Physical therapy is a challenging and satisfying profession — one with many career pathways from which to choose. One particular pathway is developing a career that specializes in sports medicine. Certified athletic trainers have expertise in preventing, recognizing, managing and rehabilitating injuries that result from athletics and other physical activity. The Dual Degree program DPT/MSAT has been established at Shenandoah University for those students who wish to become members in both professions sharing a common link to become a sports medicine expert clinician. The Dual Degree program offers the student all the courses required to meet the standards to take the physical therapy licensure examination and the athletic training BOC certification examination. Courses are shared between programs where there is didactic coursework that overlaps between the two professions.

Admission Requirements

This Dual Degree program involves formal admittance into the DPT and MSAT programs as established on the respective pages of this catalog. Additional admission requirements beyond the formal acceptance into each program are listed below:

1. No more than five Dual Degree DPT/MSAT students are admitted annually due to availability of clinical affiliation sites for this program.
2. Applicants must submit a typed letter with the application to the DPT and MSAT programs stating a request for being admitted into the Dual Degree program.
3. Applicants who wish to pursue the Dual Degree program and who have been formally admitted into the DPT and MSAT programs are ranked on a competitive basis using the admissions criteria established for the DPT and MSAT programs. Admission into the Dual Degree DPT/MSAT program is granted to the top five applicants.

Application Deadline

Dual major DPT/MSAT applications must be postmarked by October 1.

Degree Requirements

The dual DPT/MSAT degree requirement is successful completion of the credit hours of the combined programs with a grade point average of 2.8 or better.

Pre-Clinical Screening

The Pre-Clinical Screening is conducted at the end of the first semester of study in the Physical Therapy curriculum. Students will be asked to demonstrate understanding of medical terminology and proficiency in medical documentation. Faculty will evaluate each student’s mastery of these topics at the end of the first year fall semester, prior to being approved for matriculation into the physical therapy integrated clinical experiences.

Students must complete the following requirements:

• Pass a medical terminology competency exam with a grade of 70% or higher;
• Pass a medical documentation competency exam with a grade of 70% or higher; and
• Successfully document a patient experience with a grade of 70% or higher.

Students who do not satisfy the Pre-Clinical Screening requirements will not matriculate to the physical therapy integrated clinical experiences.

Physical Therapy Comprehensive Examination

The physical therapy comprehensive examination is administered at the end of the fall semester of the third year and is intended to identify the student’s preparedness to enter his/her full-time clinical internships. Prior to the final two full-time clinical internships, students are required to pass the written and oral components of the comprehensive examination. Successful completion of both components of the comprehensive examination is required of all students as a condition for continued progress through the curriculum.