Switch from Engineering to Physical Therapy

[Gryffindor3322]

I am a recent May 2012 graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, completing my bachelors degree in Industrial Engineering, and interested in pursuing a career in Physical Therapy.

At a meeting last week an employee brought up the question, "What would you do for a living if money wasn't an issue?" Being an athlete, I have dealt with injuries my whole life and just through experiences enjoy helping others deal with their own issues. I also took a Strong Interest test combined with MBTI personality and the result showed Physical Therapist as the top occupation.

I plan on having an informational interview/job shadow a Physical Therapist next week to gain more insight into the career, and was wondering if you have seen this career switch before or how difficult it may be to do so.

Thanks

P.S.
Do most DPT programs require Anatomy and Physiology classes coming from a 4 year school?

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[Ttran23]

I had a number of friends graduated with engineer degrees, but went back to school to take some required pre-reqs such as A&P in order to pursuit careers in medicine. From what they told me, the transitions were not that difficult as long as you have a good studying habit. Also, you have have taken physics, stats, trig, and calculus already during your undergrad as an engineer major so you can just those as part of your pre-req for applications.

 

[DPTErudition]

yes, most programs require anatomy and physiology

 

[DPT13]

There were one or two engineering majors in my PT class, in addition to one girl who had been working for 5-ish years as an engineer for Motorolla before taking the prereqs and deciding to switch fields. It seemed as though all of them transitioned well.

 

[Shyster]

Do most DPT programs require Anatomy and Physiology classes coming from a 4 year school?



No, most schools, the last time I checked, didn't require these two courses to be from a 4 year university; a community college was just fine for me.