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I was curious if anyone was considering a post-professional or terminal academic doctorate such as a PhD. EdD, or ScD. I have applied to the program at Texas Tech.
Anyone considering a terminal or academic doctorate?
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I considered doing one before I decided on med school. What are you looking to study?
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It's the Doctor of Science program at Tech. If you are an orthopedic PT, it's a dream. I'm no spring chicken at 36 y/o and have a pretty good thing going in physical therapy right now. If I decide to stay in physical therapy for the duration, this is definitely the program I'd get into.
From the professors I've spoken to who graduated from the program, it's pretty rigorous but worth it. Down the road, I've got hoaky aspirations to write, teach, and do con-ed courses. This might be a great pathway for something like that.
Here's an overview of the curriculum. Another nice feature is that it is largely distance ed. This is good because I live in H-Town.
http://www.ttuhsc.edu/sah/scdpt/curriculum.aspx
From the professors I've spoken to who graduated from the program, it's pretty rigorous but worth it. Down the road, I've got hoaky aspirations to write, teach, and do con-ed courses. This might be a great pathway for something like that.
Here's an overview of the curriculum. Another nice feature is that it is largely distance ed. This is good because I live in H-Town.
http://www.ttuhsc.edu/sah/scdpt/curriculum.aspx
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A terminal degree in the profession of physical therapy is the DPT, just like it is the MD for the profession of medicine. An academic doctorate may be achieved in various disciplines, some related or not to a given profession.
Possession of an academic doctorate does not necessarily make a licensed health professional a better clinician, just more apt to conduct research in their academic field. The referred TTU ScD program is a solid clinically-based, advanced professional degree. It is by no means an academic doctorate degree, because it does not possess curricular components leading to a defensible dissertation. By all means, it is a "monster" of a program, probably best suited for bachelor/master trained professionals seeking to enter physical therapy academia.
PTs must be aware of these differences if they intend to enter academia and not place the PT profession in a wrong light.
Possession of an academic doctorate does not necessarily make a licensed health professional a better clinician, just more apt to conduct research in their academic field. The referred TTU ScD program is a solid clinically-based, advanced professional degree. It is by no means an academic doctorate degree, because it does not possess curricular components leading to a defensible dissertation. By all means, it is a "monster" of a program, probably best suited for bachelor/master trained professionals seeking to enter physical therapy academia.
PTs must be aware of these differences if they intend to enter academia and not place the PT profession in a wrong light.
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Points well taken. I certainly wouldn't presume it to make me a better clinician, but many of the clinicians I know who have graduated from this program are pretty solid. Several tenured professors in Texas possess the ScD from tech. Several of the Texas programs I've spoken with on becoming a faculty memeber are not considring the DPT as sufficient to warrant a position. I had initially considered the DPT as a means to this possible end, but the consensus among program directors is to pursue a PhD, EdD, or ScD.
The very clinically based Tech program fits my needs over the research based programs. It will put me at a slight disadvantage in the eyes of programs desiring more research funding from their faculty, but the clinical component of the curriculum is hard to beat.
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how long is this program?
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I was considering an academic PhD at the time but that looks like a great program.
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TWU has a PhD program that would be great if any of the courses seemed interesting to me. The same goes for UTMB's program. If I were a researcher this would be great, but alas...
http://www.twu.edu/pt/html/321_PhD_core.htm
http://sahs.utmb.edu/rehab/courselistings.asp
http://www.twu.edu/pt/html/321_PhD_core.htm
http://sahs.utmb.edu/rehab/courselistings.asp
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Good Lord those programs look horrible 
I don't think I could take that either.
If you want to remain a clinician or teach clinical courses at a DPT program, I'd go with the first one. Some schools also have PhD programs that are more basic science. I graduated from MCV/VCU and considered doing one of their PhD programs in anatomy or physiology. Opens up numerous possibilities for research as well as teaching courses within a PT program such as cardiopulmonary physiology, neuroanatomy, etc.
I don't think I could take that either.
If you want to remain a clinician or teach clinical courses at a DPT program, I'd go with the first one. Some schools also have PhD programs that are more basic science. I graduated from MCV/VCU and considered doing one of their PhD programs in anatomy or physiology. Opens up numerous possibilities for research as well as teaching courses within a PT program such as cardiopulmonary physiology, neuroanatomy, etc.
