This program is designed to prepare students in the skills necessary to develop, supervise and evaluate exercise programs for individuals with chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity. Students will learn about medications and co-morbidities that may complicate an exercise prescription and will also learn basic research skills. This program will prepare individuals to take the American College of Sports Medicine Registry Exam. Upon completion, students will be prepared to work as exercise physiologists in hospital-based rehab programs, physical therapy clinics, company wellness programs, community fitness facilities, health coaching capacities, research and further graduate work.
The program consists of a two year, 36 credit hour curriculum. The core curriculum consists of 12 credit hours (or 15, if completing the thesis option) and the focused core is 15 credit hours. Students will complete 6 to 9 credit hours of elective work (6 credit hours of elective courses, if completing the thesis option). The culminating experience will consist of 6-9 credit hours of internship experience in clinical settings and the completion of a research project. A poster presentation will be completed based on research project in the HHP 5998r Research option. A thesis will be completed based on a research project for the HHP 5999r Thesis option.
Admission Requirements
You must complete the admissions procedures to be accepted into the graduate school. These requirements can be found under “Admission Requirements ”. Submit the required documents–transcripts (once the student has completed his/her bachelor’s degree an additional transcript with degree conferral will need to be submitted), GRE scores, (TOEFL or IELTS scores if English is not your native language), graduate school application and application fee. An applicant for admission to the Clinical Exercise Physiology program must also include the following:
- Cover letter
- 3 letters of recommendation
- Resume
- Proof of ACSM-HFS or NSCA-CSCS (or equivalent if completed)
- Transcript showing that you have taken the following courses
- Anatomy and Physiology (4 credit hours)
- Exercise Physiology (3 credit hours)
- Nutrition (3 credit hours)
- Exercise Prescription (3 credit hours)
- Kinesiology or Biomechanics (3 credit hours)
- Statistics (3 credit hours)
- First Aid and CPR certification
A departmental committee will decide if the student is accepted into the degree program. The student must be accepted into both the graduate school and the concentration program. If a student has not taken all of the above prerequisites, he/she may be admitted to the program with the stipulations that he/she must take prerequisite courses either before or concurrent to taking graduate courses. Acceptance into the program is based on a composite score determined by prerequisite GPA, cumulative GPA, and undergraduate curricula, GRE scores, certification, work experience, cover letter and letters of recommendation. Additional materials my be requested or required. Candidates will be screened us the MS Health and Human Performance Admission Criteria Screening Instrument.
Note: Although not required for admission to the program, eligibility for internships sites may require a background check, drug test, orientation session, liability insurance (which can be purchased through UTC) and signing site specific documents.
