This question has been asked all over the internet, but it can be hard to quantify. First of all, we need to start with knowing how many applicants get into physical therapy school in the first place as it’s hard to get into PT school.
How many students who apply to PT school get accepted each year?
If we look at CAPTE data from 2021, 26.3% of all applicants and 37.7% of qualified applicants were accepted to PT school. These numbers involve averages across all PT programs, so they don’t quite reflect the whole picture. No source defined what a “qualified applicant” is, but I assume it is someone who meets all of a program’s prerequisites, as well as falls above their minimum required GPA and GRE scores. This might also mean someone who fully completes the application, as opposed to someone who omits part of it or makes critical mistakes on the application.
Numbers from ACAPT for PTCAS in 2021-2022 show that 71% of all PTCAS applicants were accepted by a physical therapy program that cycle. This number doesn’t include non-PTCAS programs, but shows the actual number of accepted students rather than just averages across programs. In recent years, the acceptance rate has gone up as the number of applicants has declined, and the number of physical therapy schools has risen.
Next, we need to look at admissions data for different programs.
Unfortunately, most schools don’t publicize their admissions rates and statistics. Even programs that publish things like “1,000 students apply every year for 50 spots” don’t actually tell you much. They don’t tell you how many of those applicants were qualified in the first place, and they don’t tell you how many students they actually accepted. CAPTE shows that the average school in 2022 accepted 104 students each year to fill just 48 spots.
Why?
Because not everyone who gets into PT school decides to go, and many applicants get accepted by multiple physical therapy programs, causing them to turn down several admissions offers. To take one example from a transparent school, Midwestern University’s DPT program notes they had 494 applications in 2022, of which 286 were completed. They accepted 184 of these 286 applicants, giving them a 64% acceptance rate. Of the 184, only 56 (20%) actually matriculated into the program. To sound more exclusive, many schools would have simply reported getting 494 applications for 56 spots, which is why there is a lot of misleading admissions data online.
In general, a few things hold true in terms of finding easier schools to get into:
- Private schools are often easier to get into than state schools, most likely because they are more expensive.
- Here are a few examples I found of well-known private schools compared to public programs’ admissions rates in the same state. I wish I could provide more, however, as stated, many schools do not share this data.
- USC 17-21% vs UCSF 10%
- Columbia 24% vs SUNY Upstate 11% vs. SUNY Downstate 19-38%
- Going back to CAPTE’s data from 2021, 22.2% of all applicants and 30.7% of qualified applicants got into public physical therapy programs, while 30.2% of all applicants and 45.4% of qualified applicants were accepted by private PT schools.
- The average undergrad GPA of students enrolled in private schools in 2021 was 3.5, compared to 3.66 in public schools.
- Here are a few examples I found of well-known private schools compared to public programs’ admissions rates in the same state. I wish I could provide more, however, as stated, many schools do not share this data.
- Newer programs may be easier to get into, especially if they are not yet accredited. This is because they often don’t have name recognition yet, and some applicants may be hesitant to apply to a school that isn’t already fully accredited. Although, as I explain in this post, the risk is relative.
So, if you want to get accepted more easily to PT school, you can apply to private or newer schools, although there are potential downsides to both of these types of programs. Instead, try to make yourself the best applicant you can by retaking pre-requisite courses to boost your GPA, crushing the GRE, getting a variety of observation hours, writing killer essays, and acing the interview if a program offers one.