General Program Description

The program is characterized by the institution’s reputation for providing a strong liberal arts foundation to students in professional fields, and by its mission for community service and civic engagement. The program is structured to allow and encourage physical therapy students to develop a dedication to the ideal of service to their communities. The professional phase includes foundational and clinical coursework and utilizes the rich health promotion and rehabilitation experiences available in Rochester and its surrounding communities throughout the three academic years. In the final year of the program, all students are expected to complete a research project for dissemination to the clinical and academic community. The program has spacious laboratory practice space, and on-campus clinic with Home Transitions Laboratory, and a Motion Analysis Laboratory. Groundbreaking for renovated, expanded laboratory and clinical building is scheduled for March, 2014.

Clinical Experiences
Physical therapy students participate in four full-time clinical education experiences for a total of 30 weeks, and several integrated/embedded clinical education experiences for persons who are under-served in the community, totaling approximately 8 additional weeks of client contact. These clinical experiences start in the first year of the program with wellness programs for community members with disabilities. Final year students also have the opportunity to formally mentor earlier students as “Apprentice Clinical Instructors” (ACIs). It is expected that students will participate in a variety of practice settings. They may be placed at any of over 350 locations. Most of the sites are in the Northeastern U.S., with opportunities throughout the U.S.

Faculty
There are 12 core faculty members, with more than 20 adjunct clinical faculty. Seven faculty hold post-professional doctoral degrees. Six faculty members are ABPTS certified clinical specialists; three in Neurology, two in Orthopedics, one in Pediatrics. Most faculty members are actively engaged in clinical practice as well as scholarly work. The full time, core faculty to student ratio is 1:12; in laboratories the ratio is 1:15; and in on-campus clinics, the ratio is typically 1:3. As part of the School of Health and Human Services, inter-professional faculty collaboration results in multiple opportunities for students to learn both in the classroom and clinic, in inter-professional teams.

Enrollment
Students (approximately 60) may enroll as Freshmen each September in the 3+3 curricular sequence. If the required grade point averages are maintained, these students are not required to re-apply to the professional phase of the program. Graduate students are admitted in the summer semester (May) to the professional phase of the program.The number of graduate admissions varies from year to year, but is expected to be approximately 15. Class cohort size during the professional phase is approximately 54 each year, beginning in 2013.

Admission
This is a 6-year Doctor of Physical Therapy program with typical entry at freshman year. Students may enter as freshmen, or also as graduate students. The average size of the graduating class is 50 students. For freshmen entry, consideration for admission is based upon high school class grades and rank, SATs are optional. Graduate applicants must have a 3.0 GPA for previous college degree, although the mean for those admitted is 3.4/4. Freshmen-entry physical therapy students must maintain a 3.0 overall GPA and a 2.75 Science GPA during the undergraduate phase of the program. Graduate applicants are best suited for the program if they have at least a 3.0 undergraduate grade point average. Applications for graduate students are accepted through the Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) A 3.0 GPA is required throughout the graduate coursework.

Outcomes
100 % of those program graduates responding to surveys are employed (3-year average). The overall three-year pass rate on the National Physical Therapy Licensure Exam (NPTE) is 100%, the first-time pass rate for the last three years is 93%. More than 95% of the students who entered the professional phase graduated from the program in the expected length of time.

Tuition, fees and financial aid
The current tuition is approximately $27,000 per pre-professional year, $32,000 for professional years (plus summer tuition on a per credit hour basis). Room and board are approximately $8360. Institutional, federal, and state funding is available for students. Approximately 85% of the physical therapy students receive financial aid. The program has several graduate assistant positions available for students in the professional phase of the program.

Student life
Nazareth College is a private, co-educational comprehensive college with a liberal arts and sciences core. It is located on over 150 acres of wooded land in the southeastern suburbs of Rochester, NY. The Nazareth College Performing Arts Center is host to a wide array of cultural and performing arts events throughout the year. The Center for International Education boasts over 20 study abroad programs. Rochester offers many opportunities for cultural and sporting events and is within an hour drive time of a myriad of outdoor recreational facilities. To facilitate a rich and fulfilling college experience, the physical therapy program encourages students to fully participate in extra-curricular activities related to leadership, athletics, and the arts.