Physical Therapy Accelerated Degree Program

About our program

Get directly admitted as a freshman into our Doctor of Physical Therapy program and graduate with both a bachelor's and a graduate degree in six years. Here, you’ll become a movement expert and rehabilitation specialist, and be prepared for a career helping patients recover from injury, restore function and promote long-term health. And, you’ll experience a wide variety of specialty areas like sports performance, neurological and pediatrics.

Spend your first three years pursuing a related major of your choice — such as exercise physiology, biomedical sciences or psychology. Your next three years will focus on professional experience. Throughout the entire program, you'll learn directly through hands-on clinical care and research.

And Marquette’s values-centered curriculum equips you to go beyond clinical expertise and make a lasting and holistic difference in your patients’ lives.

A view of the Schroeder Complex building on campus.

Schroeder Complex, College of Health Sciences

Benefits you’ll get from Marquette's College of Health Sciences

As part of the College of Health Sciences, you’ll join our community of faculty scholars and academically talented peers who are doing cutting-edge research, providing expert care and serving communities in Milwaukee and around the world. And 98% of our students are employed, in graduate school or military service six months after graduation. 

What can you do with a major in physical therapy from Marquette?

Many of our graduates go on to work in hospitals, outpatient clinics, sports medicine settings, school systems and rehabilitation centers around the country. Our students have interned or gone on to work for some of the top hospitals and organizations, including:

  • Athlete Performance

  • Aurora Sports Medicine Institute 

  • Children's Wisconsin

  • Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin

  • Johns Hopkins Hospital

  • Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
     
  • Mayo Clinic 

  • Milwaukee Brewers

  • Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

  • Stanford Hospital and Clinics

  • University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers

  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center

collage of a building and students working with a patient

Hands-on learning for career success

While you’re here at Marquette, preparing you for what’s next will be one of our top priorities. So, expect lots of learning by doing, connecting with others who share your passions, and reflecting on how you can Be The Difference.   

 

Spaces to learn

Gain practical experience on campus by volunteering in our ComMUnity Clinic as well as shadowing and working in our full-service Physical Therapy Clinic or Neuro Recovery Clinic alongside specialty-trained, licensed physical therapists.

Clinicals and professional experience

Clinical experience will be a key part of your training, and you’ll complete 32 weeks of it in Milwaukee and throughout the country once you are in the graduate program. You’ll also be able to participate in adaptive sports, activities at senior centers, and our Parkinson’s disease exercise classes.

Undergraduate research

Immerse yourself in research through undergraduate internships, paid research technician positions or summer intensive research programs. You can even pursue a dual-degree D.P.T.-Ph.D. to become a clinician-scientist.

Here are some of the things Marquette faculty and students are investigating right now:

  • Recovery from stroke and spinal cord injury
  • Patient-centered outcomes
  • Health technology assessment
  • Neuromotor control 
  • Muscle physiology
  • Chronic pain
  • Sports science and biomechanics
  • Aging and sex differences in response to exercise and rehabilitation
  • Long-term health in athletes
Read about our Health Sciences students have researched at our own Athletic and Human Performance Research Center on campus.

Leadership learning

Become a people-centered leader guided by our Jesuit tradition. Join our E-Lead program sophomore year and you’ll complete a combination of leadership courses and experiences that prepare you to be the driver of innovation for the common good. You’ll develop the skill set to generate innovative solutions and the mindset to reflect on the impact your work has on the world. Bonus: You’ll graduate with a concentration in leadership, too

Explore our E-Lead program.

Study abroad

Expand your physical therapy education by studying abroad. Study program course work at prestigious universities around the world. Other international opportunities are available for physical therapy students through core courses, summer study, language study, faculty-led programs or research.

Check out our study abroad programs.

 

What to expect from a Marquette degree

A Marquette education equips students to thrive professionally and personally through holistic student support, career preparation and an extended family that can't wait to meet you. But don't just take our word for it. 

#6

#6 Best College In Job Placement /#1 in Wisconsin

Zippia.com

#20

Top 20 national PT program

U.S. News & World Report

#55 

#55 in Student Outcomes 

The Wall Street Journal 

Aerial of campus
 

Take the next step.