Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA), AAS

Program Requirements

Students interested in applying to LaGuardia Community College should contact the Admissions Office. New students selecting PTA as their major are considered to be in the pre-clinical phase.

Progression to the technical phase of the program is competitive and is by acceptance into candidacy. Students must apply for candidacy and be accepted in order to enter the technical phase. Successful candidates are scheduled to begin the technical phase in Session II of the following semester (six months after notification of acceptance into the technical phase) Candidates will forfeit their seat in the program if they are unable to begin as scheduled.

Pre-Clinical Phase

The pre-clinical phase of the PTA program consists of all required general education and elective courses, including Key Courses. Pre-clinical students are considered candidates for the technical phase.

Students must first complete, or be in the process of completing, the four key courses with a minimum GPA of 2.50 in the semester they are applying for candidacy.

Eligible students are then ranked according to a scoring system of grades in Key Courses and any pre-clinical courses taken up to the end of the candidacy semester. Learn more about the scoring system and additional candidacy requirements in the PTA Admission Handbook.

All Pre-Clinical courses must be completed prior to the start of the first Clinical course.

Physical Therapy Assistant Information Sheet

Physical Therapist Assistant Program Proof of Residency Requirement

Beginning the fall 2016 semester all students applying for candidacy in the LaGuardia Community College Physical Therapist Assistant Program must provide documentation in one of the following categories, in addition to meeting the program’s candidacy requirements:

• U. S. Citizenship
• Permanent Residency
• International Student with F1 Status
• Deferred Action Status by the U. S. Government Granted Asylum, Refugee Status, Temporary Protected Status, Withholding of Removal

Students who are interested in pursuing a health career and are unable to provide documentation in one of the categories listed above are urged to contact the Office of International Student Services located in Room M166 or call (718) 482-5143 to schedule an appointment. In addition, the City University of New York provides free counseling and assistance to all CUNY students through the CUNY Citizenship and Immigration Project. Further information can be located at the following CUNY website: http://web.cuny.edu/about/citizenship.html.

Candidacy and the Technical Phase

1. In order to apply for PTA candidacy (progression to the technical phase of the PTA Program), you must be a PTA Major.
2. To apply for candidacy, students must register for “Intent to PTA” PTA000.4499 in the first three weeks of a 12 week term.
3. All four of the Key Courses must be completed by the end of that same term that you have registered for “Intent to PTA”.
4. If you are completing a Key Course in the same term that you have registered for “Intent to PTA” and decide to withdraw from the Key Course, you must also withdraw from “Intent to PTA” prior to the official withdrawal date.
5. If you received a grade of C-, D, F or WU for any of the Key Courses and have repeated the course, all grades for the Key Course will be used in evaluating your candidacy.  If you received a grade of C- or below on any of your pre-clinical courses, the course can be repeated with the permission of the Health Sciences Chairperson.
6. Results of the candidacy evaluation will not be available until all grades for the 12-week session have been submitted and the Registrar’s Office has completed the calculations. You will then be notified by the PTA Program with information as to when and where you may obtain the results.
7. If you are not accepted into the technical phase, you may repeat the registration for “Intent to PTA” one more time unless your GPA for the Key Courses is below 2.5 in which case you are no longer eligible to reapply. A student has two attempts for PTA candidacy.
8. Be certain that you are taking the correct courses and see a faculty advisor in E 300 prior to registering. PTA faculty office hours are posted in E 300 each session.