I am currently a student in the DPT program at Western U and it has come to my attention that one of my fellow classmates has painted an undesirable picture of my school on this forum. In response to that I thought that there should be another opinion. I am sorry that your experience was so terrible, but I have a different view of my time in PT school.
I have friends that are in other programs and there is not a single one out there without problems. As long as the school is trying to advance the curriculum and continuing to challenge the students to their full potential I feel that there might be a few bugs along the way. As with anything though the department learns and tries to change things for the better. The main thing is that when I started school the department had done a complete overhaul on the curriculum. That basically means that our 3rd year students went through a completely different program than the one that I am in currently. The good news is that my class was the guinea pig class and that they should have most of the kinks worked out. I do believe that the new way of doing things is so much better than before, but at the same time it is more demanding on me as the student. I feel that it is a good challenge for me, plus I would rather make mistakes here in school than out in the real world.
Secondly I wanted to address the issue of showing up to class. You are going into grad school you need to be prepared to spend a great deal of time at school and not as much time doing all the things that you might want to do. It is like having a job, like most jobs you will not have breaks in the middle of the week. The same is true for grad school even though it says that there is a day off on your schedule does not mean that it is set in stone and you might have to come into class that day. The other thing is yes it is mandatory to attend class, but that does not mean that faculty is not understanding. I have had classmates take days off for weddings and as a matter of fact I am taking off a day next week to go to our national conference in Chicago. I used to skip class quite a bit in undergrad and now I have only missed a hand full for days. It was explained to me within the first week of school that our learning here is no longer about us it is about our future patients. Which brings up the question would I want a medical professional to treat me if I found out that he/she was never in class.....probably not. So from here on out everything we do is with the patient in mind.
Thirdly I wanted to address the question about the professors. We have some amazing professors on staff. Some of them have done so much in there lives and are leaders in their fields. It can be intimidating at times when you are talking to someone that is triple board certified, but I always feel like they are down to earth and that I can approach any professor with concerns. They truly want the best for us and they care. I have had my issues with certain professors due to personality differences and you just deal. I feel that even though I didn't get along with certain professors there was still a mutual respect for each other. I know for a fact that I am not the smartest person in my class, but I am attentive, inquisitive, and I work hard. This does not go unnoticed by the professors and they are more happy to help you when they see that you are trying and that you care. The other thing that I wanted to add about the professors is some of them have amazing contacts which allows us to have guest lectures come and talk to us, we have real patents coming in to class so we can observe them, and we have the opportunity to have observations outside of class as well. I also saw that there was stuff about our department chair on this forum. Dr. Schilling is a very passionate woman, which to some can come off as her being abrasive. I too have had times where I have gone to her and voiced my opinion about certain things. She may not agree with me all the time, but she is willing to listen to what you have to say. Even if it doesn't go the way you want she has more respect for you if you care enough to come talk to her. Some people are afraid of her, but I am not. If it is something that means enough to me I will be the first one in her office. At this point in your life and in your education you have to take control and make your voice heard.
Lastly I wanted to outline some things that I love about this school. The small class sizes are awesome and it allows you to have hands on time with both professors and TAs. I love that we had a year of anatomy with cadaver dissection because I think that we know anatomy better than anyone else. We get to select the elective classes that we take in our third year. Most importantly of all we have fun.
I hope that this helps with your decision. In the end it doesn't matter where you go to PT school as long as you feel that you belong. Best of luck.
I have friends that are in other programs and there is not a single one out there without problems. As long as the school is trying to advance the curriculum and continuing to challenge the students to their full potential I feel that there might be a few bugs along the way. As with anything though the department learns and tries to change things for the better. The main thing is that when I started school the department had done a complete overhaul on the curriculum. That basically means that our 3rd year students went through a completely different program than the one that I am in currently. The good news is that my class was the guinea pig class and that they should have most of the kinks worked out. I do believe that the new way of doing things is so much better than before, but at the same time it is more demanding on me as the student. I feel that it is a good challenge for me, plus I would rather make mistakes here in school than out in the real world.
Secondly I wanted to address the issue of showing up to class. You are going into grad school you need to be prepared to spend a great deal of time at school and not as much time doing all the things that you might want to do. It is like having a job, like most jobs you will not have breaks in the middle of the week. The same is true for grad school even though it says that there is a day off on your schedule does not mean that it is set in stone and you might have to come into class that day. The other thing is yes it is mandatory to attend class, but that does not mean that faculty is not understanding. I have had classmates take days off for weddings and as a matter of fact I am taking off a day next week to go to our national conference in Chicago. I used to skip class quite a bit in undergrad and now I have only missed a hand full for days. It was explained to me within the first week of school that our learning here is no longer about us it is about our future patients. Which brings up the question would I want a medical professional to treat me if I found out that he/she was never in class.....probably not. So from here on out everything we do is with the patient in mind.
Thirdly I wanted to address the question about the professors. We have some amazing professors on staff. Some of them have done so much in there lives and are leaders in their fields. It can be intimidating at times when you are talking to someone that is triple board certified, but I always feel like they are down to earth and that I can approach any professor with concerns. They truly want the best for us and they care. I have had my issues with certain professors due to personality differences and you just deal. I feel that even though I didn't get along with certain professors there was still a mutual respect for each other. I know for a fact that I am not the smartest person in my class, but I am attentive, inquisitive, and I work hard. This does not go unnoticed by the professors and they are more happy to help you when they see that you are trying and that you care. The other thing that I wanted to add about the professors is some of them have amazing contacts which allows us to have guest lectures come and talk to us, we have real patents coming in to class so we can observe them, and we have the opportunity to have observations outside of class as well. I also saw that there was stuff about our department chair on this forum. Dr. Schilling is a very passionate woman, which to some can come off as her being abrasive. I too have had times where I have gone to her and voiced my opinion about certain things. She may not agree with me all the time, but she is willing to listen to what you have to say. Even if it doesn't go the way you want she has more respect for you if you care enough to come talk to her. Some people are afraid of her, but I am not. If it is something that means enough to me I will be the first one in her office. At this point in your life and in your education you have to take control and make your voice heard.
Lastly I wanted to outline some things that I love about this school. The small class sizes are awesome and it allows you to have hands on time with both professors and TAs. I love that we had a year of anatomy with cadaver dissection because I think that we know anatomy better than anyone else. We get to select the elective classes that we take in our third year. Most importantly of all we have fun.
I hope that this helps with your decision. In the end it doesn't matter where you go to PT school as long as you feel that you belong. Best of luck.
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