Athletic Training (Pre-Athletic Training)

Our CAATE-accredited athletic training program prepares you to become a certified athletic trainer. You’ll earn both your bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years and be academically and clinically prepared to pass the Board of Certification examination when you complete the program.

Our progressive clinical and coursework-designed program prepares you to be a specialist in prevention, treatment, evaluation, and rehabilitation of injuries and illnesses in a variety of settings.

Clinical rotations with Iowa State athletics, local hospitals, sports medicine clinics, physical therapy clinics, and local high schools are all part of your athletic training path.

3+2 Program – Your Path to Becoming a Certified Athletic Trainer

Both incoming first-year students and sophomore/junior transfer students will enter Iowa State in the pre-athletic training program with undergraduate curriculum in the Department of Kinesiology.

You’ll be prepared with foundational knowledge and prerequisite courses for application to our Master’s of Athletic Training Program as well as university and departmental requirements needed for an undergraduate degree. Prerequisite classes are in biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, anatomy, and physiology. You will also gain knowledge in statistics, biomechanics, exercise physiology, and nutrition.

During your junior year, you’ll apply to our master’s program in athletic training to continue your education and complete both your undergraduate and graduate degree in five years. At the graduate level, your studies will expand to topics including research design, epidemiology, pathomechanics, public health, and health-care delivery systems.

After successful completion of Iowa State’s program, you’re eligible to complete the Board of Certification, Inc. (BOC) examination where you would then be a certified athletic trainer.

Your Hands-On Education

State of the art laboratories in sports medicine enhance the learning environment for all of our athletic training students. Program faculty and clinical preceptors are experienced clinicians and engaging teachers.

You will have frequent interaction with team physicians, chiropractors, orthopedic surgeons, physical therapists, and other health care providers with an inter-professional focus in the coursework and clinical experiences.

You will also have the opportunity to participate in surgical and emergency room observation, clinical experiences with varied client and patient populations including pediatric, adult, elderly, and special populations, as well as competitive collegiate and high school athletes and those who are physically active in non-sport activities.

And, you’ll have opportunities to engage with patients in real-time or with simulation methods in the areas of prevention and wellness, urgent and emergent care, primary care, orthopedics, rehabilitation, behavioral health, pediatrics, and performance enhancement.

CAATE Accreditation Status

Iowa State University is currently accredited by the Commission
on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE), 2001 K Street NW, 3rd Floor North Washington, DC 20006.

Iowa State University is proud of its long tradition of providing excellent athletic training services, academic coursework, and clinical experiences to its students. The athletic training program obtained initial accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) in April of 2001. The program received continuing CAATE accreditation in 2006, 2012, and recently underwent a comprehensive review in 2021 and was granted continuing CAATE reaccreditation until our next comprehensive review in 2031-2032.