Apply This Summer or Take a Year Off?

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genav1

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I am currently a second semester junior and I have a science GPA of 3.15 and an overall GPA of 3.25. I have 120 hours in a sub acute hospital setting and 40 from a private oupatient setting. I have not taken physics or my GRE yet, but as of now I plan on doing both over the summer (physics at a local community college by home).

My question is whether I should apply this summer or take a year off after I graduate in hopes that my senior year GPA will boost me up enough to be a more competitive applicant? I don't have many friends who are pre-PT, but from what I have heard from others is that if you do not make it in on your first rounds, your chances go down significantly if you re apply.

Any advice in general is also welcome.

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It could only be beneficial to apply this year. The worst that will happen is you will be rejected. If that happened then you re-apply the following year. The only setback to applying is that it is expensive so you have to weight if you are able to afford applying twice. Re-applying does not mean your chances go down. I had to re-apply and the second year I was accepted to two schools and offered 6 interviews (which I didn't even attend b/c I was already accepted). If you apply the first year and are rejected, make sure you meet with the schools to find out why and what you can do to improve your app. If you do this appropriately it really lets the schools know you have a sincere interest, which actually looks better and will benefit you the following year when you apply again.
 
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What is your pre-req GPA? This is generally the number that matters more than sGPA at most schools. It may be very similar to your sGPA, but sometimes it can be as much as a couple of tenths higher or lower, which makes a big difference.

What are your observation hours looking like?
 
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What is your pre-req GPA? This is generally the number that matters more than sGPA at most schools. It may be very similar to your sGPA, but sometimes it can be as much as a couple of tenths higher or lower, which makes a big difference.

What are your observation hours looking like?

I have 120 hours of observation at a sub acute rehabilitation center in a hospital and 40 from a private outpatient practice. Is pre req GPA based off of the courses the particular school has listed on their website?
 
I have 120 hours of observation at a sub acute rehabilitation center in a hospital and 40 from a private outpatient practice.

That's great! Go for a couple more settings as diversity is much more highly valued than total number of hours.
 
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I was in a very similar situation as you my junior year. I didn't have the most competitive GPA and also had a physics class to take over the summer in addition to the GRE. I chose to wait a year to apply and I am extremely happy I did. I focused on my physics class during the summer so that I would receive an A. During the school year I retook two classes and got almost straight A's all year so it really helped my GPA. I gained some more observation hours and really focused on building relationships for letters of rec. I knew I wouldn't have been a competitive applicant my junior year so I did not want to waste money applying. I also could not imagine taking a physics class, studying for the GRE and completing applications in the same summer. All are very time consuming. I waited the year, was accepted to 3 programs, and was able to work for the year and save up money for school. A lot of my friends that went straight into a program wish they would've taken a gap year. Ultimately it's up to you, but I was very pleased with my choice to wait.
 
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It depends. How disappointed will you be if you wait, and then aren't accepted your first try? PT school is extremely competitive and if you're serious about the profession you need to be okay with the chance that it will take multiple tries to get in. Given that, I would vote for applying sooner. You'll learn a lot about the process of applying/interviewing/waiting forever to hear, etc. But do what you feel is best for you. Schools want students who are eager and excited, not burned out. I'd recommend checking out the APTA Virtual Fair later this month. A lot of schools participate and it might be helpful in deciding what you want your timeline to be. Good luck!
 
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I agree with everything stated above - there's been good reasons listed to both apply now/take a year off.

I was in a similar situation my junior year - I had to take both physics I and II over the summer plus take the GRE plus work enough to afford rent/food. My GPA wasn't the strongest but I was able to get A's in physics (which were each 4 units so that helped bump up my pGPA) and since I was coming off of a summer of studying, it wasn't too hard to get into the grind of studying for the GRE at the beginning of my fall semester. I applied only to a handful of schools I would have loved to get into - I had the cash from working and wanted the experience of actually doing the applications so I'd know how to better prepare for the next round if I didn't get in and had to take a year off. I went in with the mindset that if I was accepted or not, I would still have made progress towards becoming a PT.

Thankfully, I was accepted to a program this round - something I was very pessimistic about this time last year. However, even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have regretted applying. It was great real world experience - especially if you're coming straight out of undergrad and possibly haven't had much professional application and interview experience.

Either way, best of luck! The best advice if you are to apply this year is research the schools you apply to - find your best chance schools that you can see yourself attending and apply early.
 
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I agree with everything stated above - there's been good reasons listed to both apply now/take a year off.

