Doctor of Physical Therapy - Virtual Information Session

Hello everyone, thank you so much for joining us. We will give everybody just a moment to get logged in. Make sure you can hear us. For those of you who are joining us live, that is for those who are joining us pre recorded. Just bear with us for a second as we get our ducks in a row here. But thank you all so much for being here.

Alright.

Great. Looks like everyone is in. Well, welcome. My name is Jen Radwanski and I am the Associate Director for Graduate Admissions here at Stockton University. And I am joined by one of my amazing colleagues, Dr. Lauren Del Rossi, who is here to tell us a little bit more about our Doctor of Physical Therapy program here at Stockton University. Before we kick off, I want to start with just a few little tidbits of information for our presentation today. First of all, for our live.

Folks, we have a chat feature on the right hand side of your screen. Please feel free to drop any questions you have in that chat.

I would encourage you to maybe wait till the end of the presentation to drop any questions in because we have a ton of information we're going to share with you and more than likely we are going to answer your questions throughout this presentation. But if we don't, then we will take those questions live at the end. If you are joining us prerecorded and watching this, we are going to share with everyone participating our contact information so that you can reach out to us with any questions that you have as well for our live folks in the chat. We would also encourage you because we are recording this to please make sure.

You don't put any personal information in there and then we can handle those questions with you on a one-on-one basis. So without further ado, Doctor Del Rossi, I'm going to turn things over you. Thanks for joining us today.

Thanks so much, Jen. Hi, folks. My name is Doctor Lauren Del Rossi. I am an associate professor of physical therapy. I am joining you today. I am very passionate about Stockton for many reasons. I started my career at Stockton University as a student back in 2002. I graduated both with ABS in biology in 2006, and then I earned ADPT in the first cohort of doctoral students in 2008. I've been full time on faculty here at Stockton.

2013 so I have a lot to give you in terms of information and knowledge and passion about this program today. So my goal in our time together is to give you just a brief overview of the profession, an overview of the career outlook for the profession as well as give you some specific information about application, the routes of entry and also some things that make our program pretty unique and exciting. So the first thing I want to draw your attention to here on this slide is.

This is the John F Scarpa Health Science Center. This building was opened in 2018. This entire third floor of this building is just dedicated DPT space. So the majority of your program courses will occur in these dedicated new state-of-the-art lab science classrooms, and you have the opportunity there. If you haven't, visit our campus to please take advantage of open houses or other events. We also have a virtual tour on our website just to get a good look at this space.

It offers opportunity for lecture and lab activities in a pretty dynamic and really beautiful setting.

All right, so if you're here, chances are you know a little bit about physical therapy. A lot of you have interacted with physical therapists, both in the community, maybe with family, with friends, with other loved ones, but just to give you a brief overview. So a physical therapist is a licensed healthcare professional. Our focus is throughout the lifespan to improve movements, reduce pain, and to either restore or maintain maximal physical function. And so we really work to make sure that you can.

Participate and do what you need to do in a meaningful way within your daily life. So specifically, you know, we might interact with patients and clients after injuries, after surgery, or sometimes after like an illness. And we also play a significant role in promoting overall health and Wellness.

PT is a fantastic opportunity for a career because there are so many different settings that you can work in. Specifically, as I'm sure you're aware, physical therapists are within hospitals, outpatient clinics within the realm of Pediatrics, which is what I specialize in. We work with children in school settings, both regular district schools and also more specialized private or special service school districts.

Rehabilitation centers and in homes. So me specifically, I do something called early intervention.

And I work with children ages birth to three within their homes and I actually get to go in weekly and teach the parents ways to help maximize their child's function and mobility. So really great fun opportunity to work.

So we see folks and for all kinds of reasons. So you could be working with someone you know that is recovering from a stroke or maybe somebody that's had orthopedic surgery. Some of my colleagues that work in sports performance work with individuals that function at the top of their game in terms of elite activities in an athletic function.

And like I said before, and some folks that have chronic health conditions, so things like cerebral palsy or children with spina bifida.

Or even folks that have, you know, some sort of a, a disease or a delay in other body system that could affect their overall motor development.

