DPT programs for Air Force active duty officers

[LineFlyer82]

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I am a rated AF officer (Maj) with 13+ years (prior enlisted) total active federal military service and I am looking to cross over to being a DPT in the Air Force. Does anyone have more info on doing a similar transition and what was your experience (good and bad) and what program did you do and/or recommend? Thanks for your help in advance!

 

[tcpt]

www.baylor.edu/graduate/pt

Army-Baylor DPT is your best bet. AD USAF personnel can transition into BSC (biomedical science corps) from either enlisted or officer branches. Each year the USAF gets 2-4 seats (it varies) which are filled by USAFA graduates, USAF ROTC graduates, prior enlisted, or prior officers from other USAF branches. All go through the program as 2Lt-Capt BSC officers.

Your total time in commissioned service may be working against you, but you'll need to read up and learn all the prerequisite requirements at the website. AFPC (Ms. Cardosi) is helpful, and/or find another BSC officer at your base. I am not sure if the BSC sets years in service or seniority limits on officers whom they allow to change over from other branches--they may, so FYSA.

Alternatively, you could ETS or retire and pursue DPT at a civilian program and then reenter the USAF.

Good luck!

 

[Hinges]

You can't get into the program because you have over 7 years already served. There isn't enough retainability for you to go through the program. I was on the enlisted side and looked at this heavily. The program is pretty strict with no more 7 years enlisted served so I can imagine it is even worse for officers. You basically asking them to let you join the program for 3 years, graduate, and then serve a few more years. Your only choice is to retire at 15 or 20 years and then pay out of your own pocket/GI-Bill to become a physical therapist.

 

[scrawnyguy]

You can't get into the program because you have over 7 years already served. There isn't enough retainability for you to go through the program. I was on the enlisted side and looked at this heavily. The program is pretty strict with no more 7 years enlisted served so I can imagine it is even worse for officers. You basically asking them to let you join the program for 3 years, graduate, and then serve a few more years. Your only choice is to retire at 15 or 20 years and then pay out of your own pocket/GI-Bill to become a physical therapist.

Did someone tell you this recently? I had over 14 years of total service and more than 10 years of those years were active when I entered the program just over a year ago. There's an Air Force student who was enlisted for about the same amount of time, as well as a senior CPT in the program who I believe is about to pin Major in the next year or so.

 

[Hinges]

I was working with the admissions counselor the last 2 years when I was trying to get into the program. As of last fall, they told me 7 years is the cutoff because of retainability. Who knows things could have changed. They were pretty strict on the rules, but I stopped talking to them the last 6 months because the new counselor is pretty horrible. The guy was good at answering questions but the female never responds.

 

[scrawnyguy]

I was working with the admissions counselor the last 2 years when I was trying to get into the program. As of last fall, they told me 7 years is the cutoff because of retainability. Who knows things could have changed. They were pretty strict on the rules, but I stopped talking to them the last 6 months because the new counselor is pretty horrible. The guy was good at answering questions but the female never responds.

@tcpt is actually the new program director so he might be able to provide some additional details in regards to program specific requirements, but as he pointed out before each service has their own requirements/restrictions. The POC he provided above can answer questions regarding Air Force specific questions. I know that for my class and those before this wasn't an issue. Perhaps something changed after I entered the program.

 

[LineFlyer82]

I am a rated AF officer (Maj) with 13+ years (prior enlisted) total active federal military service and I am looking to cross over to being a DPT in the Air Force. Does anyone have more info on doing a similar transition and what was your experience (good and bad) and what program did you do and/or recommend? Thanks for your help in advance!

Thanks for all of the replies! I recently contacted the DPT coordinator at AFPC and she gave me a lot of good info. From her reply email to me, it seems that my total active federal military service time won’t be an issue. The biggest hurdle will be getting my AFPC functional manager to state I will be released so that I can apply to the DPT program at Baylor. Thanks again.

LineFlyer82