I was in a similar situation my junior year - I had to take both physics I and II over the summer plus take the GRE plus work enough to afford rent/food. My GPA wasn't the strongest but I was able to get A's in physics (which were each 4 units so that helped bump up my pGPA) and since I was coming off of a summer of studying, it wasn't too hard to get into the grind of studying for the GRE at the beginning of my fall semester. I applied only to a handful of schools I would have loved to get into - I had the cash from working and wanted the experience of actually doing the applications so I'd know how to better prepare for the next round if I didn't get in and had to take a year off. I went in with the mindset that if I was accepted or not, I would still have made progress towards becoming a PT.

Thankfully, I was accepted to a program this round - something I was very pessimistic about this time last year. However, even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have regretted applying. It was great real world experience - especially if you're coming straight out of undergrad and possibly haven't had much professional application and interview experience.

Either way, best of luck! The best advice if you are to apply this year is research the schools you apply to - find your best chance schools that you can see yourself attending and apply early.

This is a great post and great advice.
 
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I agree with everything stated above - there's been good reasons listed to both apply now/take a year off.

I was in a similar situation my junior year - I had to take both physics I and II over the summer plus take the GRE plus work enough to afford rent/food. My GPA wasn't the strongest but I was able to get A's in physics (which were each 4 units so that helped bump up my pGPA) and since I was coming off of a summer of studying, it wasn't too hard to get into the grind of studying for the GRE at the beginning of my fall semester. I applied only to a handful of schools I would have loved to get into - I had the cash from working and wanted the experience of actually doing the applications so I'd know how to better prepare for the next round if I didn't get in and had to take a year off. I went in with the mindset that if I was accepted or not, I would still have made progress towards becoming a PT.

Thankfully, I was accepted to a program this round - something I was very pessimistic about this time last year. However, even if I hadn't, I wouldn't have regretted applying. It was great real world experience - especially if you're coming straight out of undergrad and possibly haven't had much professional application and interview experience.

Either way, best of luck! The best advice if you are to apply this year is research the schools you apply to - find your best chance schools that you can see yourself attending and apply early.



As of now I signed up to take Physics I and II at a local community college and plan to begin studying for the GRE this summer. I would love for the class to count toward my overall GPA. I called a few schools that i am applying to, surprisingly they said that they would factor Physics I and II into my overall GPA. I have decided to also start looking for jobs as an aide, in the case that I am not accepted into a school so that I can make some money and further my application during the year off.
 
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I called a few schools that i am applying to, surprisingly they said that they would factor Physics I and II into my overall GPA.

Why is this surprising? Every college class you ever take goes into your cumulative GPA.
 
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I will once again stand on one of my soapboxes here....if you take summer classes and you are on the cusp GPA wise, WAIT until your summer grades have been posted to hit send on your PTCAS application. If you don't wait, many many schools will never see the grades from those classes! This is a big hang up for a lot of people as you can find tons of post that tell you to apply as early as possible too. Early is good, but if your GPA is slightly on the low side you need every single credit hour you can IN that calculation. If you submit in late July/early August before summer grades are posted, your pre req and cum GPAs are calculated WITHOUT summer grades. Many schools will make interview decisions and acceptance decisions on those numbers. You would not be able to add your summer grades into the GPA calculation until academic update in December....and by that time you may already have a rejection letter. If your GPA is awesome, ignore the above advice and apply early....if you are s0-so, wait until those grades hit to give yourself every advantage. For the majority of schools, waiting to apply until late August vs early July won't be a huge holdup.
 
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Agreed with above. It is not necessary to apply in June. May give you a marginal advantage at some of the most competitive of the rolling admissions schools, but 9 times out of 10 August is totally fine. For schools with hard deadlines and no rolling admissions applying in June really gives you no advantage at all actually.
 
I will once again stand on one of my soapboxes here....if you take summer classes and you are on the cusp GPA wise, WAIT until your summer grades have been posted to hit send on your PTCAS application. If you don't wait, many many schools will never see the grades from those classes! This is a big hang up for a lot of people as you can find tons of post that tell you to apply as early as possible too. Early is good, but if your GPA is slightly on the low side you need every single credit hour you can IN that calculation. If you submit in late July/early August before summer grades are posted, your pre req and cum GPAs are calculated WITHOUT summer grades. Many schools will make interview decisions and acceptance decisions on those numbers. You would not be able to add your summer grades into the GPA calculation until academic update in December....and by that time you may already have a rejection letter. If your GPA is awesome, ignore the above advice and apply early....if you are s0-so, wait until those grades hit to give yourself every advantage. For the majority of schools, waiting to apply until late August vs early July won't be a huge holdup.

Totally agree with this, though for me it was because I had a lot of prerequisites outstanding that I was finishing in the summer/fall.
 
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