In terms of salary and job outlook, umm, the most recent statistics, uh, that we have are from 2023. And so the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has the annual median wage of APT at just under $100,000 with a range between about 72,000 and $130,000. Now this will vary based on where you work and, and the type of setting that you are working in. Umm, but in terms of, you know, wage, it's, it's very solid in that area there.

Umm, employment of PTS is projected to grow in the next 10 years much faster than the average for all other health occupations. What I will say is our grads when they graduate, they routinely are sought out by their clinical affiliations and other places maybe that they volunteered or worked. And you know we have 100% employment rate for a lot of individuals after they graduate. A lot of our grads work in several settings.

And have opportunity to work in.

You know more than one setting and be very happy with the mix of the job and career life that they have.

All right. So essentially here at Stockton, we have 3 routes of entry into our DPT program. I'm going to spend my time focused on both the 3 + 3 and the 4 + 3 pathway. We do have a Bachelor of Science DPT direct admit program. This program is coming back for fall of 2025 and this is specifically for folks that are currently in high school that so that route of of admission for a lot of folks participating with us today is not something that is going to be available.

So in terms of the 3 + 3 and the 4 + 3 pathway, these are, these aren't specific programs that you're accepted into. These are ways that you can, in working with your preceptor that you can get your prerequisite coursework done and other requirements done to be able to apply for the PT program in either four years or three years, depending on how you come into your undergraduate career. Some folks have AP credits, some folks have additional dual degree credits. So.

Talk about that a little bit more about what pathway seems the best for you.

So this is, like I said, the BSDPT Direct Admit program. This is specifically open to students that are currently in high school. There's going to be more information about this. We're doing a soft roll out for Fall 25 with a more formal and more advertised route for fall of 2026, so stay tuned on that.

OK, so here is the 3 + 3 alternative format program. So traditionally when you're applying to PT school, you will apply to start Graduate School when you are done your undergraduate degree. For students that are enrolled at Stockton as undergraduates, we have something called the 3 + 3 program. And so this is something that you'll do with your preceptor. It takes a lot of planning. I serve as a preceptor and one of the things that I do with my preceptes very early on, 1st and 2nd semester.

As we sit down and we map out all of the required prerequisites, we figure out when you're going to take those classes so that you can get all of the prerequisites and other course requirements done to be able to apply for the DPT program in your third year or your junior year. With that, if you're successful in your application, you would then start your doctoral program work in your fourth year of study. And so during that first year in the DPT program, you will also be completing your undergraduate.

Degree and we have 9 credits of undergraduate coursework that's included in the DPT that will actually serve as your upper upper level cognates for your undergraduate degree.

So if this sounds like something you are interested in, just know it's an accelerated timeline.

When you're applying, this would be in the fall of your junior year. You need to have at least 64 credits earned at the time of application, with the potential to earn at least 96 credits by the end of the spring semester of the academic year in which you apply. So 96 credits by the end of your junior year. Uh, you would need to complete your undergraduate baccalaureate degree.

By the spring semester of the first year of the DPT program. So that would mean when you are finishing up your first year as a DPT student, you would then complete your undergraduate degree and walk for graduation. When you're applying in the fall semester, you may have up to two outstanding prerequisite courses that you are planning to take within the spring semester of the academic year in which you apply. So that doesn't include courses that you're currently taking.

Within you know your undergraduate program.

In the fall semester, this is exclusively just the courses within the spring. So theoretically, you could be taking one or two prerequisite courses in the fall of your junior year, and then you could have two courses that you're taking within the spring semester of your junior year. You would need to complete all of those courses by the spring semester. OK, Spring is very important. It's not the summer, right? So it has to be done within that May timeline.

So again, you were, you know, this process is, is not for everybody. It really kind of hinges on your ability to get the 10 prerequisite courses done along with other degree requirements and takes a lot of planning with your preceptor.

The other more traditional format program. This is open to Stockton students and non Stockton students. You are able to apply.

In your senior year, so you would apply for all of the fourth year. If you're accepted, you would then start immediately in the fall after you graduate. So that's what we call our traditional or our 4 + 3 program. Just to head back for a quick second, if you're considering doing the 3 + 3, it would mean that you would earn your undergraduate and doctoral degree within six years.

