Clinical Rotation Advice

[dpthopeful14788]

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone had done their clinical rotations out of state and could give me a little bit of advice or tell me about their experience. I am going to PT school in a state that is basically on a different coast than where I am living now and where I will be moving as soon as a graduate and I thought that it would be a good idea for me to do my rotations in the state I plan to move to after I finish up school. Is this a dumb plan?

I was also wondering what classes were like during clinicals. My school did confirm that rotations can be done out of state, so I was just wondering how that would work since I will be in other classes at that time. And also if I will be in clinical all day what programs typically do for class?

Thanks so much!!

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[800shoes]

Not a dumb plan. It certainly can't hurt to do your clinical experiences in the area you want to move to. It's definitely not necessary to do them all there. You might might find yourself doing one or two close to school to avoid paying double-rent. Then again, I don't know your school schedule.

I had an out-of-state clinical with a fully online class. Basically, I got a pass from being there "live" and my (online) exams got moved to Saturdays.

 

[FutureDPT_MN2015]

I agree with the above poster that it definitely wouldn’t hurt to do a couple of your clinicals closer to where you will want to work in the future to help with networking - but it probably isn’t necessary to do them all there. My program doesn’t have any classes during clinical.. so I can’t speak to that at all. When we are in clinicals, that’s basically our “class” during that time. However, one of my friends in my program has a very similar situation as you. She’s from the west coast and we go to school in Chicago. She’s had all of her clinicals so far (3 of 4) closer to home and hasn’t had anything negative to say about it. She’s usually been able to stay with friends or family so that sort of eliminates the whole “double rent” situation if you’re able to swing that.

Overall, it may be best to ask your program how they tend to handle that? And maybe ask them if they have any clinical affiliations near the area that you are wanting to go to if that’s important to you. Good luck!