Academic References for Non-Traditional Student

[scrawnyguy]

I began my collegiate career at a brick and mortar school more than a decade ago. Not long after my freshman year I was deployed with the Army Reserve. At the time I had no idea what I wanted to major in, let alone do for a career so I decided to join the military full time. I continued my education, but due to training demands and two more deployments I was forced to utilize distance education. I have since decided that physical therapy is my "calling". My grades are great (3.8ish), but I am concerned about getting academic references for my application. Since the professors don't see you face to face it would seem difficult to get a solid reference. A few papers and discussion board postings along with a handful of emails doesn't really let the professor get to know the student all that well. I thought about contacting my old professors, but they are either retired or they were grad students who have long since moved on. Plus as anyone at a large public school can attest lower level classes with a couple hundred people make it hard to stick out.

I thought about taking on of my last prereqs at a local community college, but that may not work with my schedule. I would like to apply to the May 2014 class at St. Augustine, which means I need to apply by next Oct. The problem is I will be deployed until February which makes spring classes out of the question and I will most likely be attending a mandatory 5 week course in the summer.

Any suggestions?

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[DancerFutureDPT]

look into various post-bacc programs. There are a few pre-med/pre-health post-baccs out there at universities, some of which can be done in a year (especially if you don't need all the prereqs).

Some classes (like calculus, stats, etc) may be able to be taken online, which could save you some time, or you could do it while you're deployed (depending on your area of work overseas) or in a condensed format when you come back. Double check with the PT schools you're applying to to make sure they'll count it.

Also, I come from a school on the quarter system, so our spring quarter doesn't start until mid-late March. If you find schools that aren't on semesters, you could be able to take something when you come back. Some universities also offer accelerated/intensive summer courses, where you can take a year's worth of chem of physics in one summer.

 

[GTT4DPT]

You might also try asking St. Augustine if you can substitute a reference from a commanding officer. I'm applying after a stint in the professional world, and it seemed to me that a glowing recommendation from a supervisor I worked closely with for 7 years was more meaningful than "this student seems very engaged in his studies and is likely equipped to handle the coursework of grad school". I asked a program if I could use a supervisor instead of a professor and they said "sure".

Having the grades seems to show that you can do the work. For all the intangibles that a reference letter might try to capture, a statement related to your military service seems much more powerful than anything a professor could write. I hope the folks at St. Augustine would view it that way.

 

[starrsgirl]

Had to reply to this one....our backgrounds are very very similar. I am applying this cycle so although I can't tell you what "worked", I can tell you what I did.

I took as many courses as possible online to include statistics and psychology. Then, I separated from the military and enrolled in community college to take the courses I had to take in person (a&p, physics). I found the courses to be pretty small in community college. I had my a&p instructor do one of my references. Then I had 2 military commanding officers do my other references. One guy was a standard supervisor but for the last one, I asked a military instructor who had me in training and (I hope) could speak about academic abilities under pressure.

 

[scrawnyguy]

You might also try asking St. Augustine if you can substitute a reference from a commanding officer. I'm applying after a stint in the professional world, and it seemed to me that a glowing recommendation from a supervisor I worked closely with for 7 years was more meaningful than "this student seems very engaged in his studies and is likely equipped to handle the coursework of grad school". I asked a program if I could use a supervisor instead of a professor and they said "sure".

Having the grades seems to show that you can do the work. For all the intangibles that a reference letter might try to capture, a statement related to your military service seems much more powerful than anything a professor could write. I hope the folks at St. Augustine would view it that way.

That's a good idea. I emailed one of the admissions advisers there and asked if that would suffice. Fingers crossed that they say yes. If not I will come up with a plan B. There was actually a school teaching BIO at night here, but I didn't find out until it was too late. That would have been a perfect opportunity.

 

[scrawnyguy]

Good news, I think. The school said I can substitute another PT rec in lieu of an academic one. On the downside I now need 3 PT recs. When I get home and start my observation hours I better butter up ALL the PTs.