You must complete two applications which are submitted separately:

• Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service (PTCAS)
• UNLV Supplemental Grad College Application

Both applications must be submitted by the final application deadline on October 1, 2024 in order to be eligible for admission. If either application is missing your submission will be marked as incomplete and will not be reviewed for admission into the program.

Visit the application page for information on how to apply.

Prospective students for the Doctor of Physical Therapy program must earn a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited university or community college by May 31 of the year the candidate seeks to be admitted.

You may obtain your degree in any area of study as long as the minimum requirements needed to apply are met. No preference is given to any particular baccalaureate degree.

A minimum overall undergraduate GPA (all schools attended) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale is required, but does not guarantee admission.

Applicants must complete 100 hours of observation under the supervision of a licensed physical therapist across one or more settings. To accommodate the ongoing changes in the healthcare environment, we now accept up to 50% of these observation hours to be completed through virtual observation courses or by completing UNLV's KIN 180 (Intro to physical therapy, three-credit course) or equivalent for non-UNLV Students. However, at least 50% of the hours must be conducted in person, within settings that may include but are not limited to inpatient rehabilitation, acute care, outpatient, pediatric, and geriatric care.

Applicants are required to log all observation hours, both in-person and virtual, in the Physical Therapist Centralized Application System (PTCAS). All observation hours, whether in-person or virtual, must be documented as “complete” and verified on PTCAS by no later than October 10, 2024.

Please see the frequently asked questions page for additional details regarding acceptable observation experiences and how to document/submit your verified hours via PTCAS.

Three letters of recommendation, one each from:

One letter of recommendation must be from a licensed physical therapist who can evaluate the applicant’s potential as a student in the physical therapy program.

One letter must be from a professor who has taught you at the undergraduate or graduate level and can speak to your academic abilities. Letters from teaching assistants, graduate assistants, academic advisors, lab instructors, internship advisors, etc. will not fulfill this requirement.

The remaining letter can be obtained from any of the acceptable evaluators listed on the program’s PTCAS profile on the Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service website.

All letters of recommendation must be submitted through the PTCAS application portal.

For the UNLV Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, submitting GRE scores is optional and not a mandatory requirement for application. However, applicants who submit their GRE scores will be considered as part of our holistic admissions process, providing you with the opportunity to earn additional points towards your application evaluation, potentially enhancing your competitiveness. We will consider the highest scores from each section of the GRE in the event of multiple attempts. To ensure your scores are considered in your application, we recommend taking the GRE at least one month prior to the application deadline. GRE scores must be sent directly to PTCAS using our specific School Code 7618. Please note, GRE scores submitted through other means will not be considered. For additional information and answers to common questions regarding the GRE submission, applicants are encouraged to visit the frequently asked questions section on our admissions webpage. Information about the range of GRE scores for the most recently accepted cohort is available on the UNLVPT Program Profile page on the Physical Therapist Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) website.

The following are the UNLV DPT prerequisites

• Two courses in Biology (6 semester credits)
• Two courses in Anatomy and physiology with lab (8 semester credits)
• Two courses in general Chemistry with lab (8 semester credits)
• Two courses in general Physics with lab (8 semester credits)
• One courses in Psychology (3 semester credits)
• One courses in Statistics (3 semester credits)

Courses with a grade below "C", sub-100 level, AP credits that are not graded, order than 10 years, or taken from a non-regionally accredited institution are NOT accepted.

Applicants may have NO MORE than two UNLVPT specific prerequisite courses pending during the spring semester immediately preceding the anticipated summer of admission, and neither of those two pending courses may be A&P 1 or 2.

The DPT program will accept pass/satisfactory credits for prerequisite courses if the institution elected to use the Pass/Fail or Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading option due to COVID-19 without prejudice for summer, spring, and fall of 2020 courses.

The program will also accept anatomy & physiology coursework completed online from spring 2020 to summer 2022 during COVID-19.

Note: UNLVPT has always accepted online courses for the other prerequisite courses.

In addition to the requirements listed above, international applicants must also submit the following:

1. All international students who do not speak English as their native language are required to submit the results of the Test of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL). Minimum of 550 on the paper-based or 213 on the computer-based version of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).

2.All international applicants (Canadian institutions included) must have their foreign transcripts evaluated by the World Education Service and have that evaluation submitted directly to the Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (study abroad courses do not apply if they are listed on the USA transcript).

Please note that the PTCAS transcript verification process can take 4–5 weeks.