Physical Therapy advising resources

This page is intended to provide resources to COCC students interested in or decided on pursuing further education to become a professional physical therapist. Students should consult the catalogs and admissions information for specific PT programs to create the most accurate degree plans.

A very helpful site is the American Physical Therapy Association web site (http://www.apta.org/).

On this page, they provide student resources which includes a helpful list of PT programs in the United States and a summary of the prerequisites to all accredited PT programs. There is only one PT program in Oregon, located at Pacific University in Hillsboro (see http://www.pacificu.edu/pt/).

Also located on this site is information about careers in Physical Therapy Assistant. and PTA educational programs.

In general, students preparing for physical therapy should earn a bachelor's degree that provides strong preparation in the sciences. Common requirements are for biology, chemistry, physics, human anatomy, statistics, and psychology. Another frequent requirement for admission is documented volunteer hours in a physical therapy setting.