2010: Will I get accepted?

[hopingtobePT]

Just submitted my PTCAS Today and a little nervous!

Major: biology
Science GPA: 3.12
Overall GPA: 3.021 (
* my GPA is low but I only have about 5 C's. I only have 2 A's on my transcript, I generally get B's.

GRE: 550 V 570 Q 3.5 A
Extracurriculars: worked as an athletic trainer freshman year, sorority member, environmental club member, outdoors wellness club member.
Hours: 20 hospital(in process), 18 outpatient, 20 pediatric

anyone care to estimate my chances?
i am applying in the midwest area

Please and thank you!

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[truthseeker]

Candidly speaking I think there will be a bunch of applications that will be better than yours. You will need to kill on your interviews and have letters from people that the selection committee knows and respects.

"Only 5 Cs and two As, mostly Bs" is not what they will want to see.

Sorry, but its the truth as I see it.

 

[hopingtobePT]

Well i guess its definitely to my disadvantage that most schools i am applying to do not interview as part of their processes.

What do you mean by well known letter writers? Like are there specific people I should have had write them? I had
1. a teacher i took 1 class with and got a b+ but she really likes me
2. a pt that i shadowed 20 hours under
3. my pre-pt advisor who i meet with constantly and knows how much i want this.

do you think i should have used someone else?

I am still hopeful that I will get in somewhere. I honestly dont know what i'll do...

 

[pwrtrainer]

...

 

[artizzle]

I was just as scared as you, but I still got in. Write a killer essay and your app. will get a second look. Maybe retake the GRE and get a beter A. score unless it is not required for your schools. personalize the essays as much as possible and be positive as much as you can. My letters came from my former boss, the therapist I had a lot of hours of volunteering with and one of his employees whom I shadowed as well. Your pre-pt advisor may know how much you want this, but a PT speaks the language they want to hear.

I may be wrong though, however I think you have a good chance. Just watch all the little details.

I also had about the same stats. Except that I had a ton of hours because I worked as an aide for a year. Just focus on what pwrtrainer said and maybe apply to some other schools just to increase your chances.

 

[truthseeker]

If you have had contact with someone that the interviewers or the selection committee knows it would make the letter more powerful. por ejemplo, I hired my current office manager almost exclusively based upon the reference from someone I respect a lot. Her resume wasn't the best resume, but it turned out to be the perfect hire.

Same might be true for you if the school reps know the letter writer.

 

[Akiramay]

"Only 5 Cs and two As, mostly Bs" is not what they will want to see.

Unfortunately I have to agree with this statement. 2 A's is not a lot, and PT school is becoming more competitive to get into. But like they said, just make sure your essay is really well written and retake the GRE (doesn't hurt to try to improve your score...you have nothing to lose!). Your observation hours do seem a little on the low end, but it seems like you just have what would meet requirements.

What schools in the midwest are you applying to?

 

[hopingtobePT]

I applied to:
-uic
-rosalind franklin
-midwestern
-northwestern
-bradley
-wisconsin-madison

I know my chances are slim at some of them, but I am hoping rosalind or midwestern comes through.

Its kinda hard to hear what I already know... I just don't stack up. I just hope i get interviews(both of them interview) cuz i think i can really do well..

 

[pwrtrainer]

...

 

[Shugo]

I believe there is a chance that you may not get accepted during this application cycle. I have applied to PT school several times now. The first time I had stats that were about the same as yours. I went back to school and retook pre-requisite classes earning A's in all of them, gained additional observation time (+130 hours), retook GRE's and applied again. I did not get in that second time either. I took additional courses over, improving my Pre-req GPA to 3.5. I found employment as an Exercise Tech where I earned an additional 680 hours of work experience by the time I applied. On this third try I was accepted into two schools that I applied to. I also became smarter about what schools to apply to. I stayed away from universities because they get a lot more applicants, and focused on private institutions, I also did not limit myself to my preferred location within the US (west coast).

