What to do when you don't get accepted?

[KCarl1]

Hello all!

I applied to a few programs this round and did not get accepted in to any of them. I have met with a few admissions directors and they all said the same thing- my application is good, but so is about 1,000 others, so my luck this time around wasn't so stellar. They suggested retaking the GRE and a couple of pre-reqs that I didn't get A's in and applying next round.

What did any of you do on a year off? One Admissions director suggested beginning a Masters program. Another suggested finding a job as a PT Tech. Another suggested getting a job anywhere and just making money for a year. SO MANY OPTIONS!

I would really appreciate any advice!
Thanks!

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[jblil]

How do you stack up against the past few entering classes, at the schools you targeted? Do you have about the same number of observation hours as the folks who got accepted? If so, you could simply find a job, any job, while waiting for the next cycle. What about your GPA and your GRE score? Do you need/want to bump them up? If you are just average and don't want to take classes to improve your GPA, then you may want to apply to schools with looser requirements.

 

[AlanWattsBlues]

What did any of you do on a year off? One Admissions director suggested beginning a Masters program. Another suggested finding a job as a PT Tech. Another suggested getting a job anywhere and just making money for a year.

A Master's in what? Does that seem like a strange piece of advice to anyone else?

I'd want to avoid taking on student debt before I have a chance to take on even more student debt. Getting a job anywhere and retaking some classes seems like a reasonable thing to do. Who knows? Maybe over that time you'll fall in love with some other professional pursuit, and years from now you'll shudder when thinking about how you almost become a PT

 

[DesertPT]

...retaking the GRE once you have practiced enough to know that you will improve your score significantly, and a couple of pre-reqs that I didn't get A's in at the cheapest possible community college and applying next round...

...getting a job wherever pays the best...

This is what I would probably do.

 

[DesertPT]

A Master's in what? Does that seem like a strange piece of advice to anyone else?

I'd want to avoid taking on student debt before I have a chance to take on even more student debt. Getting a job anywhere and retaking some classes seems like a reasonable thing to do. Who knows? Maybe over that time you'll fall in love with some other professional pursuit, and years from now you'll shudder when thinking about how you almost become a PT

I agree. A master's isn't going to be that high-yield as far as your DPT admissions chances relative to how much a master's will likely cost...and it would delay DPT admissions by at least 2 years.

 

[tweaze]

A Master's in what? Does that seem like a strange piece of advice to anyone else?

I'd want to avoid taking on student debt before I have a chance to take on even more student debt. Getting a job anywhere and retaking some classes seems like a reasonable thing to do. Who knows? Maybe over that time you'll fall in love with some other professional pursuit, and years from now you'll shudder when thinking about how you almost become a PT

I agree that it seems like strange advice, especially given that it would take about 2 years - you'd either have to take two years off, or start and then stop when you entered PT school. Plus you would have to then pick programs, apply, pay application fees, etc. It hardly seems worth it for one year off. If it was me, I'd work and make some money, and look at the weakest points of my application and clean those up (classes, GRE, more observation settings).

 

[starrsgirl]

Don't do a masters....not worth it. Retake every single pre req you don't have an A in. Retake the GRE. If you have a ton of observation hours, maybe try to do something different. You could do something like a big relevant volunteer project, go on a service type trip, work in respite care. I think this depends on finances. If you will incur a lot of debt then just get the best job you can.

 

[onomotoria]

I was forced to take a break year after my first round of applying resulting in all rejections and what I found strengthened my application the most was working as an aide. More observation hours while building strong relationships with my PTs for good LOR - two birds one stone. I also retook some prereq classes and was able to bump up my pGPA substantially. Oh, also chose what schools I applied to in the second round much more carefully and targeted ones I was more likely to get into.

 

[heaq12]

Hello all!

I applied to a few programs this round and did not get accepted in to any of them. I have met with a few admissions directors and they all said the same thing- my application is good, but so is about 1,000 others, so my luck this time around wasn't so stellar. They suggested retaking the GRE and a couple of pre-reqs that I didn't get A's in and applying next round.

What did any of you do on a year off? One Admissions director suggested beginning a Masters program. Another suggested finding a job as a PT Tech. Another suggested getting a job anywhere and just making money for a year. SO MANY OPTIONS!

I would really appreciate any advice!
Thanks!

If you do a master's make sure it's paid for. I got paid to do my masters (departmental assistantship) and I took the classes I needed for the masters AND filled in prereqs I was missing (but didn't have to pay for them, as I was on assistantship) You could do something similar and retake classes you didn't get A's in...

maybe that's what they were thinking?

 

[PT2Bee]

holy crap I cannot stress enough...DO NOT GET A MASTERS!!!! Lol. There is a masters program at my school that many students go into when they don't get into the med/dental program and are promised if they do well it is sure admission into med/dental the following year. Guess what?? If it sounds too good to be true it is...and they got denied. So now they have a masters in something they don't particularly like and is not very useful...plus 20,000++ in debt. Do anything besides dig yourself a bigger debt hole.

 

[KCarl1]

Everything here is SO SO SO helpful! Thank you all so much! I have been applying for PT Tech jobs and hoping I get one. I have plenty of observation hours right now, and in 4 different settings. I have a TON of volunteer hours, have gone on week long volunteer trips, etc. I believe I'm just going to work and retake some classes.

Regarding that, is it okay to take pre-reqs through a community college? Or does it look better to take them through a 4 year university?

Thank you all!!!

 

[KCarl1]

This is what I would probably do.

Hey! I was told that taking pre-reqs at a community college was frowned upon. Has anyone else heard this?

 

[PTMattI]

Some schools want pre reqs from 4 year universities, some schools dont care. Check with the schools you plan on applying to. If they dont care take them at community! It will be cheaper and you may have a smaller class size.

 

[AlanWattsBlues]

Yep, I totally agree with the above. My class is chock full of people who took pre-reqs at community college. But then sometimes you run into a problem with needing an upper division course that might drive you into a four-year school. I had that issue and just took it online (after confirming with schools that it would count where it needed to count).

So there are many ways to get it done.

I found the quality of instruction at my local community college to be at least as good as the Tier One research university down the street where I did my undergrad many years before. So I would never frown upon credit from a CC. But different strokes for different folks...

 

[mv85dpthopeful]

I totally agree with taking classes through a community college if the schools you're interested are okay with that. When I started applying for school, many of my classes were too old to be considered so I took a year to retake them at a community college. My classes were about 1/4 the size of my classes at a 4 year university, and the students were as serious as I was about being successful. If you're applying to PT schools that are fine with that option, I highly recommend it.

 

[DesertPT]

Agree with the above posts re: community colleges. In general it seems that they are fine, there may be some schools here or there that are funny about it.