DPT Prerequisites

Requirements for the UW–Madison Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program include prerequisite courses. These may be taken at any regionally accredited university or college, including two-year campuses, technical schools and online courses. You don’t need to have taken them within a particular timeframe.

A grade of “C” or higher is required for each course taken prior to application submission. A “B” or higher is required for courses still outstanding at the time of application submission. Advanced placement credits fulfill our prerequisites as long as they are listed for specific course credit on an official transcript.

No more than two prerequisite courses can be outstanding when you apply to the program. Courses are outstanding if they do not appear for credit on an official transcript.

COVID-19-related Pass/Fail Coursework

COVID-19 disrupted academic plans across the country and many colleges went solely with pass/fail grading during 2020 and 2021 spring semester; therefore, our program will accept passing grades for courses during these semesters with no disadvantage to the applicant.

Prerequisite Courses

Make sure you have completed all the requirements for the DPT program.

Prerequisite	Details	Qualifying UW–Madison Courses
Biology	Any biology course with a lab (not botany)
Chemistry	Two sequential courses with labs, or one semester of general chemistry (with lab) + one semester of biochemistry (with lab), or organic chemistry (with lab) OR one semester of advanced/accelerated general chemistry	CHEM 103: General Chemistry I and CHEM 104: General Chemistry II CHEM 109: Advanced General Chemistry
Physics	Two sequential courses of general physics with labs	PHYSICS 103, 201, or 207: General Physics and PHYSICS 104, 202, or 208: General Physics EMA 201: Statics and EMA 202: Dynamics
Human Anatomy	Lab not required, but may be taken instead of human physiology lab (or Anatomy and Physiology I*)	ANAT&PHY 337: Human Anatomy ZOO 430: Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates
Human Physiology	Human physiology with a lab or Anatomy and Physiology II*	ANTA&PHY 335: Physiology ANAT&PHY 435: Fundamentals of Human Physiology
Statistics		STAT 301: Introduction to Statistical Methods PSYCH 210: Basic Statistics for Psychology (this course does not qualify as a psychology prerequisite)
Psychology and/or Human Development	Six credits of any psychology and or human development course (no motor development). Psychology courses do not need to be taken in a Psychology department.

*Completion of Anatomy and Physiology I and II will fulfill our human anatomy and human physiology requirements.

Course Equivalence

Our curriculum is based on all students having similar knowledge in all the prerequisite courses. Transferology can be used to see how courses compare to UW–Madison.

If you have a question regarding course equivalence, please email the director of admissions at schubert@pt.wisc.edu with a link to the course for review.