University of St Augustine for Health Sciences Reviews

"I was able to do the tDPT, which was perfect for me at the time to be able to work, start a family and continue my education. The schedule was flexible and met my needs. The instructors were top-notch and really cared about each student. I continue to recommend USA to undergraduate students that come into our clinic to shadow that are interested in our profession. Now with so many campuses and the FLEX program, this school seems like the perfect choice."

"I’ve completed my didactic coursework at the University of St. Augustine (USA) and I felt compelled to write a full review / opinion piece as this is the largest health science school in the states that offers the DPT program and it's that time for new applicants. I’ve spent many hours writing this, so I hope you read through and get something out of it, but TLDR at the bottom. For anonymity purposes, I will not be revealing my campus location. I’ll start by addressing some old negative reviews on reddit and other forums, regarding a few things, mainly, a bad case of a mislabeled PA program that happened about a decade ago, disorganization, the ‘very expensive’ argument, and most recently, the school being a ‘mill program.’ As a disclaimer, I may have some inherent bias, seeing as I will soon be a USA alumni, though I will do my best to outline my likes and dislikes as truthfully as possible without making undue defenses about the school. To begin, there was mismanagement/miscommunication with this strangely titled PA, or as I understand, “Orthopedic Assistant” program about a decade ago back in 2011. However, it really doesn’t bear any meaning to the current DPT program. USA’s DPT program is widely known, reputable, the school’s main revenue source, and obviously CAPTE accredited (barring any new campus) – they’re making millions for Atlas Partners, and they won’t mess up their cash cow. There is no issue here and there has not been any other public class action legal matters with USA in a long time. In general, I’d say USA has a good track record aside from this one fluke. With regards to disorganization, I believe this was more an issue early in the integration of the DPT programs at various campuses. Now, the curriculum seems fairly streamlined, fine-tuned, and they are consistently looking for feedback with surveys, plus each cohort meets every term with the program director. Classes build on each other and overlap intentionally very well term by term. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s not terrible by any means. Forum posts such as [See link 1.] are now quite inaccurate and not current to how USA operates. Elephant in the room, it’s expensive – yes. As of writing this for any new attendees, tuition for the residential DPT is roughly $110k (San Marcos campus 125k). It’s a lot, and sure, there are publics for $60-90k and as low as 32k (UTEP), which I would always recommend taking instead, but USA hovers at the average cost of a private PT school in the nation (avg is ~113k as of this post). Basically, all privates are expensive. However, it’s not the worst, compared to something like NYU DPT at 155k or USC at 200k for tuition alone, USA isn’t outrageous. My opinion on debt: if you can graduate with no more than around 150k in total debt (undergrad + grad), then PT is a reasonable, within limits, financial decision. If you live frugally for a few years upon graduating, you can pay down loans rather quickly (this includes no stupid spending, no graduation gifts of nice cars, no Kenzo bags, and no traveling every month – referring to the girl on Millennial Money who was a USA grad – [See link 2]). If you already have 30-50k from undergrad, not getting assistance from parents, and are looking to attend USA or another 100k+ private school, I strongly suggest a different career path - or school if you are adamant with PT. You will likely be graduating with a total sum of over 200k in debt, which is absolutely crushing on a starting PT salary (~65-75k in most states). You’ll be paying that off for many years. Improve your application, work a part time job to save up money, and try to get into a cheaper public state school next year. I will say this, the best school is the cheapest school. USA is NOT worth the $110,000 price tag if you have the option of a different school that costs half or even ¾’s that amount. What has now become the most criticized topic of USA: the voluminous amounts of students passing through the program (See link 3). It is true, USA graduates the highest amount of DPT students in the entire nation, accounting for roughly 4% of all DPT graduates annually. There are both positives and negatives to this. Simply put, USA has a different academic and business model to most schools. Instead of diversifying into many undergraduate and graduate programs, they have developed a prominent academic niche in the rehabilitation and health science sector. Paris and Patla did not have the capital in 1979 to create a large-scale University for all fields, I also doubt they were interested in that anyways, so they instead decided to make it solely PT based, which later expanded to other health and rehabilitation sectors. The reality is, USA is a very small private school compared to most Universities, with a valuation of what I estimate to be around half a billion dollars. The positives are that the school has a large focus on constantly improving, funding, and streamlining the DPT program. In other Universities, the DPT program makes up a small portion of revenue and staff in proportion. With the ability for USA professors to teach the same class three times per year, they can obtain 3x the amount of feedback and better the curriculum for the next cohorts to come. This can also be seen in a positive light for students looking to be accepted into a PT school. More seats need to be filled, which means more opportunities to get accepted. The unappealing perspective this creates on the school is the negative disposition of opportunities for