The morale of what I am saying is that if you don't get in you are certainly not alone, many people apply every year and do not get accepted. There are things you can do to improve your chances in this application cycle and on later ones if you don't get accepted. For this application cycle you can study for the GRE and retake it. I improved my GRE score by purchasing a book on studying for the GRE and went through the practice tests. Your verbal scores are not bad but you could improve your quantitative and analytical writing portions. Another thing you can do for this application cycle is gain additional work/volunteer experience, the PTCAS application allows you to declare experience that you have completed or will complete by the time of enrollment. Lastly, you can retake some of the science pre-requisites that are weighting down your GPA. On the application you can declare some of these pre-reqs as in progress and take them over in the spring semester/quarter. I am sure this last task is the least desirable but will also probably make the greatest difference.

I hope this helps! stay positive about all that you have accomplished, your stats are nothing to be down about PT is just very competitive. GOOD LUCK!!

 

[hopingtobePT]

Thank you to every one who gave me feedback on my stats. I can honestly say I am so thankful for all the positive constructive feedback I've received. I know i'm not going to wow any admissions committee on paper, but you've helped me understand what I can improve on and hopefully i can make it somewhere.

Its nice to know there are people out there willing to take the time to write out a thoughtful answer. I appreciate it so much.

I'll keep everyone updated on what happens with my applications for 2010. If i don't get in, i will definitely retake some of my pre-reqs at a community college and hopefully find an aide/tech job to get more hours.

Thank you again!

 

[truthseeker]

If there are reasons that you got the Cs it might be good to prepare a response to the inevitable question of "Why?"

If you were a single parent, if you were working 30-40 hours per week to support yourself and pay your undergrad tuition, if you got pneumonia during finals etc . . . all could actually be compelling reasons for getting the weak grades and attest to your desire to muddle through and apply anyway.

If you just couldn't pass up $1 pitcher night, that probably won't work so well.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

I applied to:
-uic
-rosalind franklin
-midwestern
-northwestern
-bradley
-wisconsin-madison

I know my chances are slim at some of them, but I am hoping rosalind or midwestern comes through.

Its kinda hard to hear what I already know... I just don't stack up. I just hope i get interviews(both of them interview) cuz i think i can really do well..

My friend is at Rosalind right now for med school...where did you do your undergrad/where are you from? I applied to all those schools (except Wisconsin and Bradley), since I"m from the western burbs of Chicago. If you get interviews and nail them, and have good letters of recommendations, then that'll help your chances a bit.

 

[artizzle]

If there are reasons that you got the Cs it might be good to prepare a response to the inevitable question of "Why?"

If you were a single parent, if you were working 30-40 hours per week to support yourself and pay your undergrad tuition, if you got pneumonia during finals etc . . . all could actually be compelling reasons for getting the weak grades and attest to your desire to muddle through and apply anyway.

If you just couldn't pass up $1 pitcher night, that probably won't work so well.

What is this $1 pitcher night you speak of? Is that even physically possible?

 

[truthseeker]

What is this $1 pitcher night you speak of? Is that even physically possible?

Just a reference to possibly why you got the Cs and fewer As than you would like. Back in the olden days when skinny ties and flipped up collars were cool, Huey Lewis and the News were popular and Reagan was president, you could find bars that offered $1 pitchers of beer and some had quarter draw night where you could get a keg glass of beer for 2 cents.

If you chose the drink specials over studying chemistry then you have to sleep in the bed you made. There are a lot of smart people who made bad decisions. Some get away with it, some don't. Those that don't are teaching PE somewhere or coaching 7th grade football and teaching health class to middle schoolers. those that made the right decisions (or got away with the bad ones) are in medical school, PT school, law school, etc . . .

I'm just sayin' . . .

 

[MJHUSKERS]

That last response was pretty harsh to say. I hope no one on here is a PE or health science teacher. I know a lot of people who choose go any kind of graduate school so they can call themselves Dr. whatever and they end up failing out and creating a ton debt. for the attempt at prestige. Just because someone becomes a teacher doesn't mean they made bad decisions...I'm just "sayin"

 

[truthseeker]

That last response was pretty harsh to say. I hope no one on here is a PE or health science teacher. I know a lot of people who choose go any kind of graduate school so they can call themselves Dr. whatever and they end up failing out and creating a ton debt. for the attempt at prestige. Just because someone becomes a teacher doesn't mean they made bad decisions...I'm just "sayin"