In following more of the traditional timeline, you would complete your undergraduate degree in four years and then complete the DPT in three for a total of 7. So you can see there's pros and cons. This is really a conversation that you need to have with your advisor, with your family, and really with yourself thinking about what you want to do in terms of getting these prerequisites done and what you want your undergraduate experience to look like.

In terms of majors for applying to the DPT program, you can choose pretty much any major.

Or discipline, but you need to complete all of the prerequisite courses and they need to be completed by the spring semester in the academic year in which you apply. So commonly at Stockton, you'll see folks that have an undergraduate degree in biology, in exercise science, Health Science. We've had students who are in other programs such as psychology or dance. You can really study whatever you want. These three undergraduate degrees that are listed here are really the most efficient meaning.

A lot of the prerequisites that you're going to take to apply to DPT school are embedded in those curriculums anyway, so that kind of leads to the most efficient.

Degree path. So here are the 10 prerequisite requirements. Here I've listed both the heading kind of a general like heading for what the courses are and below that I've listed the specific courses that are what we what we use at Stockton. So you're going to need one year of general biology with lab at Stockton. It's going to be.

Cells and molecules with lab and biodiversity and evolution.

You're going to need one year of chemistry with labs and we typically we accept one semester of inorganic and one semester of organic. If that is how your institution kind of organizes their chemistry or two sequential semesters of, of chemistry at Stockton. Your, your Chem 1 is going to be your inorganic chemistry and chemistry 2 is the organic version.

You're going to need one year of physics with labs. Listed here are at Stockton we have Physics for Life Sciences, one in Physics for Life Sciences 2, both of which are our options. There is also calc based physics which is an option as well, either at Stockton or if your institution utilizes a calc based physics.

You're going to need one year of anatomy and Physiology, and so at some undergraduate institutions, A and P1 and 2:00, as long as that course is housed within a science major, right? So your biology version of A and P1 and two is going to suffice. At Stockton specifically, you need to take human anatomy, which is Biology 2180.

With a lab embedded and principles of Physiology which is biology 2150.

So those two courses were specifically designed with the DPT program in mind when they were created. So the DPT program has been at Stockton since early like 19891990. And when they were designing this program, they worked with NAMS to create these biology and these anatomy and Physiology courses to prepare students for success in the DPT program, which is why we require those now. There's been other courses that have been kind of added.

But please make sure when you look at your degree works if you're a Stockton student.

That you're taking human anatomy and Principles of Physiology, as those are the only two courses that Stockton students can use to apply to the DPT program.

The other class, two classes that you're gonna need to complete are introduction to psychology, which is cycle 100 and then a statistics course. And so there's there's health statistics, there's a psychology based statistics course and then there's a computer science version. So these are all available options. Students routinely take this the statistics for Health Science.

OK, So it's a really good opportunity for you here on May 1st, right? Or whenever you're viewing this, this presentation to think about what you need to do in order to get your application together before October 1st, 2025. So I'm going to just plug very quickly the, the PT CAS cycle for the next year, right? So for the 2526 cycle, it opens on June 16th, 2025.

What I want you to consider right is.

Is going in creating an account within PT CAS early on in June just to get a feel for what the application looks like and what is going to be required. And so you can really sit down and start to plan what you're going to have to put together in this app before October 1st. Now on October 21st, there's going to be a grad healthcare open house organized by the folks at the office graduate Admissions that is really going to go through and provide you with a fantastic overview of the application process within.

So this is going to be a really great opportunity for you to sit with the folks in Office of Graduate Admissions and really see what this application process looks like and give you some pointers on how to how to do this very well. OK, so June 16th, 2025, the application opens. You will create an account, go in, take a look around, see what you need to do and get a feel for how you're going to get those requirements completed.

So your application is going to include the following.

You need to send official transcripts from all the schools that you attend. If you have just attended Stockton, you still need to send your Stockton transcripts. OK. Everything needs to be included within PT CAS. You're going to need 3 letters of recommendation, and these letters of recommendation are actually housed within PT CAS where you're going to give a name and contact information, and that information in PT CAS will then be shared with the person you've identified.

