Advice for future applicant needed!

[aylwas]

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Hi,

I am new to the SDN and thought I would post a few of my questions.

I will be graduating spring of 2013 and decided to take a year off before applying to physical therapy school. My reasons are I still need to complete a full year of physics, I need to retake a few classes and also take the GRE.

I am considering taking the GRE in september before fall quarter starts but am unsure if PT schools look down on taking the test multiple times. I will only have 2 months to study before and am not sure that is sufficient time.

Also if anyone would recommend any GRE prep courses or books?

Any advice in applying and creating a strong application would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[13panda]

2 months should be a good amount of time to study if you really dedicate yourself to studying and set a schedule. I used the Kaplan GRE book and it helped me bring up my score by 10 points in both verbal and quantitative. If you have an android phone download "Painless GRE". That ap was so great in helping me learn new vocab words quick!

 

[Kismet426]

I am considering taking the GRE in september before fall quarter starts but am unsure if PT schools look down on taking the test multiple times.

Also if anyone would recommend any GRE prep courses or books?

Any advice in applying and creating a strong application would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

i don't think they care if you take it between 1-3 times. after 3 I think it starts to look negatively on you. I studied for about three months and did relatively well. it's more about how dedicated you are to actually getting studying done than about having 2 versus three months.
I had three books.
Kaplan, Barron, and something else - Princeton Review maybe?

Barron book with the matching set of flashcards was the best out of the three for me.

 

[okramango]

I am considering taking the GRE in september before fall quarter starts but am unsure if PT schools look down on taking the test multiple times. I will only have 2 months to study before and am not sure that is sufficient time.

Also if anyone would recommend any GRE prep courses or books?

I studied intensively for three weeks before my GRE and got a great score. I really dedicated the hours every single day, though. I found Kaplan's book to be the most helpful, but also used Barron's, the ETS guide, and Princeton's math workout, as well as Kaplan's vocab cards. The Kaplan book gives some tips about strategy and time management that I found to be really helpful during the actual test. Everyone has different learning styles, though, so you might find other guides to be more helpful. I also suggest taking a practice test initially to figure out your strengths and weaknesses, and then decide how to focus your studying. Good luck!

 

[aylwas]

Thank you for all of the comments! It has really helped! I am currently taking an intensive anatomy course (1 semesters worth in 4 straight weeks!) and I will see how much I feel about studying after it is done. But it is great to know you can still do well without months months of studying and that taking over again isn't looked down upon.

Any more advice for how to strengthen an application would also be awesome to hear! I have done a few extracurricular activities throughout college and work at PT/OT clinic so getting observation hours won't be a problem.