Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Our condensed two-and-a-half-year curriculum allows you to enter the field faster, and our students typically receive several job offers before graduation. Because you graduate in December instead of the May date typical of other PT programs, you’ll have a head start on board exams, additional certifications, advanced training opportunities and the job market.

For Saint Joseph’s graduates who responded to the alumni survey, 100% were employed within one year of passing the licensure examination (2021-22).

At Saint Joseph’s, you’ll learn in many different environments — not just in the classroom. Starting in your first professional year, you’ll be exposed to patients and clients through our integrated clinical experiences and pro-bono clinics. In the latter part of the program, you'll participate in three full-time 12-week clinicals nationwide under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist.

Our faculty includes doctorally trained, clinically certified specialists who represent just about every practice area. And they practice what they teach — most are expert clinicians and many engage in rehabilitation research. All of them are outstanding instructors invested in your success.

You’ll have the opportunity to engage in physical therapy research — a rarity among PT programs today. Our faculty of active practitioners conduct research in areas such as biomechanics, oncology, pediatrics and treatment interventions.

State-of-the-art research facilities housed inside Glasser/Woodland Hall — including the physical therapy department’s Patricia Leahy Motion Analysis Lab and BTE Technologies™ Rehabilitation Research Lab — give you a taste of working in a professional health care setting.

View required courses for this program in the academic catalog. Please contact us if you have any questions about the program curriculum.

Information and Resources

• Department of Physical Therapy Student Handbook/Policy & Procedure Manual
• Department of Physical Therapy Clinical Education Policy & Procedure Manual

The Doctor of Physical Therapy Program at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE), 3030 Potomac Ave., Suite 100, Alexandria, Virginia 22305-3085; telephone: 703-706-3245; email: accreditation@apta.org; website: www.capteonline.org. If you need to contact the program/institution directly, please call 215.596.8677 or email lpackel@sju.edu.

Physical therapists must be licensed to practice, and must pass the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants, which is administered by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy. This exam does not need to be taken again for licensure to transfer to another state, provided that one's score satisfies the scores for each individual state in which one practiced. The only requirement to take the examination is graduation from a Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education-accredited program, such as the University's DPT program.

Please note that felony and conviction may delay or prohibit clinical education placement, which could delay graduation, certification through National Physical Therapy Examination and could prevent state licensure.

Affordable tuition options start at $1,020 per credit.*

The tuition* for DPT students (direct entry and post-baccalaureate) entering Fall 2024 is:

• $46,665 (Year 1)
• $46,665 (Year 2)
• $31,110 (Year 3)

*Pricing does not include room and board; health insurance; or any professional, clinical or transportation fees. Visit our Tuition & Fees page for a detailed cost breakdown. Please note that the Tuition and Fee page reflects the 2023-2024 costs, which will be changing for students beginning the program in Fall 2024.

Financial aid may be available to you to help offset the cost of your degree. Explore your options on our Financial Aid page.

Additional Information Regarding Clinical Experiences: Students are expected to travel for clinical experiences. Costs incurred for travel, housing, tolls, food, parking, etc. are the responsibility of the student. In addition, students are responsible for health and safety requirements such as fingerprinting, required by most clinical experience sites. Students may use federal or alternative educational loan funding to help with the miscellaneous costs related to clinical experiences. Contact the Financial Aid Office for further information.

The costs reflected in the Student Financial Fact Sheet are for students who enter the professional phase of the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program in the summer of 2022. Program-related costs and other associated expenses are highly variable depending on location of clinical rotation sites.

Discount Eligibility

Have you completed a year or more of service with a recognized service organization? You may be eligible for our mission discount.

Alumni of Saint Joseph's are eligible to receive 10% off the cost of this program through our alumni discount.

Check with your employer to see if they are an Edcor or a Bright Horizons EdAssist member, which may entitle you to a discount on graduate programs. 

Note: discounts cannot be combined.

Visit the Department of Physical Therapy website to view the technical standards that apply to all clinical training students in Saint Joseph’s DPT program.

Requirements:

You must meet the following requirements to be considered for admission to the DPT program:

• Have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college
• Complete all prerequisite courses listed below by the end of the spring term preceding enrollment at Saint Joseph’s
• 3.00 cumulative GPA and a 3.00 math/science GPA with a “C” or better in all prerequisite courses
• Interview: An invitation-only interview is required for admission into the program. Interviews begin in October and continue until all seats are filled.

GRE scores are not required. Shadowing hours are not required but highly recommended of all applicants.

Prerequisites:

Required prerequisite courses should be completed by the end of the spring term preceding enrollment at Saint Joseph's:

• Chemistry, with lab (2 semester sequence, 8 credits)
• Biology, with lab (2 semester sequence, 8 credits)
• Physics, with lab (2 semester sequence, 8 credits)
• Anatomy & Physiology (2 semester sequence, 8 credits-inclusive of labs I and II.)
• Nutrition (3 credits)
• Mathematics (3 credits of pre-calculus and 3 credits of statistics; 6 credits total)
• Psychology (6 credits) - Complete two of the following:
  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Abnormal Psychology or Health Psychology.
• Additional Social Science coursework (6 credits)
  • Examples of social sciences are:
    • Psychology
    • Economics
    • Political Science
    • Sociology
    • Anthropology
• English (6 credits)
  • One writing intensive course
  • One additional English course

Applications for 2023-2024 will be available via the Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) in June. No supplemental application is required. Please submit all documentation directly to PTCAS. 

Graduate applications must be submitted by March 1 for review. 

If you’re applying as an international student, you must provide proof of English Language Proficiency and Certification of Finances along with your application. Check the graduate admission page for additional requirements.

It usually takes three to eight years to become a physical therapist. To become a physical therapist, you must have a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) degree from a CAPTE-accredited institution, which typically takes three years to complete if you’ve already completed four years of pre-professional undergraduate coursework — a requirement to be admitted to a PT school. At Saint Joseph’s, you can complete your pre-professional coursework and DPT degree in just five and a half years with our BS to DPT program. After earning your DPT you’ll need to obtain a license in the state in which you decide to practice to work as a physical therapist, which requires passing a state licensure exam.

Physical therapists make a median annual salary of $91,010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This salary may be higher for high-paying specialties, including:

• Sports medicine
• Cardiovascular
• Geriatrics
• Neurology
• Pediatrics

The two-year graduation rate is 89.55% (2021-2022).

The two-year ultimate pass rate on the national licensure examination for the DPT classes of 2021-2022 was 97%. The first-time pass rate for the DPT class of 2022 was 78.8%. To access further details on pass rates, visit this link on the FSBPT website.