Ouachita Baptist University Master of Science in Exercise Science (Online)

Ouachita's online M.S. in Exercise Science is a one-year, 36-credit graduate degree built around cardiac rehabilitation and exercise as medicine, taught with a Baptist, faith-focused approach. Tuition is $500 per credit, and Ouachita estimates $18,520 for the full degree. It admits any undergraduate major. The trade-offs are a required campus visit, a 100-hour internship that's far short of what ACSM clinical certification asks for, and no programmatic accreditation.

Ouachita Baptist University is a private Baptist university in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. The online master's is run through the Department of Kinesiology and the Huckabee School of Education, and Terry DeWitt, Ph.D., AT, EP-C directs it. He calls it a program for working professionals.

Ouachita describes the science as exercise as medicine, with an emphasis on cardiac rehabilitation and program implementation. It also describes exercise science as a form of ministry, so expect that faith framing in the coursework and the community. Career options on the page include cardiac rehab, corporate wellness, corrective exercise, military, strength and conditioning, and holistic health.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

Courses are fully online and run in 8-week and 16-week terms. Faculty use video instruction and hands-on demonstrations with industry-standard equipment. Applications are open year-round and are due a month before enrollment. Spring, summer and fall are all entry points.

Expect two required campus touchpoints: the two-day orientation before your first term, and the Exercise Physiology I residency mark on the degree sheet. Your capstone is either a 100-hour internship at a fitness and wellness facility or a research thesis. Either way, you also pass a department comprehensive exam or an industry-standard exam.

Who It Fits

• You're a career changer with a bachelor's in something else. No specific undergraduate degree is required, though Ouachita recommends college algebra, 8 hours of anatomy and physiology, nutrition and 9 or more hours of kinesiology.
• You want a fast, low-cost master's while you work. The degree can be done in 12 months at a full-time pace, with three entry points a year and applications open all year.
• You want an exercise-as-medicine degree with a Christian frame. The faith-focused community is part of how Ouachita presents the program, not an add-on.

Who Should Skip It

• Skip it if your goal is the ACSM clinical exercise physiologist credential. That master's pathway requires 600 hours of clinical experience, and Ouachita's internship is 100 hours.
• Skip it if you can't travel to Arkadelphia. A mandatory two-day orientation happens on campus in late summer, and the degree sheet marks Exercise Physiology I as a residency requirement.
• Skip it if a faith-based perspective isn't what you want in your graduate school.

The 2025-26 degree sheet lists 12 three-credit requirements.

The first six are EXSC 5003 Introduction to Human Performance, EXSC 5033 Exercise Testing and Prescription, EXSC 5123 Exercise Physiology I, EXSC 5203 Statistics, EXSC 6063 Sports Nutrition, and EXSC 6123 Exercise Physiology II.

The rest are EXSC 6133 Research Methods, EXSC 6143 Special Populations in Exercise Science, EXSC 6153 Care and Prevention of Injury, EXSC 6223 Health Education and Counseling, EXSC 6233 Leadership and Ethics in Human Performance, and EXSC 6433 Internship or EXSC 6533 Thesis.

That's a fuller exercise science list than many master's programs. It has two exercise physiology courses, exercise testing, special populations and nutrition, and only one research and one statistics course.

The suggested sequence runs fall, spring, then summer, with the internship or thesis last, in an 11-week summer term.

Courses the School Names

• EXSC 5003 Introduction to Human Performance
• EXSC 5033 Exercise Testing and Prescription
• EXSC 5123 Exercise Physiology I
• EXSC 5203 Statistics
• EXSC 6123 Exercise Physiology II
• EXSC 6063 Sports Nutrition
• EXSC 6143 Special Populations in Exercise Science
• EXSC 6153 Care & Prevention of Injury
• EXSC 6223 Health Education and Counseling
• EXSC 6233 Leadership & Ethics in Human Performance
• EXSC 6133 Research Methods

Standout Features

• Emphasis on cardiac rehabilitation and program implementation, built on an exercise-is-medicine perspective
• Capstone exam can be the ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist exam
• Faith-focused approach: exercise science described as a form of ministry
• Program director Terry DeWitt, Ph.D., AT, EP-C

Tuition for 2026-27 is $500 per graduate credit hour, or $18,000 for 36 credits. Ouachita's estimate of $18,520 adds a $140 technology fee each semester ($420 over fall, spring and summer) and a $100 graduation fee tied to a course offered only in summer.

The school's cost worksheet also budgets $550 for books and supplies each term. If you use all three, the full bill is $20,170. Paying late costs $35 per semester: anyone not paid in full by the first day of classes is placed on the monthly payment plan with that fee.

Travel to the campus orientation isn't in these figures.

36 credits at $500 a credit comes to $18,000 in tuition, before fees.

The capstone exam can be the ACSM Certified Exercise Physiologist exam, which is the ACSM-EP. ACSM lists a bachelor's in exercise science, exercise physiology or kinesiology as the requirement, and from August 15, 2027 the bachelor's must come from a CAAHEP-accredited program. Since Ouachita admits any major, ask whether you qualify for that exam or should take the department exam.

The clinical credential, ACSM-CEP, is a different matter. Its master's pathway needs a CAAHEP-accredited Exercise Physiology master's from August 15, 2027, plus 600 clinical hours. This M.S. lists no programmatic accreditation. CAAHEP is the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs, ACSM Exercise Physiologist Certification.

• The internship is 100 hours, or 3 credits, and the page describes the placement only as a fitness and wellness facility. That's not the 600 hours a clinical exercise physiologist needs.
• The pages don't line up on campus time. The program page mentions a two-day orientation, while the degree sheet also flags a fall residency for Exercise Physiology I.
• The recommended prerequisites are real. A career changer without anatomy and physiology, nutrition or kinesiology should ask what's expected before term one.
• The pace is tight. The 12-month plan means 12 credits a term with three terms in a row, and the sample sequence starts in the fall.

• How many days do I need to be on campus in total, including the orientation and the Exercise Physiology I residency?
• Can I finish in 12 months if I start in spring or summer, or does the sequence assume a fall start?
• If my bachelor's isn't in exercise science, can I sit the ACSM exam for the capstone, or would I take the department exam?
• How are internship sites approved, and can my current job or a hospital cardiac rehab unit count toward the 100 hours?
• Do any courses meet live online at set times, or can I complete everything on my own schedule?
• If I'm short on the recommended anatomy and physiology or kinesiology hours, can I take them before or alongside the program?

Ouachita Baptist University is a private Baptist liberal arts university in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Its online M.S. in Exercise Science is run through the Huckabee School of Education / Department of Kinesiology with an emphasis on cardiac rehabilitation and exercise as medicine.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 9 of 99, master's
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• Best Christian Programs Rank 3 of 27, master's

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