if yes/no why?
Im confused and yes I shadowed both and still unable to decide. I like both the fields.
Im confused and yes I shadowed both and still unable to decide. I like both the fields.
Anybody consider PA before DPT?
- Thread starter dylanh
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Yes, briefly, quite a few moons ago. I was initially turned off by the requirements of most PA schools that applicants basically already have had careers in healthcare (though I think this is starting to loosen lately, and I understand and mostly agree with the purpose of this requirement and the philosophy behind who PA schools are looking for).
Also, I realized that I really wanted to be a PT and really didn't want to be a PA. So that was certainly a relevant factor....
My pre-PA phase was extremely ephemeral. I would have only gone into PA for the extra income. Honestly I think that is the main reason a lot of standard college students want to go PA.
Also, I realized that I really wanted to be a PT and really didn't want to be a PA. So that was certainly a relevant factor....
My pre-PA phase was extremely ephemeral. I would have only gone into PA for the extra income. Honestly I think that is the main reason a lot of standard college students want to go PA.
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I considered it. I shadowed both and liked both. I liked PT more though. Here's how I look at it: If you don't count sleep, you will be working for half your life. So make sure you love what you do for a living. Just pick the one you enjoy the most and everything will work out fine.
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My director told me "Don't chase the money, if you're good at what you do the money will come" so I guess you could take that into perspective. As others said only you can really make this decision because you will be the one living it, so choose the one you feel would be most rewarding, challenging, and most tolerable for half your life.
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Yes I did. In my case, the PA school was another level to get into. I might as well have gone for med school (my original goal) after prepping for PA school application (and would have a better chance at med school too. Haha). I might be a minority here that believes the PA length of program, level of degree, scope of practice and starting salary are much more balanced than PT. I'm an "old" student and would advise younger students to take a serious look at what PAs do. I feel like they are changing day to day health care in a lot of fantastic ways. I personally really like the flexibilty to move around in different fields within PA, but you can do that in PT too. In the end, I think PT is the best fit for my personality. But I am able to keep my cost for education ridiculously low. If I was looking to take out a lot of loans, sadly PT would have been axed and I would have looked further into PA or other fields.
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Yes I have, I know PAs and PA students. It's another amazing profession which is in high demand, as people don't have to go to medical school and still make a very good salary. I chose PT because of what I enjoy / feel more passionate about.
I know my PT program will offer me in depth education of evaluation of the MS and Neuro systems and pathologies, along with interventions. I know my student PA friends learned about brief evaluation skills to identify something wrong, which they don't go nearly as in depth in (or have the time to), and a lot of their intervention strategy is "Refer to PT".
Not that you should choose one over the other for difficulty of school (as both are difficult), but from what i've gathered PA programs are VERY time demanding and difficult. One of my closest friends is in a PA program which is known as one of the best, and this semester he is currently taking, and I **** you not, 40.5 credits. They jam pack your first year with so many classes so that your second year is all clinical work.
Good luck with your decision making
I know my PT program will offer me in depth education of evaluation of the MS and Neuro systems and pathologies, along with interventions. I know my student PA friends learned about brief evaluation skills to identify something wrong, which they don't go nearly as in depth in (or have the time to), and a lot of their intervention strategy is "Refer to PT".
Not that you should choose one over the other for difficulty of school (as both are difficult), but from what i've gathered PA programs are VERY time demanding and difficult. One of my closest friends is in a PA program which is known as one of the best, and this semester he is currently taking, and I **** you not, 40.5 credits. They jam pack your first year with so many classes so that your second year is all clinical work.
Good luck with your decision making
I would agree. If anything PA's scope of practice may be a bit too broad in some cases. But it really is an excellent option to look into, but wasn't the right option for me. From a purely pragmatic standpoint though, PA is some pretty dang good bang for your buck. But PT does have greater autonomy. Even if their isn't unrestricted direct access a lot of the time, most PTs do practice independently, whereas PAs do not. Just something to think about.
PA's were initially developed so that people like paramedics who already had a good base of healthcare knowledge could go back to school for a better career. It seems to cause a lot of consternation among the older PAs that 22 year olds fresh out of a biology degree go straight to PA school now. But that's another discussion for another day I suppose.