students who are not as diligent about their studies to get admitted to the program. More lax admissions have been thought to signify a less competitive school. Cheating is another issue with the high number of students concentrated in a single program, though I will address my thoughts on that later. Ultimately, I believe that it’s not solely the school that makes the student academically successful, but also the student’s own willingness and work ethic to succeed. Side story, I went to a ‘party school’ in undergrad, but quickly realized it’s only a party school if you chose to make it one. There were many students at my undergraduate university studying into the late hours of the night, obtaining 4.0 GPA’s. Likewise, any student can make Harvard or Stanford a party school if that is their prerogative. What I’m getting at is, just because there are some sub-par students that get admitted, will not make you a sub-par clinician or the school a sub-par university. It is entirely up to you to chose to succeed. In the end, all students from every accredited PT program must pass the boards examination to obtain their PT license. If you pass your boards examination, you’ve proven competency, and the school you attended has little bearing on your prospects or skills as a clinician. It’s up to you to decide how far you want to excel in the field. There is an argument for saturating the market, but the truth is, it’s not just USA, but every new PT program that is now being added. There is now emerging the new trend of 2 year accelerated hybrid PT programs, being advertised everywhere on IG and FB which cut an entire year of education but leave the burden of tuition at the same price as a 3 year, whilst using the awful US News Top PT Schools as their evidence of a successful program. If you ask me, that is truly the new plague of PT program saturation. PT program saturation is not the fault of USA alone, but of every school that is deciding to add the curriculum or start up these new 2-year pop-ups. The monster isn’t USA, the monster is the ~260 programs that now exist in the nation. You cannot blame a gridlock or traffic jam on one car alone. If you believe that the field is saturated, then I implore you to seek out different opportunities or careers in the healthcare field. Now that these are addressed, I’ll get to what I think about the school. I believe that all professors want you to succeed and truly care about the education you’re paying for, and they know you’re paying a lot. Many professors who taught me were ABPTS Specialists, Fellows, authors, or held other titles such as CHT. All the professors are very well trained and knowledgeable with years of experience in the field. As you may have heard, it’s a manual therapy driven school, which is accurate. The campuses itself aren’t really a typical college campus, but more so an office building space. The campus I went to was very high-tech, up-to-date, and generally felt like a very clean and professional environment, sort of like those Hollywood laboratory sets that look picture perfect. All equipment was high end: one of our classrooms had 18 displays and 4 flat screen TVs alone, all labs have modular hydraulic metal treatment tables (no cheap wooden massage tables from 15 years ago), plenty of models available on hand…etc. It at least feels like you get what you’re paying for, even though you’re still overpaying. And trust me, if I had the option, I’d use wooden treatment tables to save 40 grand on tuition, but unfortunately, I didn’t have that option. One thing to note, you will almost never use the flashy equipment you see on the advertisements. The Anatomage table? Used that in only two class sessions over the entire 2-year didactic program. The SIM lab with that fancy two-way mirror and viewing room? Used that only one time at the beginning of the program. Same was said from the OT class, that ADL simulation room with the driving seat? They never used it. It’s all just icing on the cake for students and parents of the students to see. The flashy items are purchased to sell you, not to educate you. One thing I do greatly applaud the school for was their amazing gross anatomy wet lab. When I began the program, our entire cohort got the opportunity to dissect 8 different cadavers, 4 of which were entirely new and untouched. This is something most DPT students do not get in regular universities since it’s the MD students that get to work most with the cadavers. Of the things I felt my tuition was truly paying for, the professors and the anatomy wet lab were on the top of my list. The school handled COVID very well. At no point did the program halt or get delayed, as they were easily able to transition to an online setting since they had experience from their flex programs. When we did slowly return to class, we were given extensive PPE (gloves, masks, face shields) that were required to be worn. We never had any serious COVID outbreaks in the school. Overall, classes aren’t bad. Some are more challenging than others, though relatively few truly difficult and demanding courses exist. After finishing this program, I can say with confidence that I had more challenging courses in my undergraduate Bachelors of Exercise Science program at a state university. In terms of overall workload, the 6-7 classes per term seems daunting, however, you don’t have to put too many hours outside of class for most classes when there aren’t exams or practicals. Many classes are informally known by students (and professors) as backburner classes: a class that you don’t need to either place any focus on until 2-4 days before the upcoming exam or be consistent with keeping up in content. Also, a good chunk of the classes in the USA curriculum are simply busy-work courses wherein you do not really learn much material. For example, in term 6, the Administration, Geriatrics, and Wellness courses are blatant filler courses that have no substantial learning purpose and are just there as credit fillers and assignment churners. Much to my surprise, the program is also very light in written assignments and essays. On average, most papers I had to write were only 1-2 pages in length. The longest paper I wrote in the program, individually, was about 4 pages. Seeing as this was a doctoral program, I was awed but thankful that I never had to write a single double-digit page paper by myself, though we did have a few group papers in double digits. In the average week with no upcoming exams, you can expect to comfortably study for 1-2 hours outside of class and have ample time available for leisure, exercise, and social activities. When an exam comes for a class, I shifted focus shifts towards that one class 3-5 days before the exam. I assume that’s how most of my cohort and I have work through each term. No, you won’t be spending 8 hours per day for the next 2 years studying. 