Need some advise on continuing with Physical Therapy school

[Daystar]

I need some advice or encouragement about continuing my education in Physical Therapy. I'm currently finishing my first year in PT school and I am having doubts about continuing with the DPT program. I have struggled through my first year and was placed on academic probation. I struggled with my first semester because I was still trying to transition from undergrad to graduate school; that's when I was placed on probation. I have passed all of my classes for the second and third semesters, with at least all Bs and one C. However, my overall GPA was not high enough to get me off of probation. I'll be meeting with the department chair later next week to talk about my options.

Because I struggled so much during the first semester, this makes me doubt if I chose the right profession. I have thought about quitting the program a couple times through the year, especially when I wasn't succeeding as I though I would. But, I kept going and didn't give up because I have come this far and should continue on. But lately the thoughts of quitting has been stronger and my motivation to continue on has been declining. If I quit now, all the hard work I went through and the vast amount of information I learned would go down the drain, in addition I would have to pay back all the loans I took out without getting my DPT.

I am stuck in the cross road right now. If I'm given another chance by my department chair to stay with the program, I'm not sure if I should take it. If I do, I may risk the chances of being dismissed later on if I don't meet their standards again and have a larger loan to pay back. However, there's also chance I may succeed and actually do fine. On the other hand, I can just quit now, throw what I have learned out the window, and pursue something else. Has anybody been in a similar situation? If so, how did you deal with it? Any regrets? Any feedback would greatly be appreciated.

If things doesn't work out, does anyone know what other options are out there? I would still like to be involved in the healthcare field and work with patients. Or at least be able to use what I have learned in my first year of PT school to a different profession.

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[Lizarde]

You're wondering if you chose the right profession based on a few Bs and a C? Once you graduate, being a PT doesn't consist of lectures, tests, and grades.

I don't start school for another 2 weeks so I can't truly understand your situation just yet, but... in my program the first year seems more "academic" classes then it transitions into being hands on and applying the information you've learned. In this regard, there will be a different learning style and also the opportunity to review what you've learned as it comes up again in practical applications.
Perhaps I am completely off the mark, but that's my perspective as a soon to be SPT.

 

[Lizarde]

I should add that I partly felt compelled to reply based on working as a tech for two PTs who are adamant that the majority of what you need to know about PT you learn after graduation. 5 years post-grad one of them couldn't recall off-hand the semitendinosus from the semimembranosus, but was excellent at knee rehab. I'm trying to keep this is mind as I get started.

 

[dizzy88]

If you are still happy with the career and what it involves, I would keep going. Like others have mentioned, academics is only a small part of what PT's go through. My boss always says that the stuff he does from day to day, he learned through continuing education classes. PT school teaches you the basics and you build on that.

Do you have any idea what's holding you back academically though? Maybe you can talk to the administration about getting tutored by a 3rd year PT student, taking exams in a quiet room, stuff like that. If you can trace back what's negatively impacting you in the classroom setting, I'm sure the administration will do everything they can to help you get past it.

Best of luck!

 

[artizzle]

If you feel like you are not getting the support you need from your classmates or faculty, you will probably run into this grade situation again. But, like the previous responses, PT isn't based on only what you learn in school.

How was your first clinical internship? If you felt apathetic and unsure after that, then maybe you should reconsider continuing PT school.

 

[jbizzle]

hi,

If you dont mind, what program are you attending? Like the above poster said, maybe you should asks for help from your nice classmates

 

[Montans]

I was in a similar situation. I ended up choosing to withdraw from school rather than risk the decision going to committee and being kicked out of school. It looks better on your transcript to withdraw than to be forced to leave. For me, I wasn't enjoying physical therapy and experienced many family problems, which caused my grades to slip. I thought about it for months and realized that I just wasn't into it and should cut my loses now. It sounds cliche, but you will have to sit down and think about why you want to stay. Have you done a clinical experience yet? How did it make you feel? I detested mine, which pretty much answered all of my doubts. You will also have to take into account whether or not you will be able to focus on school and get your grades high enough to get into a 3.0 range. Before I made the decision to leave school I got tutoring and counseling to help manage the family problems and it helped immensely.

As for the loans, I am in the same boat as you. $60,000 spent and no degree to show for it. It tough, but if you take this time off you can work and volunteer in different settings that interest you, and/or go back to school and figure out what you are really passionate about. It is what I did, and while leaving PT school was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make, I don't regret it, and the money will work itself out in the end.

In the time I took off I decided to go to medical school, and there are two scholarships available you can apply for that cover all costs, but you have to give them back a certain amount of years in working (military scholarship and underserved community scholarship). There are also a lot of PhD programs that provide full tuition scholarships and stipends. PA school is also a good way to go. It is a two year program and salaries are high and they are in demand. Also, if you withdraw on your own and your grades were not too bad and you have LOR from prof, you can always reapply to PT school if you discover it is what you want.

This is just my 2 cents and what I experienced, I hope everything goes well for you.

 

[Daystar]

Sorry for the really late reply.

Do you have any idea what's holding you back academically though? Maybe you can talk to the administration about getting tutored by a 3rd year PT student, taking exams in a quiet room, stuff like that. If you can trace back what's negatively impacting you in the classroom setting, I'm sure the administration will do everything they can to help you get past it.

