Admission to Physical Therapy Program

Process

The preferred deadline for applications is October 1. The final deadline for applications is March 1. The deadline for Creighton undergraduate students is October 1. Personal interviews are required in the admission process.  Qualified applicants will be notified if they are selected for an interview.  Applicants are encouraged to apply early. Qualified applicants are invited to interview on a first-come, first-served basis. Once interview seats and entering class seats are filled, the Admission Committee will no longer consider remaining applicants. Please see our website for the most current deadlines https://www.creighton.edu/pharmacy-ot-pt/physical-therapy/admissions.

To apply for admission, students must submit the following:

  • Online PTCAS Application and corresponding application fees.
  • Applicant statement (submitted via PTCAS).
  • A minimum of 60 hours of observation supervised by a licensed physical therapist.
  • Three letters of recommendation (one recommendation must be from a licensed physical therapist) (submitted via PTCAS).
  • An official transcript must be received from each institution the applicant has attended and or is currently attending. Official transcripts must be received directly from the issuing institution(s) to PTCAS. 

Fulfillment of basic requirements does not guarantee admission.  A selection system exists in which the Physical Therapy Admission Committee selects from the pool of applicants it considers best qualified for the study and practice of the profession. Admission is based on rigor of coursework, quality of academic institution, cumulative GPA, prerequisite science GPA, recommendations, personal statement, and interview.

Applicants must demonstrate an understanding of the profession gained through work, personal experiences, or other methods. The Admission Committee will specifically look for evidence of such understanding, along with academic ability and professionalism as demonstrated through required personal interviews.

Creighton Preference

The Physical Therapy Admission Committee gives preferential admission consideration to Creighton undergraduate students who meet certain criteria, and who actively participate in the Creighton Center for Advising Support and Resources (CARS) program.  For more information on the Creighton Preference or the Creighton CARS, please contact the School of Pharmacy and Health Professions Office of Admission.

Pre-Professional Component

  • A minimum of 90 semester hours or 136 quarter hours are required before entering the program.  Pre-physical therapy courses may be completed at any regionally accredited university or college.
  • All prerequisite coursework must be completed with a grade of "C" or better.
  • Students applying to the program who do not hold a bachelor's degree must identify their major emphasis of study and satisfactorily complete three upper-level courses (nine semester credit hours) towards that major prior to matriculation.  Strong academic performance is considered paramount; the degree of emphasis is secondary.

Prerequisite courses:

Prerequisite Courses Semester Hours Quarter Hours
General Biology I and II with labs (Coursework in botany, ecology, entomology, or combined anatomy/physiology will not fulfill the biology requirement.) 8 12
General Chemistry I and II with labs 1 8 12
General Physics I and II with labs 1 8 12
Human Physiology (Beginning Fall 2021) (If enrolled in a combined human anatomy/physiology course, six semester hours will be required.) 3 4.5
English Composition 6 9
Statistics 3 4.5
Electives (Creighton undergraduates must complete 6 hours of Theology among the elective hours) 54 82
Total 90 136
1

The biology, chemistry and physics courses must be a two-semester, eight-hour or equivalent course sequence.  A course sequence is considered to be a correlated pair of courses offering in-depth coverage of a specific field and must be at a level such that the courses would be acceptable as prerequisites to advance towards a bachelor's degree in that discipline.  Survey courses, non-sequential courses, courses without associated laboratories, courses designed for non-science majors or abbreviated courses targeted to health sciences majors are not acceptable as prerequisite science courses.  Applicants must complete 16 of the 30 prerequisite science semester hours or equivalent prior to the application deadline.

All curricula in the SPAHP undergo constant review and refinement. Please check with the SPAHP Admission Office for the most up-to-date program prerequisites.

To request information, contact:

Admission Office
School of Pharmacy and Health Professions
Creighton University
2500 California Plaza
Omaha, NE 68178
Telephone: 402.280.2662
Fax: 402.280.5739
e-mail: phaadmis@creighton.edu
Internet: spahp.creighton.edu