Who's going to complete this letter of recommendation for you? And they will then go into a specific portal, upload a letter, and they're going to answer some questions about you. So you're going to need to identify three people to do this for you. And with Stockton, we require one from a professor. OK. A professor in your major would be excellent, somebody that you've worked with that really has the ability to give an accurate.

Synopsis of how you perform in the classroom would be ideal. You're going to then need one from a licensed physical therapist and so those two are required. Your third letter of recommendation or your third reference can be from anyone else that can, that can judge your ability to function both in a classroom in Graduate School and within, you know, the profession of physical therapy. There are some limitations though. So within our directory page within PT CAS.

You will see a long list of folks that can write letters of recommendation for you versus others that can't. So people like family, friends, family members, they're not going to be able to provide those letters for you, but you are going to have the opportunity to choose from a long list of other folks. So start thinking maybe a coach, maybe a supervisor at your job, people who can really give an accurate kind of portrayal of what you do as a person when you're in a work environment.

OK. The next thing you're going to need are your observation hours. And so we have moved out of the the pandemic era type accommodations and so we are requiring 50 hours of observation in a physical therapy clinic. We are recommending one setting with two being recommended. OK. So from now until the time that the application is due, we really want you to go spend some time in a physical therapy environment that could be an outpatient clinic.

It could be a school, it could be a hospital, right? So start to think, if you don't have 50 hours already, think about ways that you can kind of acquire those. We ask for these for several reasons. We really want to make sure that you know enough about the profession to want to go and spend three years working really hard to do this as a career. We also really want you to have some point of reference for the profession when you're in your didactic coursework, so when you're sitting.

Lectures talking about health conditions. We love when you can make connections back to the clinic, when you can take a minute and say, Oh my goodness, I remember what someone who had just experienced a stroke, I remember what it looks like when they walk. Now I understand why in my Physiology class that that is how the person moves after this health condition. So we want you to be able to have that context within the classroom. So 50 hours in one setting with two settings recommended.

The fourth thing we require is going to be your GRE. So we require you take the graduate record exam and we require that you send it to PT CAS, not to Stockton University, to Stockton University PT CAS number. And so that is 0313. And so we need you to be able to send those official scores.

What I want to remind you is this is a holistic application, meaning we're looking at your academic and your non academic attributes when we're making a decision.

About admission and So what I just recommend you is recommend for you is to when you take the GRE's, just be sure that you're giving your best effort. We don't recommend that you take it several times. We think maybe taking it one time with a very strong effort is is enough to be able to submit.

So that's what's going to be required there. There's other things within the application, so things like, you know, your essays, there's a Stockton specific supplemental question that you're going to have to answer. And then PT Cast has their own specific essay question that everybody applying to every physical therapy school in the United States is going to answer. What I will say to you is we do not offer interviews at Stockton University. So we really need to understand who you.

Are through the application that you submit within PTCAS OK? So we really advise that you take a good amount of time to prepare your essays. One thing I want to mention is as you read through your application process within PTCAS, please take note that you are signing that you are not using generative AI to write your essays. We've given questions that are a little bit challenging to answer using maybe ChatGPT, but just remember you're signing something specifically stating that you have not used that technology to write these essays.

We're really looking for you to tell us who you are and why you want to come and be a physical therapist and why you want to be one at Stockton University. So please make sure that shines through when you are preparing your essays. There's going to be some additional things that you need to complete within a Stockton online supplemental essay. I believe that occurs through Slate. You'll get more information specifically about that process at the June 21st Graduate Open House.

And then there's a $50 application fee.

Within the Within the Slate supplemental application.

There are technical standards and essential functions that you need to have to be able to work within the PT program. Physical therapy is a very physical profession. You are going to be working in your coursework on things like transfers and gait training. And so you're going to be responsible for moving and squatting, shifting weight and managing people. And so there are things that we want to make sure that you understand that physically we need you to to attest that you are safe and comfortable.

Meeting these tasks and so those technical standards and essential functions for the DPT program are going to be listed within our website. We want you to be able to sign off that you can meet those requirements.

OK. All right. So that's a lot about the application process. I want to give you just a few statistics here. So we have enough spots for 34 seats per cohort. We begin every fall semester with a new cohort of 34. I will tell you over the years and since I've been here and since I've been involved with the admissions committee, we routinely receive upwards of 300 applications for the 34 spots. So as I've kind of mentioned throughout this presentation.