1-2 hours per day outside of class with no exams coming up, and 3-5 hours per day 2-3 days before an exam, should generally get you a passing grade (excluding heavy courses like anatomy and biomechanics where keeping up with material is fairly vital). The information they present seems slightly dated, especially MSK, old images and pictures used back in the 90s and early 2000s during the Paris and Patla days, but they still give you the most recent clinical practice guidelines. For the price I am paying, I wish they had slightly more up to date material, even if it is just visually. With everything said, I believe the school prepares you well to become a competent clinician when you graduate. Clinical internships are where USA still hasn’t perfectly fit the mold yet. You can expect to be placed in a completely remote location, a setting that you did not want, or be placed at the very last minute. With COVID, we even have students that have had placements cancelled last minute (though this isn’t necessarily the fault of USA). Unfortunately, you really have no official say in the matter and it’s up to the school and clinical coordinator staff to place you. Generally speaking, you will be placed, and you will graduate on time, this isn’t something to worry about unless you’re very picky and decline the options they give you. I say, just take what you get, it’s only a temporary move. The next thing I’ll say is that the school does not want you to fail or flunk out. They have several tactics to actually help keep you in. My overall opinion on the difficulty of the program, as mentioned before, is that it was much easier than I anticipated. Not that it did not have it’s challenging or stressful moments, but I expected far more arduous and challenging work from a doctorate program. Most courses are weighted to having 50-60% of the course be in exam and quizzes, 20-40% in practicals, and the rest of the grade be miscellaneous assignments. In general, most students pass the practicals with an A, and they are simply grade boosters and allow for worse grades in the written/didactic exams. I managed to get through the program without failing a single practical, and in most practicals I received an A. The professors are generally lenient and only take a modest amount of points off for errors. Failure typically only occurs in an autofail setting (safety or major error). With each practical, only a handful of students have had this happen to them. During my final MSK practical, I completely blanked on a manipulation that I missed in my studies, but still passed with an A. Practicals are more there to psychologically stress you and psych you out to study, but the reality is, you will pass most practicals with ease and will find yourself saying it wasn’t that bad. If you do the math, getting an A on the practicals and completing all the assignments with good grades, you’re given plenty of leeway to do bad on the exams. There is no passing grade requirement for didactic exams or final exams, just the overall grade. There was not a single point in the curriculum where I was in a pass or fail situation for a class based on a final exam. In all honestly, many students slack on finals, because they calculate their current grade, see that they only need a 40% on the final exam, and don’t bother studying for that final exam at all. The university has a hidden agenda of requiring minimum weighing of practicals in all courses (20% I believe), so students have a less likely chance to flunk out and buffers against bad written exam grades. In addition, another artificial GPA booster tactic that the school employs is a skewed grading system. Per the system, you’re given a wide 0.5% rounding to the next letter grade (i.e. a 89.50 is an A). More significantly, there are no minuses in USA’s grading system, only pluses (i.e a B+ does exist, but a B- does not). I finished didactics with about a 3.5, however, had I been given minuses where deserved, my GPA would have more realistically been a 3.2-3.3. Since this is a doctorate program, I believe a much more stringent grading policy should have been followed. As it stands, I believe the pass rate for classes overall is far too high compared to the work students are putting in. The Residential DPT Program at USA is overall well didactically coordinated, and professors care for your success. The terms are built to synergize and build onto each other. The school doesn’t sacrifice quality for quantity but does allow for some sub-par students to slip through due to the sheer number of seats that need to be filled. I did not find the program to be extremely challenging and encountered harder courses in my undergraduate degree at a state university. Though not stress free, I expected a tougher program. The most difficult terms for me were 2 and 4, though I felt I learned the most content term 1. I would not recommend attending if you will graduate with over 150k in student loans and plan to work in a 65k average new grad starting salary area - unless you have a very specific plan of living frugally and quickly reducing loan debt. The best school is always the cheapest CAPTE accredited school you are offered acceptance to. Good luck!Read Less"

