General Program Description

The Department of Physical Therapy is accepting applications for admission for the Fall 2012 class. The deadline for application is January 15 of each year.

Clinical Experiences
Students begin their full-time clinical experiences in the second year of study. There are three 8-week full-time internships in the fall and spring of the second year and in the fall of the third year. There is a 16-week clinical internship in the spring of the third year prior to graduation in May. Each student must complete a total of 40 weeks of clinical internship. A rotation in each of the following areas is required: acute care, outpatient and rehabilitation settings. Students may choose clinical experiences in specialty areas for the last 16 weeks of clinical experiences with the approval of the faculty. The Program has many affiliation sites in Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia and throughout the United States.

Faculty
The Department currently has 5 DPT faculty and plans to add 3-5 additional core faculty. All faculty members hold post-professional doctorates, are actively pursuing research interests, and have a minimum of 10 years of clinical experience. Two are board certified specialists with expertise in musculoskeletal management and orthopedics.

Enrollment
Hampton University enrolls approximately 5,402 students in all of its programs; there are approximately 4565 undergraduate students and 837 graduate and professional students. The Physical Therapy Program resumed operation with the admission of students beginning in September 2009.

Admission
Minimum requirements for admission include an overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 and a science prerequisite GPA of 2.80; Graduate Record Exam (GRE) results that reflect a minimum of 4.0 in the Analytical Writing section and a minimum combined verbal and math of 950; two letters of recommendations (one from a physical therapist); an essay detailing reasons for choosing physical therapy as a profession; 40 hours of volunteer work; and a personal interview. The prerequisite courses required include one semester in each: psychology, introductory statistics, human anatomy, human physiology (or two semesters of human anatomy and human physiology combined) and 2 semesters in each: chemistry (w/lab), physics (w/lab). The Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Hampton University participates in the Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service, known as PTCAS. Applicants applying to the entry-level professional physical therapist program must apply online using the PTCAS application. Applicants can begin their PTCAS application beginning September of the year prior to expected admission. The PT program application deadline is January 16, 2012. To learn more about the PTCAS application process, please visit the PTCAS web site at www.ptcas.org.

Outcomes
100% of graduates in 2007 and 2008 passed their licensing exam. 72.22% of the graduates in 2012 passed the licensening examination. 100% of the graduates in 2007 passed their licensing exams on the first attempt. The 3 year pass rate average is 90%.

Tuition, fees and financial aid
Tuition and fees amount to $6,520.00 per semester for fall and spring semesters and $2,800 for summer semesters. One hundred percent (100%) of present students receive some sort of financial assistance. The Physical Therapy Department offers 4 partial scholarships from a Lilly Foundation Endowed Scholarship and graduate assistantships to second and third year students from faculty research grant funds. In addition, the Department has acquired funds from the Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students Program for six consecutive years that provided partial and full tuition awards to 95% of enrolled students. Virginia residents are also eligible for a Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant (VTAG) for each of the three years of the program. Financial aid through graduate loans is also available.

Student life
The Hampton Harbor apartment complex on campus is available to all students. This apartment complex features two-bedroom and two-bath apartments. Students usually find local apartments in the Hampton-Newport News area with costs ranging between $450.00 to 600.00 per month per person. There are numerous opportunities for both community and university service for Hampton University students and they are encouraged to participate in these activities. Students are expected to participate in the yearly Healthy Hamptonian 2010 event for students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community. Students also participate in several community events sponsored by the School of Nursing. Hampton University is a beautiful campus located on 285 acres along the banks of the Hampton River on Virginia’s Peninsula, where the James and York rivers join. The city of Hampton is a center for East Coast conventions, tourism, and the Hampton Jazz Festival. The city supports public beaches, campgrounds, tennis courts and golf courses in addition, to historic attractions. Hampton Roads offers the total spectrum of water sports to area residents, students and visitors.