APPLICATION PROCESS Application Deadlines

APPLICATION PROCESS

This page is intended to assist you in knowing how to apply to our program - including important dates and

processes.

Application Deadlines

Please pay close attention to Loma Linda University (LLU) DPT deadlines, as failing to submit your application

through the Physical Therapy Centralized Application Service (PTCAS) by these dates can be problematic.

DPT Priority Deadline – October 1st:

Applicants who e-submit their PTCAS application by October 1

will be in our priority group. PTCAS will

open early in July giving you plenty of time to complete your application and submit it. We look at the date

applicants e-submit their PTCAS application to see if they have meet our priority deadline. For example, if you

e-submit your PTCAS application on September 25

, you have met our priority deadline. Our Admissions

Committee generally will fill most of our class with those who apply by our priority deadline.

Final Deadline – December 1st:

The DPT department will not accept any applications after December 1

*Please note PTCAS operates on East Coast time. For example, if you are in California and you are e-

submitting your application on November 30

, you need to have it e-submitted by 8:59pm on November

for it to meet the December 1

deadline. For other states, please make sure you are in compliance

with East Coast time when e-submitting your application.

Secondary Application:

Once applicants have e-submitted their application and PTCAS has received all of their transcripts, PTCAS will

then verify the applicant’s application. This can take several weeks to verify. After the application has been

verified, PTCAS will send the application to LLU. Once we have received it, an email containing a link for the

secondary application, will be sent to you. It can take up to a week, after LLU has received your application,

before you will receive the secondary application email.

You will have two weeks to complete your secondary application upon receiving it from LLU. Our application

process will officially end on December 30

. What this means is we will not be accepting any secondary

applications after December 30

. Therefore, if you submitted your application on September 15

, but there has

been a hold up with your transcripts and you do not receive your secondary application until December 22

you will only have until December 30

to complete your secondary application. At the same time, if there is a

hold up with your transcripts and PTCAS does not mail your application to LLU until January 5

, you have

missed the secondary application deadline and will not be considered for admissions. We strongly recommend

that you submit your application early, in July, and check your PTCAS portal weekly to ensure they have

received all your transcripts and have mailed your application to the schools you have applied to.

Application Process

To begin the process with LLU, you will first need to e-submit an application through www.ptcas.org. PTCAS

is where you will send your letters of recommendation, observations hours, and all of your college transcripts

that are from a regionally accredited school. You can e-submit your application while you are waiting for your

transcripts, letters of recommendation, and observations hours to be received. However, your application will

not be processed until all transcripts are received, so make sure you send transcripts in early.

When filling out your PTCAS application we recommend that you have a set of transcripts in front of you.

There will be a “coursework” section where you will need to enter every course you have taken, the amount of

units, which term you completed the course, and the grade you received. PTCAS will then use your official

transcripts to verify this information.

Once your have submitted your application through PTCAS you will be coded as “Received”. PTCAS will

need your transcripts to verify your application. It is important that you request an official transcript be sent

from each college you have attended directly to PTCAS. Transcripts can hold up your application from being

verified, so it is important to request your transcripts early. PTCAS will not evaluate and verify your

application until an official transcript has been received from each school you have attended. To be considered

“official transcripts” they must be sent directly from each school to PTCAS. After your application has been

“verified” PTCAS will mail your application to LLU.

Each year we have individuals who submitted their application to PTCAS in a timely manner, but then

transcripts were never received by PTCAS. Their application was not verified, nor sent to Loma Linda

University. We strongly recommend you log in to PTCAS on a regular basis and monitor the receipt of your

transcripts by PTCAS. If they are not receiving a transcript from a particular school, be sure to follow up until a

transcript is received.

LLU will email you a link for the secondary application 2-5 business from when we receive your application

from PTCAS. You will have two weeks to complete the secondary application. There are no fees associated

with the secondary application. You are not an official LLU applicant until your secondary application has

been received.

Transcripts

All transcripts will need to be sent to PTCAS. You will want to make sure that PTCAS does indeed receive

your transcripts. Do not assume just because you requested your transcripts to be sent, that PTCAS received

them. Sometimes transcripts get lost in the mail and it would be prudent to follow up and see that all your

transcripts have been received.

LLU will not need official transcripts to be sent directly to LLU unless you have been accepted and choose to

attend.

Letters of Recommendation

We require a total of three letters of recommendation. We will accept a letter of recommendation from anyone,

except family members. We recommend that you select three individuals that between the three of them, can

give a well-rounded picture of who you are. There will be a section on PTCAS where you can enter your

recommenders email address and PTCAS will forward a form for them to fill out and email back to PTCAS.

