ADVICE on applying!

[ecbprept4]

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Hey everyone,

So I am planning on applying next year. I began school as an engineering student, doing it for my father and I realized it was not really what I wanted to do. I finally realized that I loved exercise and rehab and wanted to be a pt so I changed my major. However, being an engineering major totally killed my GPA and by the time I graduate with my bachelors in exercise science I will have a prereq gpa right over a 3.0, probably a 4.0 if they take the highest grade (most of my curric in engineering was prereqs for pt but I did not try) and a cGPA of about a 3.2, 3.8 if highest grade is considered. I will be applying next year during the 2016-2017 cycle. I am just looking for advice on what else I can do to get my application actually looked at. I am doing observation hours, I have 40 outpatient and 100 inpatient. How many more should I get? What should I be doing for volunteer work, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know I am going to be a pt one day even if I don't get accepted during this cycle, or the next, or the next..

 

[ROSTedFlakes]

We sound like the exact same person. Started school as an engineering student (for our parent(s) wishes, not ours), realized it wasn't what we wanted, and switched majors because we loved exercise/rehab. That's a big switch, but I definitely don't regret it and couldn't even imagine doing engineering now that I've been around PT. Congrats on stepping out and making the switch, that's step one.

I'm in the current application cycle and I'm waiting to hear back from schools I sent my application to. About a month ago I decided to start a blog to share my experiences and help those who would be applying to PT school in the future. Here's a link to my page https://tonyrost.wordpress.com/

If you click the "Applying" tab, you'll find my experiences and tips on the whole application process. Hopefully that will answer some of your questions! If you have more questions, feel free to e-mail me. My contact info is on my home page.

 

[PTX2]

Hey everyone,

So I am planning on applying next year. I began school as an engineering student, doing it for my father and I realized it was not really what I wanted to do. I finally realized that I loved exercise and rehab and wanted to be a pt so I changed my major. However, being an engineering major totally killed my GPA and by the time I graduate with my bachelors in exercise science I will have a prereq gpa right over a 3.0, probably a 4.0 if they take the highest grade (most of my curric in engineering was prereqs for pt but I did not try) and a cGPA of about a 3.2, 3.8 if highest grade is considered. I will be applying next year during the 2016-2017 cycle. I am just looking for advice on what else I can do to get my application actually looked at. I am doing observation hours, I have 40 outpatient and 100 inpatient. How many more should I get? What should I be doing for volunteer work, etc? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know I am going to be a pt one day even if I don't get accepted during this cycle, or the next, or the next..

I'm applying to programs the first time this year and have yet to hear back. However, I can offer advice based on what I learned so far.

If you do your research and apply to schools that take the highest grade your GPAs should be above average.

Gain more observation experience in various settings and with different populations. Pediatric, geriatric, neuro... Try to get a minimum of 40 hours in each location.

Aim to get minimum scores of 150 and 4.0 on the GRE. I recommend the Manhattan prep books and I heard Magoosh study guides are great.

 

[JCdpt]

Career changer who just got accepted to start in 2016. Like everyone else is mentioning, volunteer hours are pretty important and you're on the right track with both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Another important factor would be your letters of recommendation. I know for sure that I had some pretty strong ones when I applied. I would say that if you're life allows you to work as an aide in a facility leading up to your application, I'd take that route. It gives you a chance to build a strong relationship with the PTs you'll be asking for a recommendation. I've had friends who did their hours, had to work, and PTs not feeling comfortable writing them recommendations, or writing ones that weren't strong.

My science prereq when I decided to pursue this was a 4.0 (AP, Chem, Physics) but my undergrad GPA was sub 3.5. My GRE wasn't great (152 verbal, 148 math and 4.5 writing) and I was accepted to two programs and waiting on two more.

It can be done, but I think my advantage was over 350 hours of volunteer/aide work, really strong letters of recommendation, and other community work (I volunteer with STOKED.org teaching inner city kids to skate/snowboard). There are a lot of ways to stand out in the crowd. Although there are def schools who look at grades first, you can make it happen. One more bit of advice, don't procrastinate on applications. Applications open in July...I had most of apps in the end of August. My advice when that time comes...July 1...do all your application information, all the course work blah blah. Then add all of the PT schools you want to go to into the "designations list." At that point, you'll be able to see what schools need supplemental essays and what schools do not. At that point, you can easily submit apps super early for any that don't require additional info and look at the essay Qs for the rest.

Hope this long winded response is helpful.

 

[manila7242]

If you can, try getting a part time job as an aide. I know around my area, there are places that are looking for aides that only work one, maybe two, days a week. It's much easier to get a physical therapist LOR that way. (I wouldn't take a full time job as an aide. The pay is low.)

Bone up on your writing skills. You'll be using it a lot when it comes to answering the main essay prompt and then the secondary school specific questions.

Research the schools. http://www.ptcas.org/ptcas/public/allprograms.aspx?listorder=allstate&navID=10737426779 This is a good place to start. Look at how your stats compare. Most of the schools have the stats for their average accepted students. You also really have to read the fine print because some schools require exercise physiology. Others only take GREs that are up to 3 years old. Others only take prereqs that are up to 5 years old. Others automatically disqualify your application if you've taken your prereqs at a community college (rare). Some don't count observations hours if they're paid (also rare). Some require a certain number of hours at a certain number of settings. It would suck big hairy monkey balls to spend so much money applying to a school and not know that you're ineligible. Choosing the schools is the hardest part. I would recommend contacting the admissions counselors, schedule school visits, etc. You're going to be dropping some major moolah and spending 3 years there. Make sure it's a place you want to go to.

If you know which schools you're going to apply to, write down the GRE codes for those schools because right after you take the GRE, you get to send your scores to four schools for FREE. After that, it's roughly $30 per school. Applying is expensive as is, and this is a nice way to save yourself a few bucks. I would take the test early... like late May or whatever to give yourself time to retake the test if it's not as high as you would like.

If you can, apply early decision. It's a smaller pool of applicants and depending on the school it means less competition. If you don't make it through early decision, you get lumped into the regular admission pool. Also, depending on where you went to school, check to see if there are any articulation agreements with the bigger universities. That helps out a heck of a whole lot. If you're checking out schools that do rolling admissions, apply early because again, smaller pool of applicants = less competition.

I would even just peruse ptcas.org and create a username just to see how the applications are formatted.

PS... I'm doing the opposite of you. I'm going back to school next summer to get a degree in electrical engineering with a biomedical emphasis which would only take me 2 years to finish because a good chunk of my kinesiology degree transfers. Something snapped just the past couple of weeks that made me realize that engineering is where my heart is.