"All my fears about this institution not caring about anything (but money) came true within my first few weeks. They are using this pandemic as an excuse to cut costs and the student body from actually utilizing the campus. They only allowed us on campus 1 day a week (for only 8 weeks) last trimester. I know several other people (in DPT programs) who are on campus, almost 4-5 days a week. Yet they expect the students to fully grasp the materials (especially in regard to practicals). Physical Therapy is a hands on profession. If you want to call it a "residential program", then let the kids on campus. I do not trust my education here anymore. I genuinely regret enrolling here. Unfortunately, transferring schools (within DPT) is not an easy process. DO NOT GO HERE. YOU WILL WASTE YOUR MONEY, MORE IMPORTANTLY YOUR PRECIOUS TIME.Read Less"

"This school only cares about money. They care nothing about the students at the miami campus. The campus director acts like he cares and will speak to the program director but nothing happens once you speak with them. There are only a couple of professors that really truly care about students. The school is very white washed . Although this may be the most diverse campus, none of the professors have taken the time to address whats going on in the world today as it relates to African Americans. They treat students like they are 10 year olds and lack respect but demand it every chance they get.. Run far away from this place.Read Less"

"The University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences is a small two building institution that is perfect for the individual who loves small town universities. While class sizes are considered large for a graduate program, your individual needs are always valued and attended to. The professors are some of the most well-rounded people I have ever met and they truly see you as a future colleague rather than a student. The program itself is challenging as any graduate program should be. But USA offers so many services, such as tutoring or even counseling to ensure that you feel prepared as a future professional. The one thing that I believe sets the University of St. Augustine apart from other Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy programs is the level of stress they put on professionalism. This is an aspect that I think is greatly overlooked when applying to graduate school, but an aspect that is one of the most important as a future professional (in your field of choice). Students graduate with superior reputations and are often times offered jobs before reaching graduation. At the University of St. Augustine, a proper education is guaranteed, and it doesn't hurt to be five minutes from the beach either.Read Less"

"I am currently in the Flex Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the University of St. Augustine in San Marcos, California. It is a program that is partially on-line and partially in person, typically one to two weekends a month. This program is fantastic for a non traditional student. I am able to continue to work and be there for my daughter; while at the same time expanding my education. I do find it difficult to connect to the teachers as often the online teacher is not the same as your lab instructor; and may also be not local. Overall, I feel it is a good quality program and I feel that I have learned and grown from the experience.Read Less"

"Physical Therapy was the light in a tunnel of darkness for me in my life. When I had lost all hope for my future, my physical therapist was the catalyst to keep me pursuing my dreams. I want to provide this ardent light for others. It brings me great joy to see how many people recover from injuries and seeing the personal impact that a physical therapist has on their lives. Helping people change their lives by assisting them in continuing to do something that they thought they would never be able to do again provides a sense of accomplishment that material things in life never allow one to achieve. St.Augustine University has a blended education, which is both online and in-person. The courses are constructed to ensure that current knowledge and competent therapist are produced to contribute to society. I recommend this University to any student who is passionate about their area of study and would like a greater knowledge in the area of health sciences.Read Less"

