Attention incoming freshman

Yesterday I worked the open house for graduate admissions here at Stockton. My job was to give out information about the different programs for students considering graduate school. I found that most students were those considering to come in as freshman, and there a common question surfaced. They asked what major is needed to be able to apply for their desired grad program. It is a very good question in the endeavor of paving the path and planning your future. The answer, for all of the graduate programs such as, occupational therapy, physical therapy, communications disorder etc. there is no set undergraduate major that has to be taken to apply to these programs. The saying, "all roads lead to Rome," can be applied here meaning that you can take any major and as long as the requirements and prerequisite courses are fulfilled you can apply to your desired graduate program (for most occur during your senior year). There are however, programs that are more geared toward your desired program. For example, students who want to eventually apply for the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program, here at Stockton, usually come in as biology major for their undergraduate degree. The reasoning behind this is that the requirements for the biology undergraduate degree include all of the same prerequisites for the physical therapy graduate program. This means you won't have to take any extra classes outside of your degree path to cover the prerequisites needed for the program. The same research should be taken for the other graduate degrees as well. When coming in as a freshman/transfer, you are assigned an advisor (called preceptor) and they are very helpful in choosing which major is best for you to take for your undergraduate and take in account your planned graduate degree.