Am I too old to become a Physical Therapist

[difranco1234]

Hi everyone, so as the question states I'm wondering if I'm too old to pursue PT. The reason why I ask is that I'm 24 years old right now and haven't had my first real job yet. (Currently a Cook at a restaurant) I'm currently in school for business administration because I was thinking about becoming a restaurant manager and they said it would be a good idea for me to finish school which would take me two more semesters from now. Otherwise if I go the PT route then I basically have 5 more years seeing as I already have the first two years of the required PT classes out of the way.

The reason for this is that I was pursuing PT before B.A. (Business administration), but I had a bad semester due to working to many hours and taking on an extra work load. Also I've got C's in both regular bio I & II classes along with both Anatomy/Physiology I & II classes. I've thought about PT again because I don't think I would like being a manager as much as I think I would and that I'd only be doing it because I feel kinda old now that I'm in mid 20s.

Even though that's not exactly old. It kinda feels like it since I would be getting my DPT at 30 years old and I worry what my future could look like being that I'd be behind on work experience/savings due to just starting my career.

My GPA is currently a 1.9 which obviously isn't good which is why I'm wondering if retaking those classes along with getting A's in my other ones would bring me up to an acceptable admission requirement. Also I would plan to look for some work experience as soon as possible if I found pursuing PT would be a good move.

It's not like I care about getting rich, but I'd like to be able to make a comfortable standard of living while also being able to have a good work/life balance.

The other thing I should mention which might make a difference is that I lost my mother who had a brain injury when giving birth to my sister due to the Anesthesiologist giving her the wrong stuff. (sorry I can't remember what it is exact)

The reason I say this is that their were legal issues and because of this me and my brother received a settlement of money which I still have some and more coming which is around $115,000 currently have about 30k.

If it means anything I live in Ohio and would most likely go to a school in-state. If anyone has any other questions for me please ask. Also thanks for taking the time to read all of this, I realize this is allot and I really appreciate you all reading this, thanks.

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[NJ DPT HOPEFUL]

Hi everyone, so as the question states I'm wondering if I'm too old to pursue PT. The reason why I ask is that I'm 24 years old right now and haven't had my first real job yet. (Currently a Cook at a restaurant) I'm currently in school for business administration because I was thinking about becoming a restaurant manager and they said it would be a good idea for me to finish school which would take me two more semesters from now. Otherwise if I go the PT route then I basically have 5 more years seeing as I already have the first two years of the required PT classes out of the way.

The reason for this is that I was pursuing PT before B.A. (Business administration), but I had a bad semester due to working to many hours and taking on an extra work load. Also I've got C's in both regular bio I & II classes along with both Anatomy/Physiology I & II classes. I've thought about PT again because I don't think I would like being a manager as much as I think I would and that I'd only be doing it because I feel kinda old now that I'm in mid 20s.

Even though that's not exactly old. It kinda feels like it since I would be getting my DPT at 30 years old and I worry what my future could look like being that I'd be behind on work experience/savings due to just starting my career.

My GPA is currently a 1.9 which obviously isn't good which is why I'm wondering if retaking those classes along with getting A's in my other ones would bring me up to an acceptable admission requirement. Also I would plan to look for some work experience as soon as possible if I found pursuing PT would be a good move.

It's not like I care about getting rich, but I'd like to be able to make a comfortable standard of living while also being able to have a good work/life balance.

The other thing I should mention which might make a difference is that I lost my mother who had a brain injury when giving birth to my sister due to the Anesthesiologist giving her the wrong stuff. (sorry I can't remember what it is exact)

The reason I say this is that their were legal issues and because of this me and my brother received a settlement of money which I still have some and more coming which is around $115,000 currently have about 30k.

If it means anything I live in Ohio and would most likely go to a school in-state. If anyone has any other questions for me please ask. Also thanks for taking the time to read all of this, I realize this is allot and I really appreciate you all reading this, thanks.

I'd suggest finishing your degree first and foremost. You can apply for pt school with any degree as long as you have the pre reqs done. But you can't get into PT school with a 1.9 GPA and Cs in all your pre reqs. With the amount of retakes you would probably require. You'll probably be a little older than 30 if you end up being able to make it happen. No that's not too old but you need to be able to get As in school to even have a remote chance of this. With your average grade being closer to a D than an A, that's not a given.

Have you considered PTA?

 

[difranco1234]

Oh no I know, I would still have about a year and a half or two of classes before applying. Also I thought about PTA but I feel like I would regret not going into PT sooner and have to take on more finanncially.

Also would having getting experience throughout those two years help?

 

[DPThopeful1859]

I'm almost 30 myself and I've worked my tail off to make my application more competitive to be accepted into school. There is no timeline but the one YOU decide to set for yourself. I'm just happy to have gotten in after trying for 7 years, so there is a pay off if you work hard and set your mind on exactly what you want to achieve. I say get more experience, ace your classes, especially your pre-reqs if you decide to stay with your degree in business and make it a top priority to get into school if that's what you want

 

[beyoutiful_sunshine]

I agree with the previous post that you should try to complete your B.A degree just because you are SO close, and you don't need a specific degree to do PT.
Here is what you could do: finish your B.A degree, which should take it a year and a half. Try to get good grades in your remaining classes, this is very important. Then when you're out of school, retake those pre-reqs and try to Ace them, if not no less than a B. Also try to get lots of recommendation hours in various settings and great GRE scores.

Now when it comes time to apply, apply smart. Look at schools that don't look at your cumulative GPA but focus on your Last 60 hours GPA (including post bac). This is important because if you find a school that does that and you do well both in your remaining classes and in the ones you take when you graduate, the GPA schools will look at could be let's say 3.7 versus a 1.9, which obviously makes a big difference. This will take some digging, and there's no database for this other than going on each school's website or getting some insights from people on this forum. I know for instance that Texas State in San Marcos only looks at your last 60, your pre-req and your math/science GPA. Also look at schools that don't use PTCAS (University of St Augustine for instance) as PTCAS does not take the highest attempts when calculating your grade, but instead it averages all your attempts which wouldn't help you tremendously.

So it could be 1.5 years to finish, then 1 year to retake classes, get hours, etc, then --apply --- then 1 year wait before matriculation. You could be in PT school in about 3.5 years which is not too bad. Yes you would graduate by 30 but I don't think that would be too old. Some people that are older than this are just now starting PT school. If it is your passion, it's possible