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Description of the Major | Degrees Offered | Concentrations | Minors |
Declaring the Major | Progressing in the Major

Description of the Major

This major prepares you to become a Certified Athletic Trainer. Areas of study include injury prevention, emergency care, injury evaluation, and rehabilitation of athletes and patients who are physically active. Athletic training is not an open major. Students are selected through a competitive admission process with applications due during your fourth semester.

Degrees Offered

B.S.

Concentrations

None

Minors

None

Declaring the Major

New Freshmen and Transfer Students
Declare athletic training when you register for orientation and complete all pre-professional course work. Students complete the pre-professional clinical competencies under the supervision of a certified athletic trainer.

If you are a new transfer student, please meet with the Athletic Training Program Director upon entry to JMU to ensure you are enrolled in the correct classes for the earliest possible admission to the program.

Currently Enrolled Major Changers
Submit a "Change or Declaration of Major" form to the Health Sciences Department Head in the Health and Human Services building, room 3126.

Admission to the Major
Admission is competitive for a limited number of seats. Admission decisions are made once a year in the spring semester upon students' completion of the 12-hour prerequisite courses listed below, usually in the sophomore year. Applications can be submitted to the Program Director anytime after January 15, but must be completed by April 1 in order to be considered for admission to the major.

To be eligible to apply for admission, students should complete the following:

1. Make a grade of "C" or better in the following prerequisite courses:
   
   • BIO 290. Human Anatomy
   
   
   • ATEP 205. Introduction to Athletic Training
   
   
   • ATEP 206. Recognition and Management of Athletic Injuries
   
   
   • ATEP 291. Pre-Professional Practicum in Athletic Training
   
   
   • Have an Emergency Cardiac Care Certification card or equivalent.
   
   
   • Although it is not a prerequisite for applying to the major, it is strongly preferred that students be enrolled in BIO 270 (Human Physiology) at the time of application. Prerequisite courses for BIO 270 are CHEM 120 (Concepts of Chemistry) or CHEM 131 (General Chemistry) and MATH 220 (Elementary Statistics).
   
   
   • A cumulative GPA of at least 2.50 in all coursework is strongly recommended.


2. Completion and strong performance in all components of the application including observation hours, references, and essays. For more information about application materials please consult the Athletic Training Education Program handbook.

Progressing in the Major

Once fully admitted to the major (the professional phase of the program) students must make satisfactory progress including the following:

• Maintain a semester GPA of 2.0 or greater.


• Achieve grades of "C" or better in all ATEP professional phase courses ("C-" grades are considered unacceptable and must be repeated).


• Achieve a grade of 80% or higher on all practical examinations in ATEP classes (one retake only per exam, five retakes total while in the program).


• Achieve a score of 75% or higher on all end-of-semester clinical performance evaluations.


• Maintain good professional and ethical behaviors and practices.

Failure to meet these requirements are grounds for probation or dismissal from the program.