Career Change: DPT vs PTA and Admissions Stats

[wiscRD]

I am posting this for my husband since I already have a SDN account. My husband is going to be 27 in a few months and is thinking about a career change. He already has AAS and BS degrees but in an unrelated fields (electronics and industrial management). He was very involved in sports in high school and college and has always been interested in PT, but thought he was supposed to go into manufacturing since everyone in his family did. He is debating between PTA and DPT.

• DPT will take him 4 years since he still has some pre-reqs while PTA will take 2.
• DPT will be more challenging but offers more autonomy while PTA school will be work, but I would not think it would be as rigorous would still allow him to focus on patient care instead of paperwork and managing PTAs.
• DPTs only make $20,000/yr more (on average) according to the BLS but their schooling is significantly more expensive ($60-80,000 vs $8,000) and they carry more liability since they are independent practitioners.
• DPT requires the GRE while PTA does not.

Does anyone have any insight on these topics? Also, I am wondering how challenging it is to get into an in-state DPT program. He has a high GPA (3.7) but has not taken the GRE yet. I can't seem to find any statistics re: admission rates (i.e. how many students typically apply to a state school and how many are accepted). I am currently applying to med schools and they have those stats plastered all over, so I am surprised to see that we can't find anything on DPT programs.

Also, if he got his PTA and decided he wanted more, how likely is it that he could get into a DPT program? Do they still require all of the prerequisites?

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[DancerFutureDPT]

For the last part of your question, yes they will still require prerequisites. There are a few weekend programs to transition PTAs to a DPT...but they must have a bachelor's degree and all the prerequisites for PT school done.

 

[lasion2]

I am in a similar boat.

I'm 27 and could theoretically have my pre-reqs done by 28, and start pt school at 29 to finish at 32.

Now, I'm having troulbe finding this worth it. All the research I've done points to 100-150k of debt, but only 80k in salary? Now, I'm no economist, but that seems llike a silly choice.

Why not go the PTA route, be 20k in debt at 29 years old, and make 40-50k in salary?

pulling my hair out over this one.

 

[wiscRD]

Since posting this my husband and I have looked into these and talked a lot more about which is the best choice. It turns out that PTA schools have a 2-3 year wait list (at least around here), which has made it an easy decision to just do DPT. He thinks that he would probably just wish he did DPT if he did PTA, so since the time will be about the same it just makes sense to go all of the way. The debt thing is still hard to grasp. However, I am going to have a ton of debt from med school anyway so it is starting to make us think what is the difference between $200K and $260K. I know most jobs have some kind of signing bonus for PTs but it is usually only around 10K.

This forum here really made my husband think, "why not just do DPT and go all of the way?" Since you already has a BS/BA degree I would probably recommend you consider doing DPT unless you could start PTA this fall or something.

 

[jess818]

yay for your husband!! i work as a rehab tech and some of the PTAs have suggested pursuing DPT to people for the exact reason you mentioned-the waitlist. the PTA programs are 2-3+ years in my area as well. that's time he could put into a DPT program and almost be finished.

either field is great!!it all depends on each individual. if $$ is the issue, tell him to try and go to the cheapest state program. in my opinion, as long as the program is accredited, that's all that matters. also, depending on the program and his ability to do so, there may be Graduate Assistantship opportunities where the university will pay for most of his tuition.

3.7 is a great GPA. from what i have heard, you just need to get a decent score on the GRE-it won't really make or break you.

if you want statistics, contact the programs directly-they should be able to answer your questions & provide you with some data.