General Program Description

URI offers a 109 credit DPT. A team evidence-based inquiry project is required, resulting in a major paper often presented at regional or national professional conferences. The program is a full time day program. The average classroom lecture and laboratory time is 20-30 hours per week; in internships 35-40 hours a week is average. An additional 4-6 hours per week is needed during the evidence-based inquiry courses.

Clinical Experiences
The course sequence in physical therapy is fixed and requires successful completion of all course work as prescribed. Clinical experiences are infused within the first two years as integrated clinical experiences (ICE). During the third year, students complete three 12 week full time clinical internships at affiliated health care institutions. These experiences include settings of acute care, rehabilitation, and specialties. The clinical experiences are generally in the New England area; however, additional opportunities include nationwide locations. Two additional weeks Broadening) are spent in non-traditional settings and can include experiences in developing nations, women’s health, hippotherapy and community service organizations.

Faculty
There are nine full-time and four adjunct faculty members. Six of the eight full-time faculty hold doctorates (PhD, ScD or DPT), one holds both a DPT and a clinical specialization in Neurologic PT, and one is an orthopedic clinical specialist. Adjunct faculty are APTA Board clinical specialists in orthopedics, women’s health, and pediatrics. The faculty-to-student ratio is 1:10.

Enrollment
More than 14,000 students are enrolled at The University of Rhode Island. The physical therapy program accepts 28-32 students each year. In the 3-year program, there are 95 students enrolled; approximately fifty percent of the students in each class are Rhode Island residents.

Admission
For fall acceptance, apply as early as September 1 of the previous year, but not later than October 15th of the year prior to enrollment. Requirements include 3 credits each: general psychology and another advanced level psychology, math through pre-calculus, and English; at least 3 credits of statistics required through ANOVA level; 8 credits each: chemistry and physics both with labs; and 12 total credits of biology (must include 4 credits in human anatomy and 4 credits in human physiology, these must be lab courses, and may be combined as A&P I and A&P II). Medical terminology is competency tested, and exercise physiology is recommended. Volunteer experience with a physical therapist is required (minimally 35 hours). A GPA of 3.2 is required overall. A GPA of 3.2. is required in the prerequisites. Most competitive applicants are over the 50th percentile in Graduate Records Exam scores. A bachelor’s degree is required. A deposit of $1,000 is required upon acceptance that is applied toward tuition.

Outcomes
85% of admitted students graduate from the program (2-year average); 96% of the graduates passed the licensure exam on the first try (2-year average); and 100% of those program graduates responding to surveys are employed if they desire to be so (2-year average).

Tuition, fees and financial aid
There are teaching and service assistantships available for entry-level students. Full-time tuition and fees for RI residents are $ 12,051.00 per year. Nonresident tuition and fees are $25,431.00 per year. All students pay a PT Professional Fee fall and spring semesters of $1800.00. Campus housing ranges from $5,352-$6,180 per 12-month yearly rental (two- or three-bedroom apartment, not including heat/electricity) for graduate students, but there is a significant waiting list. Average book costs are $500-600 per year. For graduate students, there are a few institutional fellowships and grants awarded on the basis of academic merit and financial need. There are also a number of teaching assistantships and research or service assistantships available and a number of non-teaching college-assigned jobs. Federal and state fellowships, grants, loans, and work-study jobs are available. For more information, contact the Financial Aid Office at 401/874-2314, or see the program website for details regarding availability of graduate assistantships. For the most up to date information on tuition and fees please refer to the University of Rhode Island website at www.uri.edu.

Student life
Kingston is located in southern Rhode Island near ocean beaches and rural areas. The major metropolitan areas of Providence and Boston are 30 and 90 miles away, respectively. The campus is served by a mass transit bus system. The airport is 28 miles from campus, and passenger rail service is 2 miles from campus. Intramural athletics and a campus recreational facility are available. Many graduate students live off campus in rentals available in the off-season for the southern Rhode Island beaches (September-May).