Professional Athletic Training Students

Professional Athletic Training students are those students who have applied and been accepted into the Professional Athletic Training Phase of the ATEP.  information and resources included here are intended to help students effectively navigate the athletic training curriculum and understand what is expected of them during the Professional Athletic Training Phase.  Students who successfully navigate the Athletic Training Education Program will graduate with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Athletic Training and be eligible to take the Board of Certification Examination and achieve certification as an athletic trainer.

Degree Requirements

Graduating from Hofstra University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Athletic Training requires the following:

• Completion of a total of 128 credit hours
  • This includes completion of all necessary clinical education requirements
  • Completion of 64 liberal arts credit hours
  • Completion of the residency requirement
    • Last 15 credit hours in major, including at least one off-campus experience must be completed at Hofstra University
    • Last 30 credit hours must be completed at Hofstra University

The ATEP curriculum is laid out so that students meet all of the above requirements.  More specifically, PESP 195:  Field Experience in Sports Medicine meets the required off-campus experience as part of the residence requirement. 

To track your progress toward meeting all degree requirements please run a Degree Audit Report.

Curriculum

The curriculum allows for students to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to be prepared to practice as an athletic trainer following graduation, while providing a strong liberal arts core.

There is some flexibility for those students who wish to work towards other allied health care degrees, but in many cases additional course work and time at Hofstra University may be required to complete additional requirements for these degrees.  If you plan to pursue other allied health care degrees it is important to notify program faculty as early in your education as possible so that appropriate academic planning can occur.

For a summary of all courses, including course descriptions view the current undergraduate bulletin.

The program is accredited by CAATE and meets all necessary requirements to grant a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training.  To better understand the accreditation standards put forth by the Commission on Accreditation for Athletic Training Education (CAATE) and the educational requirements as developed by the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) click the appropriate document below.

Standards for the Accreditation of Entry-Level Athletic Training Education Programs [PDF]

Athletic Training Educational Competencies (5th edition)

Course Progression

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETIC TRAINING PHASE (2nd – 4th year):

The Professional Athletic Training Phase begins following completion of the pre-athletic training phase requirements and successful application to the Athletic Training Education Program (ATEP).  Once enrolled in this portion of the curriculum students will begin to take many major specific courses and begin hands-on clinical experiences under the supervision of Approved Clinical Instructors (ACI) who are employed here at Hofstra University as well as other locations in Long Island and metropolitan New York.  A typical progression is:

Download a printable version of this course progression.

Clinical Education

In addition to completing traditional classroom experiences students enrolled in Hofstra University’s Athletic Training Education Program will also completed a variety of “hands-on” experiences.  To be eligible for graduation, each student will complete 13 credits of clinical experience courses which require a minimum of 1000 hours (maximum of 1350 hours) of field experience dispersed over 3 years of clinical work.

Students engaging in clinical experiences will be directly supervised by a certified athletic trainer or other healthcare professional who serves as an Approved Clinical Instructor (ACI) for the academic program.  A majority of the student’s total hours are completed at Hofstra University working directly with Division I athletic programs.  Each student will have clinical education experiences  with both men’s and women’s team sports, upper and lower extremity injuries, general medical conditions and equipment intensive sports.  Students will also gain experience in practice, game and travel situations.  In addition, we use other affiliates’ such as high schools, other colleges and physicians’ offices.

See a list of current affiliated locations.

Iota Tau Alpha National Honor Society

In July of 2009 Hofstra University formed the Alpha Psi Chapter of the Iota Tau Alpha National Athletic Training Education Honor Society. The Hofstra University Chapter of Iota Tau Alpha holds students to a high academic standard, as members must earn an in-major GPA of a 3.5 and overall GPA of a 3.25 to qualify. This academic standard is significantly higher than what is typically required for other Iota Tau Alpha Chapters.

The purpose of Iota Tau Alpha Athletic Training Education Honor Society is to function as an honor and professional society for students of Athletic Training Education. Iota Tau Alpha activities are designed to stimulate scholarly attainment and investigation in Athletic Training Education and to promote the dissemination of information and new interpretations of the Society's activities among students of Athletic Training Education.