0 scale. All applicants must complete a baccalaureate degree or an approved dual degree upon beginning the DPT Program; the exception is undergraduate students from the St Catherine University, who may apply in the spring of their junior year (3+3 option). Prerequisites include 3 semester credits of statistics; 4 semester credits in each: human anatomy, human/mammalian physiology, and math (trigonometry level or higher); 6 semester credits of psychology; 8 semester credits in each: biology, physics, and chemistry (w/labs); and a medical terminology course. Applicants are required to have 60 hours volunteer or paid physical therapy or health care experience. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and ranked based on cumulative GPA, prerequisite GPA, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, leadership and health care experience, and application essays. On average, the Program receives 200+ applications per year. The DPT Program utilizes the Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) for applications; please see www.ptcas.org for specifics. General admissions information can be obtained by emailing the graduate admissions office at [email protected] or by phone at 651.690.8825.

Outcomes
The Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at St. Catherine University prepares general practitioners who are respected highly for their competence and compassion and are ethical, evidence-based clinicians prepared to lead and influence within the profession of physical therapy, the health care environment, and the broader global community. Over the past three years (2011-13): 96% of admitted students have graduated from the Program; the ultimate licensure examination pass rate was 98.88%, with the first time pass rate (2013) being 93.33%; and 100% of those who passed the licensure examination who sought employment were employed in the profession within six months of graduation.

Tuition, fees and financial aid
For the 2014-2015 academic year, tuition is $714 per credit. Textbook and graduate fees total approximately $3,000 for the entire program. The DPT Program is a 118-credit, 6 semester program over 3 calendar years with 41 credits in the first year, 42 credits in the second year, and 35 credits in the third year. Students need to allocate additional funds for housing relocation, and travel expenses during the clinical education courses typically ranging from a total of $2,000-$3,000. More than 90% of the physical therapy students receive some type of financial aid. For specific information contact the Office of Financial Aid at (651) 690-6540.

Student life
The DPT Program is located on the Minneapolis campus, next to the University of Minnesota-Fairview Medical Center complex, near downtown Minneapolis. Limited dormitory housing is available on the Minneapolis campus and dorm and university apartments are available on the St Paul campus. Students have access to services on either campus, including use of a state-of-the-art fitness center. A shuttle bus is available for the 5 miles between campuses. The St Paul campus is an undergraduate women’s university, however, all graduate programs (including DPT) are co-educational. The university’s metropolitan setting offers students a diverse range of recreational and cultural activities.