How do you handle so many classes!!!

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Hokieboy

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This question is directed to current and past pt students so rest assured its in the right place.


I'm researching diffrent pt schools that I might apply to next year. One thing that has me overlooking wonderful programs is the sheer number of classes per semester. In undergrad I know what it's like to take 8 classes one semester and its hell. Some programs I've looked up require you to take 7-9 classes per semester. That's why I'm currently looking and have found a few programs that require 4-6 classes per semster.


So my questions are

1. How many classes do/did you take your first couple of semesters in pt school?
2. If you took many courses per semester (like 8) did some of your classes require less studying and work then say a class like neuroscience?
3. Taking into consideration that Physical Therapy school is not easy, would you say having a smaller coarse load per semester would make it more bearable?

I know some of these questions sound dumb but it just doesn't make sense to me. I found a school that requires 101 credits for graduation and another that requires 132 for graduation and they both last about three years. Why would anyone do this to themselves.

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This question is directed to current and past pt students so rest assured its in the right place.


I'm researching diffrent pt schools that I might apply to next year. One thing that has me overlooking wonderful programs is the sheer number of classes per semester. In undergrad I know what it's like to take 8 classes one semester and its hell. Some programs I've looked up require you to take 7-9 classes per semester. That's why I'm currently looking and have found a few programs that require 4-6 classes per semster.


So my questions are

1. How many classes do/did you take your first couple of semesters in pt school?
2. If you took many courses per semester (like 8) did some of your classes require less studying and work then say a class like neuroscience?
3. Taking into consideration that Physical Therapy school is not easy, would you say having a smaller coarse load per semester would make it more bearable?

I know some of these questions sound dumb but it just doesn't make sense to me. I found a school that requires 101 credits for graduation and another that requires 132 for graduation and they both last about three years. Why would anyone do this to themselves.


School definitely wont be easy but it is 100% do able if you put in the work. My first semester had: Research (relatively easy) pharmacology (not that bad) Professional Development (easy) Gross anatomy lab and lecture ( a lot of work) Health Promotion ( easy) Applied anatomy ( not that bad) and service learning (easy) (so 7 classes if you count anatomy lab and lecture as 1 )

2nd semester was tougher in that we still had anatomy and instead of research, pro D and health promotion and pharm we had neuro, cardio / pulm, foundations of muscuoloskeletal science and exam / interventions which as a group were a whole lot harder than the first semester.

Yes, some classes definitely require less studying and work for than others, and everyone is also different. Some people are good at learning anatomy but cant understand research or vice versa.
I think any PT school you go to will be difficult no matter the course load because they ultimately still have to teach the same information in roughly the same amount of time. Less classes might just mean more info packed into fewer classes.

If anything (speaking on solely personal experience) stay away from PBL schools (problem based learning) because that tends to be a lot more time consuming.

Taking all into consideration, PT school will most likely be a challenge, but it is completely doable. And if you manage your time well, you will have plenty of time for a life outside of school.
 
I didn't have a lot of classes, but I had courses that were 10+ credits haha.
 
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@Hokieboy

Classes and their structures in professional school aren't necessarily going to be directly comparable to the classes you are accustomed to in undergrad. Don't let the number of credits or classes per semester between schools psyche you out too much...you can't necessarily compare directly between schools and say that a schools that requires 132 credits will be more difficult/time consuming than a school that requires 101 credits. Accreditation standards ensure that what is taught from one PT school to another doesn't deviate greatly...you will be covering more or less the same content wherever you go. How many credits that content is parcelled into is really pretty arbitrary as far as you're concerned.

I would say, and so would many others on the board, that assuming all the schools you apply to have good NPTE pass rates (>90%), cost should be the number one factor in determining where to go. Location is also a big deal for people who want or need to stay in a certain geographical region. If you end up getting to the point where you have been accepted to multiple PT schools, you'll almost certainly pick the cheapest one. If you happen to get in to more than one school that costs roughly the same, then you can start really analyzing things like the structure of the curriculum as well as other less "critical" factors to decide where you want to go. Not many people have that luxury, but a few do.
 
Thank you guys for taking the time to reply. I will take what you guys have mentioned into consideration.

I was really considering Marymount but I will reconsidered for two reasons. It's a PBL school and costs about $100,000. It's a shame becouse its not a far commute for me.
 
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That's pretty typical cost for a private school, if anything it's towards the lower end of the scale.
 
I went to a PBL school and although it was a lot of work outside of class time, it was worth it. My CI's generally seemed rather impressed with my problem solving skills, willingness to look up things, etc and at least 2 out of my 4 CIs actually stated that I was more prepared than other students. It's work, but I found it to be rewarding.
 
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There are a lot of considerations when you're applying for PT school. I don't think number of credit hours or classes per semester/trimester is one of them. It's impossible to tell the difference between schools. As knj27 said, the number of credits assigned to each class is arbitrary. You will do well in some classes and you will struggle in others. Every student has his own strengths. Every school will teach more or less the same thing because every PT student eventually takes the same board exam.

I think PT in Motion reported in October 2014 that the median cost of tuition at private schools is $92k. So Marymount is one of the expensive ones. If you don't mind studying in small groups with a small group of students for three years, then it might be your best option. I can't say too much about PBL, except that most students don't seem too enthusiastic about it.
 
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How do you handle so many classes!!!

Coffee...alcohol...lather, rinse & repeat.

But more to your point: I don't think you can take the credit hours as an indication of the work involved for a class. A difficult course taught by a good professor can be less of a drain than a "one-hour" professionalism class taught by a bad professor. The hours assigned to each course are a mystery to me. I don't know if you can make any meaningful inferences about course load via "hours".
 
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^^ I second the coffee, alcohol, rinse repeat. It's a tough grind, but I try to keep in mind that I'm learning skills that could drastically change someone's life one day. It makes the dark days a little brighter. It's different from undergrad because almost everything you take applies to your profession in some way.
 
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