PT Program Outcome Statistics

There are a variety of outcome measures that our Doctoral Program in Physical Therapy uses to assess the success of the program and our graduates. The Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) has identified three of these measures for which all accredited physical therapy programs are required to provide the public with current information. These data can be useful for prospective students and others to help evaluate the quality of each academic program. They are only three outcome measures and do not provide a total picture of any program, but they do give a comparison point on three important measures.

*The last cohort of students from the Houghton campus will graduate in May 2026.  Their outcome data will remain on the website until the end of 2026 to meet CAPTE requirements for publishing program outcomes. 

Graduation rate

The graduation rate represents the percentage of students who are academically successful and are able to graduate from the program with the cohort of students with whom they started. Students can fail to graduate or withdraw from a program for a variety of reasons from a change in life plans to academic difficulty. The graduation rate does not reflect students who may have to decelerate their progress due to personal or medical reasons. These students may graduate, but not with the cohort in which they started. This statistic does not consider the reasons for withdrawal, but only the timely completion rate.

National physical therapy examination (NPTE) pass rate

The first-time pass rate represents the percentage of students who pass the licensure exam on their first attempt. There are many reasons why a student could fail to pass the licensure exam from not having adequately prepared to text anxiety. We provide resources for our students to assist in having this number as close to 100% as possible. The ultimate pass rate represents the pass rate of first-time test takers combined with the test results of students who retook the exam within the posted year. Our goal for this number is 100%. Per the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, since there are many factors that influence the first-time pass rate, the ultimate pass rate may be more indicative of a school's overall performance. To compare our program's pass rates with the pass rate of all physical therapy students in a given calendar year, individuals are directed to the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy website.

NPTE first-time pass rate by years

NPTE ultimate pass rate by years

*Students who have yet to pass the exam are still eligible to retake it.

Employment rate

This is a self-explanatory statistic. The employment rate is the percentage of program graduates who seek employment and are employed as physical therapists within six months of passing their licensure exam.