I did have tutoring the 2nd and 3rd year students for different classes. I felt like sometimes it did help, but other times it didn't. I even went to multiple office hours with instructors, which I felt helped. But it was just hard going to them weekly because the time slots were often taken by other students or it didn't fit in my schedule because of classes. Other times, I would be so burned out that I just didn't want to be stuck in school anymore for that day.

How was your first clinical internship? If you felt apathetic and unsure after that, then maybe you should reconsider continuing PT school.

My first clinical internship was just a short pre-clinical in an acute setting. Before starting the clinical internship, I was excited because I would be out of the classroom and be working with real patients. During my clinical, I felt like I didn't know much because so much was going on. After a couple days, I started to get a flow of things and things started going more smoothly. When I reflect back to the clinical experience, I did enjoy working with patients and seeing them progress. However, I'm having a hard time imagining myself working in that environment.

If you dont mind, what program are you attending? Like the above poster said, maybe you should asks for help from your nice classmates

Sorry jbizzle, I am not comfortable mentioning the program I am going to, but it is in California.

I was in a similar situation. I ended up choosing to withdraw from school rather than risk the decision going to committee and being kicked out of school. It looks better on your transcript to withdraw than to be forced to leave. For me, I wasn't enjoying physical therapy and experienced many family problems, which caused my grades to slip. I thought about it for months and realized that I just wasn't into it and should cut my loses now. It sounds cliche, but you will have to sit down and think about why you want to stay. Have you done a clinical experience yet? How did it make you feel? I detested mine, which pretty much answered all of my doubts. You will also have to take into account whether or not you will be able to focus on school and get your grades high enough to get into a 3.0 range. Before I made the decision to leave school I got tutoring and counseling to help manage the family problems and it helped immensely.

As for the loans, I am in the same boat as you. $60,000 spent and no degree to show for it. It tough, but if you take this time off you can work and volunteer in different settings that interest you, and/or go back to school and figure out what you are really passionate about. It is what I did, and while leaving PT school was one of the hardest decisions I have had to make, I don't regret it, and the money will work itself out in the end.

In the time I took off I decided to go to medical school, and there are two scholarships available you can apply for that cover all costs, but you have to give them back a certain amount of years in working (military scholarship and underserved community scholarship). There are also a lot of PhD programs that provide full tuition scholarships and stipends. PA school is also a good way to go. It is a two year program and salaries are high and they are in demand. Also, if you withdraw on your own and your grades were not too bad and you have LOR from prof, you can always reapply to PT school if you discover it is what you want.

This is just my 2 cents and what I experienced, I hope everything goes well for you.

I didn't detest my pre-clinical internship. I did enjoy working with patients, but I can't see myself working in an acute environment. As for grades, I feel like I have always been at the bottom the whole entire year. I know grades are just part of the profession and it doesn't matter what I grades I get once I start working, unfortunately, I need to get good grades to stay in the program that is needed for the profession. Who knows, maybe this was a sign that this is not the right profession for me.

I am already starting to regret that all of this happened. I was really hoping that I would be able to get through PT school, but that's not the case. Feels horrible knowing that I wasted 1 year of my life, be $60,000 in debt, spent so much energy getting through the application process (GREs, LORs, pre-reqs, fees) and still not be even close to a career.

If you don't mind me asking, how much time after you left PT school did it take you to find out that you wanted to go to med school? And did you have to take any pre-reqs to get into med school? I would still like to be in the healthcare field, but I don't want to deal with any needles, which probably takes out a lot of professions. As for the LOR, it's a good idea, but I'm not sure if I would be comfortable enough to go back and ask them.

I appreciate your post. It helps knowing that someone else went through the same thing I'm going through.

 

[barunumbailey]

I need some advice or encouragement about continuing my education in Physical Therapy. I'm currently finishing my first year in PT school and I am having doubts about continuing with the DPT program. I have struggled through my first year and was placed on academic probation. I struggled with my first semester because I was still trying to transition from undergrad to graduate school; that's when I was placed on probation. I have passed all of my classes for the second and third semesters, with at least all Bs and one C. However, my overall GPA was not high enough to get me off of probation. I'll be meeting with the department chair later next week to talk about my options.

Because I struggled so much during the first semester, this makes me doubt if I chose the right profession. I have thought about quitting the program a couple times through the year, especially when I wasn't succeeding as I though I would. But, I kept going and didn't give up because I have come this far and should continue on. But lately the thoughts of quitting has been stronger and my motivation to continue on has been declining. If I quit now, all the hard work I went through and the vast amount of information I learned would go down the drain, in addition I would have to pay back all the loans I took out without getting my DPT.

I am stuck in the cross road right now. If I'm given another chance by my department chair to stay with the program, I'm not sure if I should take it. If I do, I may risk the chances of being dismissed later on if I don't meet their standards again and have a larger loan to pay back. However, there's also chance I may succeed and actually do fine. On the other hand, I can just quit now, throw what I have learned out the window, and pursue something else. Has anybody been in a similar situation? If so, how did you deal with it? Any regrets? Any feedback would greatly be appreciated.

If things doesn't work out, does anyone know what other options are out there? I would still like to be involved in the healthcare field and work with patients. Or at least be able to use what I have learned in my first year of PT school to a different profession.

I was wondering what you ended up doing? I'm in the exact same situation right now and I don't know what to do.

 

[Kuhdaytee]

I was wondering what you ended up doing? I'm in the exact same situation right now and I don't know what to do.

...this post was made 6 years ago. Good luck with getting a response from the original poster, though!