We're looking for you to show us that you have both passion for the profession and talent to be able to complete your coursework and go off and be a dynamic Stockton trained PT.

Are we need you to have a prerequisite and an overall GPA of at least 3.2?

So when we're looking at the average cumulative GPA S of applicants, both those who and these are going to be the folks that are accepted into our program.

Within the last few years, right, We have last five years of data here. You'll see these GPA's are very high.

And so if you take a second and think back to our roots of admission, right, we have that 3 + 3 option or the 4 + 3 option. It's about making sure you can complete your prerequisites, but it's also about completing your prerequisites in a meaningful way, keeping your GPA high and competitive to be able to be admitted. So for some of my precepts, we have a conversation of, yes, I could get done my prerequisites in three years to apply.

But I don't know if I can keep my GPA where it needs to be to be able to do that.

So that offers a caveat for some folks who are kind of considering the difference between the 3 + 3 and the 4 + 3. OK. So in the the cohort that graduated in 2024, the average cumulative GPA, this is their overall total GPA for folks admitted to Stockton was 3.87 and the science prerequisite GPA was 3.77. So that 3.77 includes 8 of the 10 prerequisites. And so it does not include the psychology.

Statistics courses but only includes your your biology, year of chem, year of physics and then anatomy and Physiology.

OK. So as I said, PT, we're looking for passion and talent. We use what we call a holistic approach and we consider the entire application package. Another thing I will remind you and it's come it's come up with, it's come up in the last few years of reviewing applications. Please make sure you're including your extracurricular activities. Make sure you're telling us if you're working, if you are participating in clubs or community events or other activities, we want to know about that.

It's always so hard for us when we review an application and someone doesn't include anything in extracurriculars, and then we read this glowing letter of reference from a professor who talks about this person being a star on the baseball team and being a captain for the last two years. We need to know this stuff from you. So please take time to go through and really, truly answer all the questions in the application and highlight and focus on those things that you do that set you apart from other applicants.

Because we are a New Jersey State institution, we give preference to residents of the state of New Jersey and we give preference to students who will receive their undergraduate degrees from Stockton. However, I will tell you non Stockton students are routinely accepted. Folks from other states are routinely accepted as well.

OK, so the deadline for the Fall 2025 application cycle for you to start the DPT program if you're accepted in 2026, OK, the deadline for a verified application is October 1st, 2025. And a verified application is going to mean that your items were all submitted, that you've matched your coursework to the prerequisites and what we've given you to define our prerequisites and we received your GRE's.

Received your letters of recommendation. Everything is complete and that has gone through the extra step that happens in Ptcas of verifying your application.

What I will tell you is it's a very busy time for PT Cats in the fall because a lot of programs are they have their deadlines around the same time that we do. It takes at least three to four weeks during the very busy season for an application to be verified. So we typically are telling folks that are applying to have a deadline of about four weeks ahead of time for your application to be submitted to allow for extra time for your application to be verified.

Before the deadline. So you should really in your head be planning to have everything submitted by the 1st week of September. For our October deadline, we have a specific PT CAS directory page. Again, if you go to stockton.edu and you search DPT in the search box, you will be brought to our DPT website. There's several tabs there about the application process, frequently asked questions and links to our directory page. So our directory page is going to.

To be essentially our, you know, I'm going to date myself here, but like your Facebook wall, it's our, it's our information page of just what we require as a program and give some specific information about what we need you to include in the application. So it's a really good resource for you to check out.

All right, So what does the program look like at Stockton University? So we are a full time program. We are a full in person program. It includes 6 semesters with three of which being in the summer. Our courses are kind of unique in terms of you know folks of programs within the area. We use something called a systems based curriculum and we strongly emphasize evidence based practice.

Our systems based curriculum means that you're going to take courses.

That are titled musculoskeletal physical therapy, neuromuscular physical therapy, cardio pulmonary physical therapy, and then something called other systems. And those headings are actually the different aspects of the national physical therapy exam. So when our program was created, the national physical therapy exam called the NPTE, that's going to be your benchmark after you complete your DPT program, you're going to take that test and that examination is what is going to allow.

