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What is the best major to get a bachelors in when wanting to become a physical therapist?

I'm a student who wants to start on the path to becoming a physical therapist, and I know there are a few different subjects I can major in before I take my DPT, so what would be some of the best?

healthcare fall25 physical-therapy
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Clifford’s Answer

Looking back I found the classmates I had that had kinesology/exercise physiology backgrounds were more well prepared for the curriculum in the PT program. However for basic pre-requisites the bio or chem aka “pre-med” programs do suffice.

Therefore, if you’re 100% sure about PT as a career then look into exercise physiology/kinesiology coursework. If there’s a combined program for Athletic training and PT, not sure if they still have those out there, I’d suggest that too. Those with AT degrees were also ahead in the class as well.
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Suzanne’s Answer

Hi and congrats on your decision to go for a career as a physical therapist.
Below I put a link to a PDF from the American Physical Therapy Association which lists all accredited Physical Therapy doctoral programs and what they require as prerequisites to apply. This will help you as you decide what to major in. For example, you can see that Idaho State University requires a full year of Anatomy and Physiology, a full year of Chemistry, a full year of Physics, a full year of Psychology, and one term of statistics. it would probably be easiest to achieve all these prerequisites as a biology or chemistry major following a basic pre-medical track. This doesn't mean you couldn't also major in something else which interests you (for example, let's say you plan on caring for a lot of Spanish-speaking patients, you could major in Spanish) but you also need to be sure you meet the criteria for whichever DPT programs you plan to apply to. I urge you to connect with the pre-healthcare advisors at your college as soon as possible to be sure you are taking the appropriate classes for your goal of becoming a physical therapist.

Good luck and write back with any further questions.

Suzanne recommends the following next steps:

https://ptcasdirectory.apta.org/5287/Comparison-of-Course-Prerequisites-by-Program
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Ashley’s Answer

Hi Samantha! I'd say an exercise science degree or any movement science! Consider minoring in something as well... I did psychology! This will help you reach your prerequisites as well.
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