DPT admission questions.. subpar undergrad GPA

[Dlsprngr88]

I graduated from college 5 years ago with a degree in business management. At that time I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and was more interested in everything but my academics. I graduated with a 2.5 GPA. I've done a lot of traveling and soul searching the past 5 years and I have come to the realization that I want to pursue a career in PT. I currently am registered to take all of the science and math prereqs to prove I can maintain a high GPA, but worried that my effort may not be enough. If I receive a GPA higher than a 3.5 in my prereqs and receive a high score on my GREs will I be accepted into a DPT program despite my previous subpar GPA, 5 years ago in an unrelated major, or am I wasting my time and money? I am not the same person that graduated 5 years ago.. How do I go about proving that? I can't be the first person who has decided they want to be a PT but had a poor undergraduate GPA.

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[ItemN9ne]

IMO I don't think continued education is ever a waste of money. In your case, as long as you prove that you can maintain a quality GPA throughout the Pre-reqs then I don't see you having any trouble. I had an interview at Emory about a month ago with several applicants who took several years off and then went back to school to fulfill their requirements. I honestly think some schools like to see more "mature" applicants. Anyway, that is my 2cents... Good Luck

 

[ctk668]

As long as you bump your overall GPA and prereq GPA up to the minimum requirements for school(usually 3.0 or higher), i say you have a good shot. If you dont, then they probably wont even look at your application. I applied with a 3.08 overall and 3.09 prereq and got into most of the schools i applied to. I even had to turn down a couple of interviews because i already got into my first choice.

Oh yeah, also make sure you get a decent score on your GRE's. I bought the barron's book and studied pretty hardcore for about 6 weeks and got a really decent score. Went through the whole book and took a crapload of practice exams. I think that helped with my admissions.


Since you were a business major, i am assuming that you have pretty much a clean slate on all your prereq science courses. This will be a really good opportunity to get a really good prereq gpa, which will make you shine. then all you have to do is get a decent GRE score.

If you have done some soul searching and you know that this is really what you want to do, you gotta at least give it a shot. Good luck

 

[Yohan]

Here's some free advice from someone in a similar situation as you (I had a 2.5 gpa when I graduated 9 years ago. I'll be done with my prereq's this spring with a 3.9 prereq gpa), so take it or leave it. Along with completing the usual prereqs, check out which schools you want to apply at and see if they have any recommended courses and take a few of them. A few of the schools I'm looking at take into account the last 45 semester (65 quarter) credits gpa as well as the prereq gpa, so I took a writing course and a pathophysiology course to help bring my last 45 semester credit gpa up. I was advised to do this by the admissions councilor because along with helping your gpa, it also shows that you are going above and beyond the minimum requirements which shows you are motivated and determined. Also, don't overlook volunteering, not only in PT clinincs, but in your local community as well. Just remember schools take into account many different things besides gpa. A good PT needs to be a well rounded person, not just book smart.

Actions speak louder than words. Don't just tell people you're different now than 5 years ago, show them! If PT is what you want to do, than do it. (I quit a $70,000+ a year job to pursue my dream of becoming a PT because it is what I've always wanted to do)

 

[Berzerkernuts]

I come from a similar background and would definitely say go for it! I got my undergraduate degree 9 years in theater with a 2.7 GPA. I started doing the PT prerequisites 2 years ago and have earned a 3.7 prereq GPA, I also did well on the GRE, and I was accepted to 4 out of 6 schools that I applied to. Like the others have said, the smartest way to go about things is to talk to people at the programs that you are interested in and see what their advice is. They will ask you during the interview process about your undergrad performance, but most interviewers (in my experience) are reasonable and understand that people change throughout the course of life, make mistakes, etc... If you can show them the magnitude of your true potential (through current grades, essays and letters of reference) you'll be fine.

 

[GeevesDPT]

as fair warning, sometimes it doesn't matter.

i applied to PT schools through PTCAS having been enrolled for seven consecutive semesters (six of them full-time) with a 3.5 gpa in that span.

west virginia and mayo both saw that my OVERALL gpa for my 10 year collegiate academic history (since ptcas has you report every single grade ever) was a 2.66 and didn't even blink before sending me rejections stating they wouldn't even review my file for admission consideration.

on the other hand, wash u in st louis accepted me without even an interview.

expect the unexpected, i guess.

 

[dwr2018]

My situation wasn't exactly the same, but I did have issues w/ my gpa. I barely got a 3.0, and that got an immediate rejection from one school(Elon, their min was a 3.0, but they got so many apps they raised their min to 3.2 and rejected me the day after they cashed the application fee), but I got in to a few others. Moral of the story- some schools will rely heavily on your gpa as an "indicator of success" and some wont consider it very much at all. None will come out and say that of course. I may be biased, but i'd say schools that take gpa as such a "be-all end-all" requirement, probably care a little too much about grades in general, whereas the schools that take the time to look at what else you have to offer will be much better in the long run.

 

[hanbongDPT]

what is your upper division gpa? my overall gpa was 2.8 but my upper division was atleast a 3.4, got accepted to a couple of PT schools. all the schools i applied to looked mainly at my upper division and most of the programs i've researched mainly look at the upper division gpa cause they know the upper division courses are the core courses rather than the electives you take the first two years.

best advice - show the admissions committee and upward trend in your grades. they understand if gpa started out low in the first 2 years of undergrad.