Specialization can be achieved in a great number of ways including continuing education courses and post-professional degree courses offered by many colleges and universities. A dozen physical therapy education programs are either offering a DPT degree or transitioned their MPT degree to a DPT degree as their entry-level degree. The DPT degree is still an entry-level physical therapy degree and is usually 3 years in length. The trend is that the DPT degree may replace the MPT degree as the standard level of education in the future. The Program in Physical Therapy at ODU is considering transitioning to the DPT degree in the next few years.
All states require that physical therapists be licensed in order to practice.
Students must graduate from an accredited physical therapy school in order to be eligible to sit for the licensure examination. Yes, there is. There is a national examination used by all states and is administered on computer, much like the GREs. The passing score varies from state to state and each state may have additional requirements as determined by the individual state's practice act. Our experience with students taking this exam has been that they do extremely well.