"Starting out, the University of St. Augustines campus is far from an eye sore. Overlooking the intercostal definitely gives it a certain wow factor. I am currently attending the full time flex program so that I am able to maintain a part-time job while attending. Traveling has become a big part of my life because I live 4 hours from the campus. I initially set forth to attend the campus program but I did not get in. Though challenging at times, the payoff will be very rewarding. I am not going to sugar coat this universitys faults because there are many. Upon arrival for orientation, the staff and program president were eager to help in any way and answer all of our questions. Later this day we started our classes with two teachers, with doctoral degrees, who lacked the necessary organization to control a smooth transition during our anatomy lab. Frustrated, we began to orchestrate this lab ourselves and meet our own needs with the short 4 hours we had. When we attend campus on the weekends there is no time for un-organization we have 4 hours on Saturday and 4 hours on Sunday to cram all of the information the campus program has attained in 3-4 weeks into our heads. So it is vital to our success that the teachers be organized and help answer any questions we have. It is hard to pay such a substantial amount each term to attend the university when you feel you are not heard. It seems the flex students get pushed to the side while the campus students get all the help and attention. During our weekdays, as a flex student, we are required to shuffle through an extended amount of course notes that have not been updated in 8-10 years. The teachers are hard to understand on the videos because of their thick accents and poor audio quality. However, there has been a complete curriculum change that takes place next year (2017), so for upcoming students this is a great thing! Some positives about the school is that not all of the instructors are unsatisfactory. Certain teachers have definitely made a positive impact on my time at the university. Also, in my current semester we get to work with 10 cadavers. I didnt think the university would provide us with that many but it certainly helps to see a variety of different bodies. So in closing, there are positives and negatives to every university. As it seems, the faculty and staff are undergoing changes so they are aware of the problems and working on a solution to fix them.Read Less"

"I am excited to continue my education with University of St. Augustine. I have worked with many alum and current students and find they are well prepared to be successful in the field. The program came highly recommended to me from former students. In addition the university is currently doing construction to update their buildings and labs to benefit future students and facilitate a progressive learning environment."

"I just concluded the first term of the Part-time Flex program. Pros: I can live at home (about an hour away) and keep my two part-time jobs (don't have to take out loans to cover living expenses). Slower pace than the full-time program. Cons: don't get a lot of time with classmates and very little face time with the professors."

"I actually just finished my first trimester of PT school, out of a total of 12. So far, it's been good. Lecture portions are taken on-line and the lab portions are on campus, so we get exposure to both environments. The FLEX program is nice and convenient as we have the option to work during the week."

"USA has a really good faculty that is there to support you 100%. They are extremely knowledgeable and they do a great job getting people from all sorts of backgrounds. They are really good at bringing in clinical examples and real life experiences. The overall workload is manageable, but since it is an accelerated program there is a lot to get done in a short amount of time. The school needs some work on the IT side as far as better wi-fi at the school and working on the online portal, but it's being worked on. If you want to do research there are opportunities, but it is not a research oriented school. It's a blended format so you have most classes face to face but some online which is nice because it makes scheduling easier. It's a small graduate professional school so you get to know both your classmates and faculty very well!Read Less"

"Professors are awesome, they really make themselves available for students. Cost of program is high."

"The best AND worst part of the doctorate of physical therapy program at the University of St. Augustine is that it is an accelerated program. We absolutely learn everything we need--and more--in order to be competent physical therapists, but it is a very rapid pace. Staying on top of the load is difficult, but manageable."

"Pros: Small class size helps with getting quality time with the professors. The surrounding neighborhood feels safe during the day and night. Cons: Cost of living is pretty expensive."

"The class size is small and you get a good amount of quality time with the professors. The cons are the cost of living around the area could be expensive. It helps to have a roommate."

"The University of St. Augustine is a very tight knit group of individuals in regards to the faculty as well as the students. USA was built on a student first philosophy and the program does what it can to meet the students needs. USA has highly recognized faculty with decades of experience and research. The campus is fairly new, but the program is well established. USA plans on expanding across the nation."

"The physical therapy program is an accelerated program with a high workload. The faculty expect students to display professionalism which is great because it prepares us to be professional in the clinic. The cost of the program is extremely high and there are many associated fees. However, the value of the education is also great because the professors are very knowledgable and available for help. The structure of the program helps facilitate learning because it includes a lot of hands on and interactive skills. Physical therapy students collaborate with occupational therapy students to provide a multidisciplinary approach to patient care.Read Less"

"The school is great because they set up job fairs 2 times a year. However, the school has difficulty placing students where they would like to go for internships. The education and teaching staff are all excellent. The workload is extremely intense but definitely doable."

"I feel like i is a good school, but there are some technology issues that set the program a little behind other schools. It is also pretty expensive with not alot of options for help."