University of Hartford DPT

[FuturePT24]

I was wondering if anyone has heard anything about this program. I was recently accepted and am visiting next week, but it would be nice to see other people's perspectives. I guess it's not as popular because it's not on PTCAS?

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[skiflutept]

I'm actually a senior in the BS/DPT program at Hartford. What would you like to know?

 

[FuturePT24]

I'm actually a senior in the BS/DPT program at Hartford. What would you like to know?

I was wondering what campus is like, and if people in the program generally have to live off campus and commute. Also I'd like to know how you like the professors and the general structure of classes.

 

[skiflutept]

The campus is broken up into an academic side (all academic buildings) and the residential side (dorms, dining hall, & athletic facilities). At the moment all of the PT classes take place on the academic side on the 4th floor of the science building-Dana Hall. Rumor has it that they're looking to expand the class size from low-mid 40's to 60 students. Because of this they're supposedly turning the first floor of one of the wings of a dorm into more PT classrooms and faculty offices (which we think is odd). They were supposed to start the construction over winter break and be done with it in time for classes to start in June, but I'm not 100% sure if they're actually working on it.

I think just about everyone if not all PT students live off campus. The university has very limited grad student housing. A lot of people are from Connecticut or Western Mass so they live at home with their parents to save money.

There's 12 full-time professors and a fair number of adjuncts. A few of the professors are clinical specialists. I can only personally speak of a couple of PT professors. I'm still finishing up undergrad so the majority of my classes have been outside of the PT department. I've had classes taught by Dr. Barbara Crane and Dr. Mary Gannotti and thought they were pretty good. I know there's some professors who the DPT students don't particularly like for various reasons.

I believe that the classes are a regular format (as opposed to problem-based learning). I remember that during my freshmen year, they were trying out "flipped classrooms" in a few classes but I haven't really heard anything about it since so I wonder if they decided not to fully implement it. One thing that did concern me is that they typically can't fit an entire class in one room so during lecture, they split the class in half and in one room, the professor would lecture in one room and then it gets live streamed into the other room where the rest of the class is sitting. This may not be a problem for the entering DPT class because the class size is smaller than usual (my class size right now is in the low 20's). A lot of kids didn't make it past sophomore year.

I will actually not be staying at Hartford for grad school-I have decided to attend Rutgers University. There were a bunch of things that factored into my decision and had I not gotten accepted to Rutgers, I would be staying at Hartford for PT school. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

 

[FuturePT24]

The campus is broken up into an academic side (all academic buildings) and the residential side (dorms, dining hall, & athletic facilities). At the moment all of the PT classes take place on the academic side on the 4th floor of the science building-Dana Hall. Rumor has it that they're looking to expand the class size from low-mid 40's to 60 students. Because of this they're supposedly turning the first floor of one of the wings of a dorm into more PT classrooms and faculty offices (which we think is odd). They were supposed to start the construction over winter break and be done with it in time for classes to start in June, but I'm not 100% sure if they're actually working on it.

I think just about everyone if not all PT students live off campus. The university has very limited grad student housing. A lot of people are from Connecticut or Western Mass so they live at home with their parents to save money.

There's 12 full-time professors and a fair number of adjuncts. A few of the professors are clinical specialists. I can only personally speak of a couple of PT professors. I'm still finishing up undergrad so the majority of my classes have been outside of the PT department. I've had classes taught by Dr. Barbara Crane and Dr. Mary Gannotti and thought they were pretty good. I know there's some professors who the DPT students don't particularly like for various reasons.

I believe that the classes are a regular format (as opposed to problem-based learning). I remember that during my freshmen year, they were trying out "flipped classrooms" in a few classes but I haven't really heard anything about it since so I wonder if they decided not to fully implement it. One thing that did concern me is that they typically can't fit an entire class in one room so during lecture, they split the class in half and in one room, the professor would lecture in one room and then it gets live streamed into the other room where the rest of the class is sitting. This may not be a problem for the entering DPT class because the class size is smaller than usual (my class size right now is in the low 20's). A lot of kids didn't make it past sophomore year.

I will actually not be staying at Hartford for grad school-I have decided to attend Rutgers University. There were a bunch of things that factored into my decision and had I not gotten accepted to Rutgers, I would be staying at Hartford for PT school. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them!

Thanks for giving me such a descriptive response! Sorry for responding so late, I always browse this website on my phone and not my computer (but now I'm finally on my computer). That makes the school sound somewhat unattractive, they don't have space for everyone in their classrooms? How are the people in the TV room supposed to engage in class and ask the professors questions? I guess a plus to this could be that lectures are recorded and maybe posted online as well?

Could you also tell me how you feel about the campus life in general? I don't live close enough to West Hartford to live at home, and I'd be renting an apartment on my own. Do you feel like you like the general student population there and have made a lot of friends? Is there a strong sense of community? I don't really want to go to a new town and feel completely on my own.

 

[skiflutept]

The classroom size is a definite issue. When they announced the construction of more classrooms, they made it like it was supposed to give more room for the program, but that was before I heard anything about them wanting to increase the class size. I'm not sure if the lectures are recorded. The school does have something called "lecture cast" but only some of my undergrad professors have used it. I can ask some of my friends who are DPT 2's what the professors do if you would like.

Overall, the student population is fine. As a DPT student, you'll really only interact with the other DPT students and maybe the MSPO students from time to time. For the most part, the grad students don't participate in clubs or activities. Sometimes the DPT students will make an intramural sports team and you can play in the pep band if you play an instrument. There's also a physical therapy student association. I have a lot of acquaintances and a few close friends. I don't know if I would say there's a strong sense of community at the university. The kids in my class are kind of cliquey but the other DPT classes seem to get a long really well-they're always having parties and helping each other with schoolwork so maybe everyone's attitude towards each other will change. I also wouldn't be surprised if there will be a lot of post-bac students entering the program this year, because like I said, my class is smaller than usual.