Turn your passions for health, wellness, fitness, and performance into a thriving career as you pursue this highly hands-on program that combines rigorous coursework, clinical experiences, and career development support to prepare you to lead in this expanding field.
Download the Exercise Science Major Handout (PDF)
Experiential, lab-based learning
The Franklin College exercise science major is designed to prepare students for careers in both clinical and sports performance settings, covering anatomy, biomechanics, physiology, nutrition, exercise, and more. Courses accentuate hands-on, lab-based learning, preferring a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, heart rate monitor, and exercise equipment to a textbook. That approach is demonstrated as early as freshman year when students perform foundational health assessments like EKGs – electrocardiogram tests that assess a patient’s heart health – which become second nature well before graduation. In addition to coursework, every major pursues independent research on human subjects, a unique opportunity for undergraduate students. Past research topics have included:
The curriculum also infuses business, marketing, and career preparation skills, giving students the professional competence and confidence they need to lead in the field.
Integrated and immersive clinical experience
The Franklin College exercise science faculty emphasize evidence-based practice and introduce clinical experiences into the program as early as possible. Majors have the opportunity to work directly with patients off-campus at the Indiana Masonic Home or on campus with INSPIRE, a program for people with intellectual disabilities. Students often continue their education abroad, taking advantage of the college’s ample travel opportunities. Past exercise science majors have studied the history of sports in Ireland and interned with the Special Olympics in Costa Rica. Students have also interned with:
Franklin College offers an accelerated Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) track in the form of a combined Bachelor of Arts in Exercise Science and Master of Science in Athletic Training, with the potential to complete both degrees in five years. This cooperative program consists of common core and specific courses required for each particular program, in addition to specific pre-requisites for application to the MSAT program. Students may apply to the exercise science and MSAT programs simultaneously in the spring of their freshman or sophomore year for early admittance. Students admitted to the exercise science program may also apply to the MSAT program in the fall of their junior or senior year. Students accepted to the MSAT in their fourth year are considered graduate students and take primarily MSAT graduate courses, while also finishing required undergraduate courses. After completing three years of undergraduate courses and one year in the MSAT program, students graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Exercise Science from Franklin College. After completing the second year in the MSAT program, students graduate with their Master’s in Athletic Training.
Exercise Science students pursuing the 3+2 option can apply for early admittance into the MSAT program at the same time they submit the application for the exercise science program. Students who meet the early admittance requirements are guaranteed a spot in the MSAT program. Even though the application process is happening simultaneously, acceptance to the Exercise Science program does not ensure acceptance to early admittance for the MSAT.
Past students who have obtained a master’s degree in athletic training have secured jobs working in:
100% PA and PT graduate program placement
While graduate school isn’t required to have a successful career in the field, 100% of Franklin College exercise science majors who have chosen to pursue physical therapy and physician assistant graduate programs have been accepted since 2017. Past students have also pursued advanced degrees in occupational therapy, medicine, kinesiology, and athletic training, and secured jobs working in:
Associate Professor of Exercise Science
Phone: 317.738.8202
Email: keiler@FranklinCollege.edu
Assistant Professor of Exercise Science
Phone: 317.738.8739
Email: aheavrin@FranklinCollege.edu
Associate Professor of Exercise Science
Phone: 317.738.8112
Email: knoerr@FranklinCollege.edu
100% of students in our 2018 senior class were accepted into graduate programs.