Allow you to become a licensed PT. And so when we built our curriculum, we worked back from that standardized assessment and designed our curriculum that way. So we right now are 99 doctoral credits with 9 undergraduate credits. And those 9 undergraduate credits are going to be required of everyone in the program, which is why the 3 + 3 offers an opportunity for you to kind of use those undergraduate credits as credits towards your degree while fulfilling the total requirement for the DPT program.

We have 3 full time clinical experiences. They total between 31 and 33 weeks. And those clinical experiences, you're going to be off campus. You're going to be working in a physical therapy setting, anything from an outpatient clinic, a school, a hospital, an inpatient rehab or working within home care. So you're going to work with our director of clinical education, and that Director of clinical education will work with you to ensure that you.

Get to choose the types of settings that you are going to be interested in to complete.

And we make sure that we have you set up in an environment that is less than an hour from where you are living, either on campus or at home. There is no lottery. Students get to pick where they're going in most situations and circumstances.

All right, so this is kind of a busy slide again. If you go to stockton.edu and you search DPT in the in the search box, it'll bring you right to our web page. And you can see our curriculum kind of mapped out a little bit more clear on the website, but this is a really good photo here of just everything. So this is our, this is what the the curriculum looks like. So in the first year, the fall semester is when you're going to be completing your foundational science classes and so you're going to be taking a neuroscience lecture.

With a lab, you're going to be taking advanced human Physiology and human gross anatomy, and so making sure that you have a strong foundation in your anatomy and Physiology will ensure that you are set to be successful in this first semester of Graduate School. So that's a total of 13 credits. And so that allows folks who are three plus threes the ability to maybe take some of the the courses that they need to complete for their undergraduate degree.

And, you know, be able to manage that workload.

In the spring semester of your first year, you're going to take your first, your first seven credit right Lab science class and that's going to be kinesiology, basic PT examination and evaluation. I remember this class vividly. This was when I first felt like I was in PT school. This class, it meets 4 plus days a week. You are in lecture activities and then you practice those skills in an afternoon lab session. And this is when you start to do things like measure how joints are moving you.

To test muscle strength, you learn how to examine a patient by doing an interview and how to help somebody move that needs assistance. And so that was when I, it clicked for me that I was like, OK, now I'm in PT school. After all this work, here I am getting to live my dream.

So then you finish up with two other courses here and then three plus threes would need to earn their baccalaureate degree by this semester. Folks that have already completed their baccalaureate degree, they would just move on to the to the next semester and you would start in your first summer session, umm, another seven credit course and it starts the musculoskeletal series. And so the musculoskeletal series is going to be 4 courses, umm, and they cover regions of the body. So we get foundational items and then you move through the spine, the neck, and.

Shoulder and low back, hips, knees, ankles, and then you get to start some Pediatrics in there as well. We also have other courses in here. We have a preclinical experience course and a community Wellness practicum and an introduction into evidence based practice. And so these classes are they're still core classes, but they're not as they're not as rigorous as your seven credit courses. These classes are going to help you prepare for going into the clinic, applying evidence to decision making and also teaches you how to.

Go into the community and complete Wellness programming for individuals that maybe don't have a health condition that needs specific PT intervention but would benefit from some from Wellness services.

Spring semester you finish up with your musculoskeletal coursework, you, you embark on the cardio pulmonary aspect and then you finish up with some more preclinical type classes and then a management course that kind of teaches you the insurance and outs of like billing for insurance. Maybe if you're considering owning your own practice, what it kind of looks like to set that up. And so we have.

A faculty member who teaches that that has a lot of experience in terms of leadership within a healthcare organization to help with that course.

You go off campus again for another summer session, a full time clinical, you're working in APT setting again. And then you come back for your third year and the third year moves quick. You have a fall semester of neuromuscular coursework and then you have you leave campus right around right before the winter break. You go on another third clinical affiliation and then you come back to campus for this very quick six week.

Intensive where you finish up with other systems in physical therapy.

You go out on your third clinic, you walk at graduation, you take your NPTE, you become a licensed physical therapist. So this is what the curriculum looks like. As I said in person, it's full time, 34 individuals to a cohort and it's, you know, this is kind of the sequence of what everything looks like. Now, how do our folks do? So as I talked about earlier, the national physical therapy exam is what allows you to move from.

