DPT Program Matching Tool

Know The
Full Picture
Before You Apply.

Choosing a DPT program without understanding the financials is like signing a 30-year mortgage blindfolded. The gap between the right program and the wrong one can be more than $200,000 in debt. We built the tool we wish we had.

See your top 3 matches — free Our story ↓
Free · No credit card · Your top 3 in under a minute
282
Fully accredited DPT programs with verified outcome data
$208K
Debt spread between programs
$0
Our student loan debt
The financial reality

Most students pick a program.
Then figure out the debt.
That’s backwards.

The average DPT graduate carries about $116,000 in PT-education debt (APTA, 2020). But that average hides a range that runs from roughly $1,000 to more than $200,000 across accredited programs — programs that can produce identical career outcomes. The program you choose is the most significant financial decision of your PT career. Make it with data.

$210K
Highest DPT-program debt in our dataset
Western University of Health Sciences — OR campus. A fully accredited program producing licensed PTs.
$116K
National avg PT-education debt (APTA, 2020)
The most recent national benchmark — often exceeding a graduate’s entire first-year salary before they see their first patient.
$1K
Lowest DPT-program debt in our dataset
Western Carolina University. Same accreditation. Same license. Same career. Over $208,000 less than the most expensive program.
Try it free — no credit card needed

Get your top 3
programs free.

Run the full matching tool right now — answer three questions and see your top 3 best-fit programs instantly. No credit card. No waiting.

Step 1 of 3
Where are you?
Your home state triggers in-state tuition rates automatically. Preferred states shape your location score.
Home state
We'll apply in-state tuition where you currently qualify.
Preferred states (up to 8 — skip if open to anywhere)
Programs in these states score highest for location.
Step 2 of 3
What matters most?
Tap categories in order of importance — most important first.
Your priority order will appear here
Financial
Tuition, cost of living, debt outcomes
Outcomes
NPTE pass rates, grad employment
Academic fit
Curriculum focus, selectivity
Location
Preferred states, region
Program specifics
Clinical vs. research focus, residency pipeline, specializations
Select at least one
Step 3 of 3
Fine-tune your weights.
Pre-loaded from your priorities. Adjust anything. Set to 0 to remove a factor entirely.
Your results are ready
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What the tool gives you

Every number
that matters.
In one place.

We spent hundreds of hours pulling verified data from CAPTE financial fact sheets, FSBPT pass rate reports, and BLS wage data. This is what we wished existed when we were applying.

Real average grad debt
CAPTE-required financial fact sheets report actual average debt for each program’s graduating class — not estimated costs. This is the number that changes everything.
NPTE first-time pass rates
The single most objective quality signal. National range is 38.9% to 100%. Two programs can look identical on paper and differ by 60 points on this number.
In-state tuition intelligence
We flag your in-state eligibility automatically and surface every school where establishing residency could save you $30,000–$60,000. Including Texas’s scholarship-to-in-state law.
Weighted to your priorities
Clinical vs. research focus. Cohort size. Location. Cost of living. Employment outcomes. You control the weights. The algorithm surfaces your genuine best-fit programs — not a generic ranking.
Debt-to-income ratio
Every result is benchmarked against a $75K new grad salary anchor. You see instantly whether the debt load is manageable — or a 20-year financial anchor.
282 fully accredited DPT programs with verified outcome data
Every CAPTE-accredited DPT program in the country. Verified data. No guessing. No spending 40 hours on program websites to gather what’s already in one place here.
See my top 3 — free →
Chad and Jacie at TTUHSC White Coat Ceremony
$0
Student loan debt after graduating from TTUHSC DPT program
Our story

We built a
spreadsheet.
It changed
everything.

When Chad decided he wanted to go to PT school, we knew one thing going in: we didn’t want a massive student loan payment waiting for us on the other side. We wanted Chad to be able to choose where he worked based on passion and fit — not on a salary that could service six figures of debt.

So we built a weighted comparison spreadsheet. Nothing fancy — just Excel formulas scoring each program on location, cost of living, tuition, NPTE outcomes, acceptance rate, and clinical vs. research focus on a 1-to-10 scale.

