Choosing School for Undergrad...

[FuturePeeTee]

Hello all,

I too want to be a physical therapist. Does the school where you get your undergrad matter much?

I ask because I have a chance to attend the University of West Florida at little cost. It's a four-year school in a small town - I don't know much of its reputation. But it seems more geared for locals.

I also have a chance to attend the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While it has a great PT school (which I'd love to go to later!), its undergrad program will be more expensive for me and I'm not convinced that going there my first four years will in any way improve my chances of getting into its PT program later. Just not sure if I can justify the extra expense.

What do you think? Does the school you attend for your undergrad matter? Could a 4.0 from UWF get me into the top PT schools? (I mean, when combined with good experience and a great GRE score of course )

Any thoughts?

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[angl88]

Where do you want to go for your DPT? If you read many posts you will see how expensive DPT programs are and getting into too much debt as an undergrad does not make sense. Also consider where you want for grad school ( if you know) whether it is in state or private etc.If you want Univ of Alabama would going there as an undergrad provide you in state rates later? If you have great grades in prereq , great GRE and GPA and great observation hours and letters of recommendation then it should not matter where you did undergrad

 

[greco13]

go to the cheapest school you can. avoid debt.

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

I just responded to your other post as well. I don't think the difference between these two schools will make much of a difference. Go where you feel most comfortable, what makes the most financial sense, and that offers the programs you want (although according to your other post it doesn't sound like you know what you want to study...that's totally fine, but it's worth investigating the majors at both schools). In my other reply I mentioned Harvard vs. NIU...that may make a minor difference, but only if you can keep a solid GPA. If you have a solid GPA at UWF, your chances are just as good as if you went to Alabama.

 

[NeophyteParkour]

I too would recommend just going to the cheaper school.

 

[Brandon1986]

I would recommend going to a cheaper school also. I was in a similar position I was stuck between a small private school that was closer to home which I really loved or a cheaper state school with a further commute. I ended up choosing the state school because it was considerably cheaper and I am glad I ended up going that route. You would want to enter PT school with the least amount of debt as possible since you probably won't be able to work during it so you would have to rely on loans for living expenses.