A doctoral student and graduate into a licensed physical therapist. And so that is one of the final hurdles for you in your education process is passing the NPT exam. And so we, we keep statistics on two things we want to see. Can you pass that and Pte exam the first time you take it? And if you can't pass it on the first time, can you ultimately pass that to become a licensed physical therapist? And So what you'll see here we have our ultimate pass rate, which is the folks that all take the board.

Do they fully become licensed PTS after they graduate? And so we've had, you know, 30 plus years of 100% pass rate. We do have two years where some individuals have not completed that, but we're overwhelmingly above 94%. So you can see we have one or two individuals that have not become licensed from 2021 and we have one individual in 2023 who has not become licensed yet. And So what I will say is sometimes this is a personal thing as well. Some folks finish school, they don't take the exam.

But there are folks that do you know.

That are successful in terms of completing this our first time pass rates. Again, this is looking at the first time a student or graduate takes the exam. Are they successful? And so our average is strongly above 80 with routinely, you know, we're we're used to having high 80s to low 90s for students in terms of that first time pass rate.

So once you are admitted into the program, are you going to statistically finish the program, right? Are you going to be able to be successful? And so we have something called our graduation rate. And so if you look at our graduation rate here from 2019 up through 2023, which is the most recent data we have, we're upwards of 90%, mid to high 90s for folks that start our program and successfully complete the program.

And as I said earlier, our graduates are sought after. Students routinely have job offers from their first, second or third clinical affiliations.

And so our employment rate of students that are looking for a PT job is always about 100%.

All right, so a couple things I want to draw your attention to. When we, you know, moved full time as APT program into the Scarpa Health Science Center, we had a couple different things that I want to show you that are really impressive. We do not have a cadaver lab. We instead use something called Anatomage, which is a digital platform that allows you to dissect the actual cadavers through high resolution photos. And so your anatomy course will be in the classroom that's depicted here.

And you'll be able to use the Anatomage both within lecture activities and within open lab time to be able to get a really good understanding of anatomy.

One of the other things that we have within the Scarpus Health Science Center is a simulation lab. We have 3 simulation suites that offer opportunities for high fidelity simulation. Meaning these are mannequins that have heart rates, they have respiratory rates. You can have a simulation where the person is doing an activity with you and you're moving them and they have a cardiac event. And so we use these high fidelity mannequins in all of our systems courses to provide you with opportunities to practice.

States environment. In the simulation suite, we also have an opportunity for standardized patients. And standardized patients are actors that come in and they play a role for you and you're going to do an examination, A differential diagnosis or maybe bring them through a physical therapy intervention in a simulated environment.

One of the cool things we have here at Stockton is an interprofessional baby lab. So in the spring of your second year, we have an opportunity for you to collaborate with the OT speech language pathologist and nursing students on an activity where we bring babies and infants and their parents to campus. And you have an opportunity to plan APT exam and intervention and interview the parent and work collaborative collaboratively as an interprofessional team.

Which is what's the expectation when you graduate? So a really awesome opportunity to kind of practice those skills in a fun and really safe environment.

So faculty student presentation, so our faculty members are actively engaged within research. We typically work and collaborate with students and you have the opportunity both as a paid graduate assistant and also as a student just interested in research. You have the opportunity to collaborate in many stages of research and presentation both at Stockton events.

State events and in some cases, national and international presentations.

One of the cool things we do as a program, one thing I will say is that because we are a program of 34, we have 9 full-time faculty and the majority of your courses are taught by your full time faculty. We don't use adjuncts for, for most situations. We as a, as a faculty are, we're very stable and we're, you know, I know people say this and people roll their eyes. We are like a family. We've known each other for upwards of 20 years.

We've very little turnover in terms of our faculty. So we are.

Like a family. And So what we do, you know, is we have the opportunity to really get to know you in your classes. And before you go out on your first clinical affiliation, we have this awesome event called the DBT White Coat Ceremony where you are, you're given your white coat by one of your faculty members where we actually physically put it on you to kind of signify your move from a classroom learner to a learner who's going to go out and work with patients.