When you are filling out the secondary application, you do not need to list the same names that you have

already listed on PTCAS. It is appropriate to state “See PTCAS.”

Observation Hours

A total of 80 observation hours will need to be completed before the program begins in June; 20 hours in an in-

patient setting, 20 hours in an out-patient setting, and the remaining 40 hours may be completed in a setting of

your choice. You may have your hours verified through PTCAS by entering the physical therapist’s email

address on your PTCAS application. A minimum of 40 observation hours must be completed at the time of

interviews. Interviews will begin in October.

Prerequisites

Science prerequisites are to be no older than 10 years at the time of application.

Regarding outstanding coursework, applicants can not have more than 3 science prerequisites lacking at the

time of application and the Anatomy and Physiology sequence can not be one of the lacking prerequisites.

Non-science prerequisites and the possible 3 lacking science prerequisites just need to be completed before the

program begins in June.

Prerequisite Courses:

An earned Bachelor degree from a regional accredited university/college is required along with:

 Anatomy and Physiology the complete sequence with lab

 Two additional Biology courses

 Medical Terminology

 General Chemistry the complete sequence with lab

 General Physics the complete sequence with lab

 Statistics

 General/Intro Psychology

 Growth & Development

 Speech

Biology

As part of our science prerequisites, we require applicants have two additional Biology courses. Our

department recommends applicants take the following classes:

o Gross/Advanced Anatomy

o Cell Biology

o Exercise Physiology (the only non-Biology class that will count as an additional Biology)

We will accept any class with a Biology prefix, except for the A&P sequence or Biostatistics, as meeting the

two additional Biology course requirement.

Updates

Applicants must meet our minimum GPA at the time of application. Courses completed during the fall term

may not be taken into consideration when calculating an applicant’s GPA. We will, however, count any courses

you have completed during the summer term. If your summer courses finish after you have e-submitted your

PTCAS application, please email an unofficial transcript of your summer grades to Heather Hebron at

[email protected] as soon as grades are posted.

Grades

To be considered competitive for our DPT program one will need a 3.6 GPA across the board (science, non-

science, and overall) and in the past several years our accepted students have averaged a 3.7 GPA. The

minimum GPA for our DPT program is 3.4 (science, non-science, and overall)

GRE

GRE code for LLU: 4062

LLU entry-level DPT program GRE requirements:

*GRE scores must be submitted to PTCAS by October 1

*GRE scores are valid within five years of application date

*Only most recent GRE score is considered

*Recommended minimum GRE writing score is 3.0

*Recommended minimum GRE combined verbal and quantitative score is 300

Retaking a Course

For any course repeated, the most recent grade will be used in the GPA calculations. We have a three attempt

rule which states if an applicant repeats a course more than three times, we will count the grade received on the

third attempt.

Interviews

The DPT department will interview about 200 applicants with the Committee granting interviews solely based

on GPA. During the transcript evaluation process we will prescreen every applicant. You must have a 3.4

prescreened science GPA to be moved on to the next round. The DPT department reserves the right to deny any

applicant who has a prescreened GPA lower than 3.4 at the time the application is reviewed. If you have a 3.4

prescreened science GPA or higher your file will be sent to our Admissions office to have an official evaluation

completed. Based on the number of applicants and their GPA’s, the Admission Committee will select which

applicant’s will be awarded an interview. If you are granted an interview the Committee will take into

consideration your work experience, volunteer hours, mission service, grades, communication style, and letters

of recommendation.

Interviews can be with multiple faculty members and will last about one hour. We will have first and second

year students here to speak with you about the program and to take you on a tour of the campus. Interviews

may begin as early as September or October, but are not guaranteed to begin until December. Interview invites

will be sent out through email.

Decisions

The Committee will award the first round of acceptance during the last week of November. The second and

final round of acceptance will be awarded in the third lastof January.

Applicants will be notified as whether they have been accepted, denied, or placed on our alternate list through

both email and physical mail.

Review of Application Process

1. Apply early to www.ptcas.org (shortly after July 1)

2. Request official transcripts be sent to PTCAS

3. Monitor receipt of official transcripts by PTCAS

4. PTCAS will verify your application and send it to all the schools you applied to

5. Expect an email from LLU within one week after your PTCAS application has been sent to us that will

include the link to the secondary application

6. Submit your secondary application within two weeks of receiving the email

7. Interviews granted in September through December

8. Admissions granted in November and January

9. Feel free to contact us at any time if you have questions on the process – you are not bothering us - that

is what we are here for. Heather Hebron ([email protected]), Larry Chinnock ([email protected])