The point I was trying to make was that there are a lot of PE teachers (my dad was one) who wanted to go to PT school but didn't (or couldn't) make the right decisions that it took to get into school. In my dad's case, it was me love you Dad. I was born when he was 20 and he was taking full time classes and working a full time job and got a lot more Cs than As. He ended up being a career math/science/PE teacher and coach.
I started as biomedical engineering major and they told us that something like 80% would end up business majors, they were right. There is nothing wrong with being a teacher, its just that if you want to get into a program that is as competitive as PT, med school, law school, your grades need to be better and some of getting grades is talent, but more of it is hard work. Studying when your friends are going out, getting enough sleep before tests etc . . .

It was not meant to be a dig on those who chose to be teachers, just my feeble attempt at a colorful description.

I personally knew, and probably many of you know several, if not many, prospective PT students just like what I described. I'm just not very politically correct. I tell it like I see it.

 

[blumonsoon]

My stats are like yours but I have more observation hours and I am still hoping to hear. I have heard from 2 out of 10 school that I have applied to and both were rejections. I wish you luck cause I am hoping for myself too. I would try and get some more PT experience and add it to your PTCAS app. That might help.

Don't worry about the teacher you got your rec from. I got my rec from a class I got a C in. Don't worry, I am sure that it was a great one. Just because our grades aren't all A's doesn't mean we are bad student's and teachers know that and express that.

Good luck and keep us updated!

I applied to:
-uic
-rosalind franklin
-midwestern
-northwestern
-bradley
-wisconsin-madison

I know my chances are slim at some of them, but I am hoping rosalind or midwestern comes through.

Its kinda hard to hear what I already know... I just don't stack up. I just hope i get interviews(both of them interview) cuz i think i can really do well..

 

[JMPThopeful]

If you chose the drink specials over studying chemistry then you have to sleep in the bed you made. There are a lot of smart people who made bad decisions. Some get away with it, some don't. Those that don't are teaching PE somewhere or coaching 7th grade football and teaching health class to middle schoolers. those that made the right decisions (or got away with the bad ones) are in medical school, PT school, law school, etc . . .

I'm just sayin' . . .

Funny because I was a pre-med major and I "screwed up" (med school is out of the equation) and now I'm applying to PT school! I'm sure many of us here started off with the desire of going to medical school but blew it and now PT school is one of the few options left.

 

[artizzle]

oh careful...

 

[truthseeker]

Funny because I was a pre-med major and I "screwed up" (med school is out of the equation) and now I'm applying to PT school! I'm sure many of us here started off with the desire of going to medical school but blew it and now PT school is one of the few options left.

Yup, its a great fall back position. Not much going on there, you can screw up and screw up and if all else fails, PT school admission is a breeze. I guess if you can't be a doctor you aren't really a failure, but you know . . .

I guess you could be a plumber too, if that doesn't work out then PT school is still there. All you do is walk people right? How hard could that be?

 

[pwrtrainer]

...

 

[PTgirl416]

wow... anyways-

i've just applied to USA with an overall gpa of 2.95 and a prereq. gpa of about a 3.2. my recommendations are amazing and my essays i believe are good, as well. my gre's were ugly. 400 verbal and 510 quantitative. analytical writing was a 4.0. it's so discouraging to see so many people posting 3.7, 3.8 gpa's. congratulations to everyone that smart! ... but i sometimes feel like i don't have a shot in hell. any thoughts? especially on my USA application?

 

[truthseeker]

wow... anyways-

i've just applied to USA with an overall gpa of 2.95 and a prereq. gpa of about a 3.2. my recommendations are amazing and my essays i believe are good, as well. my gre's were ugly. 400 verbal and 510 quantitative. analytical writing was a 4.0. it's so discouraging to see so many people posting 3.7, 3.8 gpa's. congratulations to everyone that smart! ... but i sometimes feel like i don't have a shot in hell. any thoughts? especially on my USA application?

Do you really need an answer to that question?

See 100 posts that say if your GPA is below average, your GRE is below average, your chances are below average. that's not to say you can't get in, just that your chances aren't as good if, for example, your GPA was 3.5 and your GRE was >1000.

I don't get it.

 

[FLsurferDPT]

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