So that's one of our really fun events that happens in the spring of the second year.

OK. So as I said, we're kind of like a family. So we have 9 full-time faculty members here. That gives you, you know, it's an 11 to one student ratio, 17 to 1 faculty to student ratio in lab. There's always 2 instructors in every lab activity. So that allows us to really get to know you, to observe your skills in real time. And it also allows you to learn from licensed clinicians that maybe have different body sizes or strength levels or perspectives. And so you have an opportunity to learn.

Right, in a way that's pretty dynamic. So you can see here there's a lot of really cool stuff listed. Here's our photo from graduation. We have three board certified orthopedic clinical specialists and one pediatric certified clinical specialist. We also have a Catherine Worthingham Fellow of the American Physical Therapy Association. That is one of the that's the most prestigious honor that can be bestowed on a physical therapist. There are less than 500 of those individuals in the country.

We have a distinguished faculty member who is a fellow. We have other members who are faculty, faculty members who are distinguished fellows in other fields as well. But again, noteworthy there we have faculty that texts that have authored textbooks and folks that have hundreds of $1000 worth of grants to work in the community with individuals in terms of maybe those that live with chronic health conditions, in terms of choosing exercise and mobility for long term Wellness.

OK, I threw a lot at you and I went a little bit longer than I thought I was going to, but I have a lot of information and passion to share about PT.

Umm, if you have any additional questions, we're going to take some in a second, but also there's the number here for the Office of Graduate Admissions and the e-mail grad School at stockton.edu.

I'm going to take a breath, Jen.

Yeah, take a sip of water. That was awesome. That was so great and so much wonderful information. This is a highly detailed, uh, program and I don't think you missed a beat. So thank you for making sure that our, our, uh, participants today really got to see one how, how much thought has been put into this program, umm, and uh, how much you all care about your program and, and, and the ability to see the benefits of being a part of this program.

So as Doctor del Rossi mentioned.

Excuse me, umm, if you want to drop any of your questions in the chat, please do so now and we'd be happy to take those for our live audience. If you're joining us, umm, as a pre recorded participant, umm, please jot down this information again, you can give us a call, shoot us an e-mail, stop by our office on campus if you're here, umm, and we're happy to answer any of the questions you have. You'll also notice that in the chat that I have posted 2 links. So if you're watching this before June 1st, 2025, please uh, come and join us for our in person open house.

This is a great opportunity that we offer every summer, umm, for you to come to campus to physically see the campus to umm, learn more about how the Cass application process works. Umm, it is very detailed. It is umm, it's, it's a bit of a process, but we, we're going to walk you through it and we have a great team here that covers every, every detail so that you can feel confident in completing your application. Umm, to, to be, you know, a part of our program.

So please register for that event. It's a free event here on campus.

And it is for all of our healthcare programs, including physical therapy. You also have an opportunity to meet some of the other faculty from the program. So you know, it's just it's, it's a great opportunity again to physically see it in person. The other link that I dropped into the chat is the link to the website for the DPT program. So I'm sure you've already probably taken a peek at that. But if not, please, you know, all the information that we covered here is located on there. It is a lot. So we encourage you to do it from looking at an actual computer versus from.

It from your phone, umm, as you're really giving a good, good overview information about the program, the curriculum, the admissions criteria that we talked about. And also, I think an important part is when you're, excuse me on that page, uh, going to the actual PT CAS doctrine program profile page that's listed under the admission criteria tab. And that is a really useful resource when looking at the prerequisites, learning about the program and, and it's a, umm, a great link to.

To help you prepare. So that's one I always like to share with individuals who are looking at this program. So with that being said, it doesn't look like we have any questions in the chat. So you Lauren, you covered everything. Thank you very, very, very very much. It was awesome and I really appreciate the depth that you went into. It's so helpful to our participants. So thank you so much. But again, if you think of anything after this session, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to assist you and I hope that everyone has a wonderful day and doctor Dalarasi, thank you again for taking the time to share your wealth of.

It's always wonderful. Our faculty are what really make our programs, and we're so lucky to have such dedicated individuals like yourself. Thanks so much.

Thank you.

All right, have a great day everyone. Take care. Bye bye.