After hours of research, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center emerged as our clear #1. It wasn’t even on our radar before the data. Tuition was cheaper than in-state Utah programs. Cost of living in Lubbock was low. The NPTE pass rate was strong. The program was clinically focused — exactly what Chad wanted.

He got in. We went. He graduated with his DPT. We have two daughters and zero student loan debt.

We built this tool so every pre-PT student has what we built for ourselves — without the hours of research. Because the right program for you is out there. You just need the right data to find it.

And to those who say a DPT isn’t worth it: we’d push back. Physical therapists are experts in human movement, biomechanics, and injury prevention and rehabilitation in a growing field where quality care is genuinely needed. The degree is worth it. Uninformed program selection is the problem — not the profession.

Use the tool we built →
How it works

Four steps to your
shortlist.

No account. No fluff. Tell us your priorities and we rank every accredited program against them.

1
Set your location
Enter your home state and any states you’d consider. We automatically apply in-state tuition where you qualify and flag every school where establishing residency could cut your total cost by $30,000 or more.
2
Rank your priorities
Tap categories in order of importance: Financial, Outcomes, Academic Fit, Location, Program Specifics. This pre-loads your weight sliders based on what you actually care about.
3
Fine-tune the weights
Every individual criterion gets its own 0–10 slider. Free housing lined up? Zero out cost of living. Obsessed with NPTE pass rates? Max that out. The algorithm responds to what you actually value.
4
See your ranked results
Your top 10 programs ranked by weighted fit score. Each result shows actual average grad debt from CAPTE disclosures, NPTE pass rate, employment outcomes at 6 and 12 months, debt-to-income ratio, and every financial flag we can surface. Use it as your research shortlist — not a final decision.
Start the matching tool →
Sample results

This is what
your results look like.

Ranked by your weighted fit score. Every result includes the financial data that changes your decision.

1
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC · Public · Verified 2025
8.8
Fit score
Avg Grad Debt
$58K
NPTE Pass Rate
93.7%
Employed at 12mo
99%
Debt-to-Income
0.77×
2
University of Montana
Missoula, MT · Public · Verified 2025
8.6
Fit score
Avg Grad Debt
$44K
NPTE Pass Rate
91.4%
Employed at 12mo
96%
Debt-to-Income
0.59×
3
████████████████████
████████ · Public
8.7
Fit score
📊
Your real results are personalized.
This preview uses sample data. Run the tool with your own priorities, home state, and preferences — and get rankings built for you, not a generic list.
✓
Your top 10 best-fit programs, ranked
✓
Real CAPTE-reported average grad debt per program
✓
In-state tuition applied where you qualify
✓
Debt-to-income ratio benchmarked to $75K salary
✓
NPTE pass rates, employment outcomes, residency flags
✓
282 fully accredited programs with verified outcome data
Get my free top 3 →
Pricing

Simple,
transparent pricing.

No subscriptions. No upsells at checkout. Pay once, get your ranked results instantly.

DPT Fit Finder — Full Access
$27
one-time
Instant access · No account required · No subscription
Your top 10 best-fit programs, ranked by your weighted priorities
Real CAPTE-reported average grad debt for every program — the number that changes everything
In-state tuition applied automatically where you qualify, plus residency savings flags
Debt-to-income ratio benchmarked to a $75K new grad salary for every result
NPTE first-time pass rates, employment outcomes at 6 and 12 months
282 fully accredited DPT programs — verified outcome data, candidacy programs excluded
Weighted to your exact priorities — location, financials, outcomes, clinical focus
Get instant access — $27
What you’re actually buying: hours of research you don’t have to do, and confidence that the program you apply to is the right fit — not just the one you happened to find.
📚
Coming soon — The Debt-Free DPT Playbook
Chad and Jacie’s complete strategy for graduating PT school with minimal debt: in-state residency tactics, scholarship hunting, the weighted comparison method, and how they left TTUHSC with zero student loans. Bundle pricing coming at launch.