Use of Quantitative Pre-admission Criteria to Predict Academic Difficulty in a Physical Therapy Program at a Historically Black University.

BACKGROUND: The physical therapy profession has historically been characterized by a lack of diversity. The challenge of increasing diversity is exacerbated by the lack of consensus on quantitative measures of performance that predict success in physical therapy programs. The purpose of our study is to determine if quantitative preadmission measures can be used to identify students at risk for academic difficulty in a doctor-of-physical-therapy (DPT) program at a historically Black college/university. A retrospective observational cohort design was used to evaluate factors that contributed to DPT student academic difficulty.

RESULTS: Students who were academically dismissed or experienced academic difficulty had significantly lower quantitative Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and verbal GRE scores than students who graduated without academic difficulty. Based on our findings, quantitative GRE is the most effective quantitative preadmission measure to identify students who are at risk of academic difficulty in a diverse DPT program.