Physical Therapy Program | Clinical Experience Requirement

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Clinical Experience Requirement - DPT

Please read these instructions carefully!!

THIS FORM SHOULD BE SUBMITTED ALONG WITH YOUR TRANSCRIPTS TO THE GRADUATE CENTER OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS. You should also include two letters of recommendation and your CPR certification card.

Your Graduate Center of CUNY admissions application should be completed online.

All applicants to the Physical Therapy Program at Hunter College are required to have had practical experience in a physical therapy setting in order to be considered for admission to our program. We recommend that you try to select a health care facility having a physical therapy service which treats a variety of disability groups and ages. Your participation in the Physical Therapy Department can be either on a paid or voluntary basis. We require a minimum of 100 hours of exposure of which at least 50 hours is obtained in an acute care hospital setting. A multi-disciplinary inpatient hospital type rehabilitation setting is considered acceptable toward these 50 hours as well.

IF ALL YOUR CLINICAL EXPERIENCE IS IN A PRIVATE PRACTICE, SCHOOL SETTING OR NURSING HOME - YOU WILL NOT MEET THE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENT. You must make your own arrangements for this experience.

CLINICAL EXPERIENCE FORMS MUST BE COMPLETED BY A PHYSICAL THERAPIST AND MAILED IN AN ENVELOPE FROM THAT FACILITY.

ONLY ONE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE FORM WILL BE ACCEPTED FROM EACH FACILITY FOR THE APPLICANT.

ONE PAGE LETTERS SUBMITTED BY A VOLUNTEER OFFICE WILL ONLY BE ACCEPTED TO DOCUMENT CLINICAL HOURS. THEY DO NOT REPLACE A CLINICAL EXPERIENCE FORM FROM A PHYSICAL THERAPIST.

To verify your experience and to provide a reference for you, the form must be completed by a Physical Therapist who observed your performance. He/she is to return the completed form to you in a sealed envelope for you to submit with your other documents (transcripts, LOR, CPR card) directly to the Graduate Center Office of Admissions. Enter your name, address and social security number on the top of the form and sign the disclaimer before forwarding to the physical therapist.

The deadline for receipt of the Clinical Experience Forms is November 1. Forms received after November 1 may result in you not being called in for an interview.

You may photocopy the form if you require more than one form submitted from more than one facility. Documented clinical experience of a minimum of 100 hours under supervision of a licensed physical therapist in the United States is required before applying to the program; (minimum of 50 hours must be in a hospital based setting). Inquire at any hospital about volunteering in their Physical Therapy Department to gain this clinical experience. The Clinical Experience Form (see attached) documenting completion of the 100 hours must be received by the Physical Therapy Program NO LATER THAN November 1st. The clinical experience must be obtained with a licensed Physical Therapist in a Physical Therapy Department and completed by the same therapist. Foreign trained physical therapists, or individuals obtaining clinical experience outside the US, should refer to the section below for International Students.

Print out the Clinical Experience Form

You may also submit up to two letters of recommendation. If it is not possible to submit a clinical experience form, we will accept a one page letter, (from the physical therapist), stating your accumulated number of clinical experience hours, type of facility, the physical therapist's impression according to criteria on the Clinical Experience Form.

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