Admission to the Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program is highly competitive and applicants are required to complete a bachelor’s degree and all prerequisites prior to starting the program.
Each applicant will be evaluated on his/her individual merits. Decisions will be based on academic record, references, GRE score, and an on-campus interview. Applicants to the DPT program must submit their application through the Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) by the October 1st deadline (11:59pm Eastern) date. Applications that do not meet all of the following requirements will not be considered for admission.
The DPT Supplemental Prerequisite Worksheet is for applicants to list all of the prerequisite courses they have completed or plan to complete. Once the worksheet is completed, the applicant must convert it to a pdf file and upload it with their PTCAS application.
Applicants must complete a baccalaureate degree in any discipline from a regionally accredited college or university prior to entry into the Physical Therapy Program.
Listed below are the prerequisite courses for admission to Sacramento State’s DPT program. Applicants must have a minimum 3.00 prerequisite GPA, and all prerequisite courses must be completed with a grade of C or better. At the time of application submission applicants may have up to four prerequisite courses pending or in progress. At least two of the outstanding courses must be completed by the end of fall semester, and the remaining courses need to be completed the following Spring. Please review our resources under How To Apply for a list of approved prerequisites for Sacramento State, local community colleges and other California Universities.
The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is required of all applicants. Results of the GRE taken within the last five years are sent directly to PTCAS using the Sacramento State GRE code 7588. A minimum 3.5 or higher for the Analytical Writing component and 29th percentile or higher for the Quantitative Reasoning GRE component are recommended to be competitive in the admissions rankings.
A minimum 50 hours of observation or work experience is required. All observation hours must be completed and electronically verified in PTCAS by the application deadline date. Hours that are “not verified” or listed as “planned” will not be considered.
Observation hours are a minimum threshold for the application to be considered, and are not a weighted factor in the admissions rankings. Observation hours beyond the 50 hours minimum will not impact the applicants’s admissions ranking. Observation hours in more than one setting will not impact the applicant’s admissions ranking for the 2024-25 application cycle.
*** for 2025-2026 application cycle, 16 hours must be meet for inpatient hours.
Applicants must arrange for three letters of recommendation to be submitted directly to PTCAS. One letter must be from a licensed physical therapist you have worked or volunteered with, one from a college professor you have taken a course from, and the third can be from another physical therapist, college professor, or your employer/supervisor. All references must be received by PTCAS by the application deadline date.
***for 2025-2026 application cycle, two letters must come from physical therapist and one letter from a professor.
Domestic applicants applying with transcripts from outside the U.S. must complete 8 units of prerequisite coursework at a U.S. accredited college or university. Prerequisite courses taken outside the U.S. must be completed by the end of the Fall semester prior to matriculation.
For additional information visit the Office of Graduate Studies website and select Applicants with Foreign Documents.
NOTE: A course is considered a “repeat” even if it is taken at a different university, or has a different course number.
Additional admission points may be available for applicants that meet any of the following background characteristics. Applicants must be able to submit evidence to substantiate the following, if requested:
Applicants can earn additional admission points for upper division advanced coursework completed prior to submitting your application. A maximum of four courses may be submitted for consideration, however, only one course from each of the following categories will be considered. All Advanced coursework must be upper division and have a grade of “B-“ or higher to be considered.
| Class of | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applications Received | 585 | 541 | 474 | 477 | 503 | 486 | 382 |
| Female | 59% | 59% | 56% | 56% | 47% | 59% | 41% |
| Male | 41% | 41% | 44% | 44% | 53% | 41% | 59% |
| Avg. Age at Matriculation | 24 | 24 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 25 | 23 |
| % Under-represented Minority | 44% | 31% | 41% | 38% | 64% | 44% | 53% |
| Prerequisite Courses GPA | 3.74 | 3.81 | 3.85 | 3.89 | 3.85 | 3.84 | 3.79 |
| CA Resident | 91% | 97% | 100% | 100% | 97% | 97% | 97% |