2 months for GRE and Recommendations?

[moocaca]

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I have been wanting to go to PT school for awhile, but I recently decided to go ahead and apply, but it turns out the deadline is Oct 15.

I have all prerequisites, so I am left with studying/taking the GRE and attempting to get PT volunteer hours and recommendations. I'm assuming 2.5 months for both activities is impossible and/or not a good idea? Even if I shadow PT's, that leaves them with ~1 month to complete the recommendation (for this school it is just a checklist, not a written format - if that matters), which is not enough time.

Should I just wait to apply next year? Has anyone ever done this?

 

[NeophyteParkour]

While it may be possible (especially if you're not taking classes this fall semester) you may be better off applying next year.
Do you have 0 volunteer hours? You should have been accumulating them by now. In-patient hours aren't always easy to get. Sometimes you get placed on a waiting list.
You could certainly try applying this year and doing as much as you can, but obviously your application would look a lot better next year.

You could also consider applying to other schools with later deadlines.

 

[moocaca]

Thank you for the response.
Yup, I have zero hours, so I would be starting from scratch. On top of that, unless I quit my job, I can't do daytime work-day hours for volunteering. I can imagine that evening/weekend volunteer hours are nearly impossible to come by.

 

[Azimuthal]

OP,
Its not impossible. I am speaking from my own experience, last year. Start your volunteering hours...NOW. You will still need hours in multiple settings to be competitive. DO NOT EMAIL clinics/hospitals/SNF's to see if you can volunteer. If you know they do PT, try to visit the physical therapy department directly. Tell them your goals.

When you begin volunteering, tell your PTs that your goal is to obtain a letter or reference for PTCAS after some hours. Don't be afraid to ask how many hours are appropriate before asking for a "positive" letter. With that said, learn as much as possible in the first 8 hours. Take on a role of an aid, be assertive in observing directly (but don't get in the way) and contribute to your PTs workflow.

Now, if you have not done so, sign up for PTCAS and start your application.

 

[moocaca]

Azimuthal, thank you for the response.
You're right that it is definitely not enough time to get all of that done. Thank you for the additional information - I appreciate it.