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Required Courses

While Northwestern University is on the quarter calendar, our course credit is expressed in terms of units, not semester or quarter hours. Course credit units can be confusing for Northwestern pre-health students in understanding how their Northwestern credits fulfill common pre-health prerequisites. This section provides a broad overview of course pre-requisites

Course Unit Conversion:

Courses required for admission vary significantly from one institution to another. The following courses are mentioned frequently as being required and/or recommended by PT programs, according to the Comparison of Course Prerequisites from PTCAS-participating programs.

  • Anatomy and physiology: 97% require at least one course in anatomy, physiology, anatomy & physiology I (A&P I), or anatomy & physiology II (A&P II).
  • Biology: 89% require one or more courses in biology or biological science.
  • Chemistry: 98% require one or more courses in chemistry.
  • Physics: 98% require one or more courses in physics.
  • Social and Behavioral Sciences: 93% require one or more courses in psychology or social/behavioral science.
  • Statistics: 95% require a course in statistics.

Other courses may also be required/ recommended by PT programs. For information on specific physical therapy programs' requirements, see the Comparison of Course Prerequistes by Program

Some courses may not be available at Northwestern University and may have to be taken elsewhere. We encourage you to meet with a health professions advisor to discuss PT programs and course requirements.

Choosing a Major

Physical therapy students come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. Applicants are not required to major in "pre-physical therapy" or any other specific major in college to be eligible for admission to a PT program.  However, because PT programs vary so much in required coursework, students should begin researching possible programs early to determine if their choice of major will fulfill all or most of the PT program requirements.