One of the largest DC programs in the country
Life University's College of Chiropractic in Marietta, Georgia runs on a trimester system following a major fall 2024 curriculum revision, with the DC program built around 295 credit hours spanning basic sciences, technique, diagnostics, clinical care, business, and electives. The university reports total enrollment of 2,715 (Fall 2023): 875 undergraduate and 1,840 graduate/professional students, though the DC program's specific headcount within that total isn't broken out separately.
- Program: College of Chiropractic, trimester system
- Campus: 1269 Barclay Circle SE, Marietta, GA
- Curriculum: 295 credit hours
Life's published NBCE results
Life University reports an 86.5% overall NBCE pass rate for 2025, for graduates who passed all parts within the standard six-month post-graduation window. On Part IV specifically, Life students posted a 93.3% first-time pass rate in November 2025, against a national average of 86.2% for that period. The school has also cited an earlier figure of 84% of graduates passing all NBCE parts within six months of graduation, from a prior year not specified in its published materials.
A new rule tying graduation to boards
Starting Fall 2025, Life University put a direct requirement in place: no chiropractic student may graduate without passing all four NBCE parts first. The university has stated its DC program has since been found compliant with CCE's Policy 56 standard for licensure outcomes. For current and incoming students, that means boards planning isn't a parallel track to your coursework anymore, it's a graduation requirement, so treating each Part as a checkpoint rather than an afterthought matters more than at programs without that rule.
Sitting your five NBCE exams
Life students take five total NBCE exams for licensing: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and the Physiotherapy exam. Life hasn't published an exact trimester-by-Part sitting schedule, but NBCE eligibility rules set the outer bounds regardless of school: Part I for eligible second-year students, Part II for eligible third-year students, Part III within nine months of graduation, and Part IV within six months, now held only at the NBCE's Assessment Center in Greeley, Colorado.
Why the graduation rule changes your planning
At most programs, a weak showing on one NBCE Part is a setback you work around, then keep moving toward graduation on the original timeline. At Life, since Fall 2025, that's no longer true: you can't graduate until you've passed all four parts, full stop. That makes early, deliberate preparation for Part I in particular worth prioritizing, since it's the exam most students face first and the one most likely to require a scheduling adjustment if a retake becomes necessary. Treat the sequence as four checkpoints you clear on the way to a degree, not four exams that happen to come up somewhere near it.
Life University's earlier years and Part-level results
Life University's website carried a yearly table of graduates who passed all NBCE parts within six months. Archived copies give classes from 2011 through 2019 on that basis, counting graduates who attempted an exam. From 2020 on, the school's student achievement page counts all graduates. The two bases are shown separately. Life revised some years between editions, so the latest figure is shown.
| Graduating year | Passed all Parts, of graduates who attempted an exam |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 89% (255 of 286) |
| 2012 | 89% (285 of 319) † |
| 2013 | 89% (265 of 299) † |
| 2014 | 89% (336 of 377) † |
| 2015 | 93% (327 of 352) † |
| 2016 | 82% (293 of 357) † |
| 2017 | 82% (321 of 390) † |
| 2018 | 79% (288 of 364) |
| 2019 | 81% (309 of 380) |
| Graduating year | Passed all Parts or licensed, of all graduates |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 78% (317 of 409) |
| 2021 | 74% (305 of 411) |
| 2022 | 77.1% (347 of 450) † |
| 2023 | 77.2% (261 of 338) |
Life also posted first-time pass rates by Part for individual test sittings. The table below shows the sittings in its archived image.
Life University first-time examinee pass rate by Part and exam sitting, number passed of number tested
| Exam sitting | Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | PT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2013 | 63.1% (89 of 141) | 74.4% (122 of 164) | 80.4% (119 of 148) | 90.9% (130 of 143) | 81.9% (118 of 144) |
| Fall 2013 | 73.4% (141 of 192) | 77.4% (127 of 164) | 89.5% (154 of 172) | 88.6% (156 of 176) | 86.8% (151 of 174) |
| Spring 2014 | 57.7% (97 of 168) | 63.5% (122 of 192) | 83.4% (161 of 193) | 96.8% (184 of 190) | 69.9% (123 of 176) |
| Fall 2014 | 66.7% (146 of 219) | 84% (147 of 175) | 83.7% (144 of 172) | 96.5% (164 of 170) | 81.8% (130 of 159) |
† The school's archived pages show more than one figure for this year. The most recent published figure is shown.
Compare other chiropractic schools
Practice with ChiroEDU
ChiroEDU's practice exams are built to feel like the real computer-based test: domain-by-domain exams for Part 1 and Part 2 with four attempts each, four mock exams for Part 3 with radiology, and PT exams with item analysis. Interested in helping classmates prep? ChiroEDU is looking for student reps at every school.
Sources: Life University NBCE page · student achievement · Chiropractic Economics coverage. Figures as published by the university; checked September 2026. The year-by-year tables above come from the school's own published disclosures, linked here as archived copies where the current page no longer shows them: archived copy, May 2015 · archived copy, Aug 2015 · archived copy, Aug 2016 · archived copy, Jan 2019 · archived copy, Nov 2019 · archived copy, Aug 2024 · school page (checked Sep 2026) · school page (checked Sep 2026) (2). ChiroEDU is independent and not affiliated with Life University or the NBCE.