Clinical Rotations and DPT GPA

[TheOx777]

I was thinking about this after I interviewed at Columbia. It was mentioned that students who excel academically and/or in the clinical portion of the coursework have a better chance of getting the really good clinical affiliations. Does anyone know whether it is standard practice for DPT programs to give "better" clinical affiliations to stronger students? I know that other health care professions do this, but I was not certain about DPT schools. I would imagine that it would be different for schools like Columbia who have 500-600 contracts vs. another school that does not even have 100. Just wondering!

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[jbizzle]

Out of all the schools I interviewed at, clinicals were either "non-competitive" meaning anyone can choose anywhere they choose (even international) this would be at Temple. Or they do a draft, draw straws type thing that when you get the first pick for the first clinical rotation, your next clinical rotation, you would get the last pick out of your classmates....and so on with the second pick, then you get the second to last pick for the next one..know what Im saying.

With the way you put it, clinical rotations on a competitive basis will, IMO, ruin the coehesiveness of the class because everyone will be competing to have the best GPA and not really helping each other through the program...just like in undergrad again for me...so this is the first I heard of it actually.

 

[dizzy88]

The way we do it at my school is by "lottery number."

On the first day of classes, our clinical coordinator had us all pick a number out of a hat. We have a huge master list of sites (I would say well over 600) we have contracts with and we go by number choosing what we want. The original order gets jumbled up so that if you were pick number 1 on your first internship, you will be the last pick on your 4th internship. So, everyone gets the opportunity to be at the top of the list at some point.

However, if you choose to do any pediatric rotations, you must interview for them. This is the only area where I see competitiveness. Of course it will depend on the class too. Mine has a lot of students interested in peds. We have 2 major children's hospitals in the area that only take 1 intern per semester.

Our program really discourages competitiveness between students. Granting "better" internship locations to certain students seems like it would cause a lot of problems. Mainly because there are plenty of students who don't do so great academically, but they work very well on site with patients.

 

[PTapp]

Wow!!! Competitive clinical rotations? That is very stupid.

We just do lottery picks. Plain and simple.

 

[MinnDasota]

I was thinking about this after I interviewed at Columbia. It was mentioned that students who excel academically and/or in the clinical portion of the coursework have a better chance of getting the really good clinical affiliations. Does anyone know whether it is standard practice for DPT programs to give "better" clinical affiliations to stronger students? I know that other health care professions do this, but I was not certain about DPT schools. I would imagine that it would be different for schools like Columbia who have 500-600 contracts vs. another school that does not even have 100. Just wondering!

Ox, Columbia's clinicals are based on random lottery for the first 2 clinicals, which rotates (the first half of students goes into the second half and vice versa). The last 2 clinicals are based on your specialty (ortho, peds, neuro, etc) and although grades are influential, they don't necessarily dictate your placements. I was able to get into every clinical I wanted....and all were amazing clinicals. I was not even near the top of the class.

Also, one thing to keep in mind when you are on clinicals...although a facility may have a good reputation, your CI may be horrible. On the other hand, you may think you were placed in a bad clinical, but your CI may be amazing. Just speaking from experience...

 

[TheOx777]

Ox, Columbia's clinicals are based on random lottery for the first 2 clinicals, which rotates (the first half of students goes into the second half and vice versa). The last 2 clinicals are based on your specialty (ortho, peds, neuro, etc) and although grades are influential, they don't necessarily dictate your placements. I was able to get into every clinical I wanted....and all were amazing clinicals. I was not even near the top of the class.

Also, one thing to keep in mind when you are on clinicals...although a facility may have a good reputation, your CI may be horrible. On the other hand, you may think you were placed in a bad clinical, but your CI may be amazing. Just speaking from experience...

MinnDasota,

Thanks for clearing that up! I stand corrected from the standpoint that I thought most, if not all of your clinical placements, were GPA/Performance based. I mean it makes sense to have some type of randomized system.

 

[MinnDasota]

Ox, I was speaking to my fiance and she cleared it up for me as it has been a couple years (she was also a CU grad). The last 2 clinicals are also lottery, however, you couldn't pick a neuro clinical until all those on the neuro track had picked first. Same goes with ortho and peds. Thus, you could be #12 overall in the lottery, but be #2 to pick within your specialty, thus giving you a good chance at getting a clinical you want. The professors do try to influence your decision a little (eg. if you want to go to a clinical in Hawaii, but have no ties there, and another student does, they will try to sway you to pick elsewhere to be fair). This didn't happen too often for the clinicals "far away". Those staying within the east coast generally have it harder because it's basically first come first serve and most don't have the option to go elsewhere.

If you continue to have questions, no harm in calling them. I doubt things have changed, but you never know.

 

[TheOx777]

MinnDasota,

Thanks so much for all of the info! At the very least, I find it interesting how each school goes through their respective processes. I ultimately chose The Mayo Clinic over Columbia, however I thought Columbia had some of the most ridiculous(in a great way) clinical affiliations out of all of the programs I applied to. It's great getting perspective from students who have gone through the process.

 

[MinnDasota]

No problem! Congrats on Mayo. I'm from that area so I know a few that have gone through that program. Good luck!

 

[Kyra4dpt]

Ox, I was speaking to my fiance and she cleared it up for me as it has been a couple years (she was also a CU grad). The last 2 clinicals are also lottery, however, you couldn't pick a neuro clinical until all those on the neuro track had picked first.... I doubt things have changed, but you never know.

I'm a student at CU and things I think have changed. At CU the last affil protocol that you state I heard is still true. You can't pick a neuro clinical for your last affil until all those on the neuro track had picked first. But we were told there is no lottery system now. After we get the list of available slots for the upcoming affil dates, we list our top 10 or so in order of preference. If more than one person wants a spot, we're then placed based on GPA, level of professionalism, who is the best match to the site, etc. GPA is only a piece of the decision making, they look at the whole person.

Just an FYI... It's not negatively affecting the competitiveness of my class. We're hard on ourselves, but not on each other and we support each other 100%.

 

[MinnDasota]

I'm a student at CU and things I think have changed. At CU the last affil protocol that you state I heard is still true. You can't pick a neuro clinical for your last affil until all those on the neuro track had picked first. But we were told there is no lottery system now. After we get the list of available slots for the upcoming affil dates, we list our top 10 or so in order of preference. If more than one person wants a spot, we're then placed based on GPA, level of professionalism, who is the best match to the site, etc. GPA is only a piece of the decision making, they look at the whole person.

Just an FYI... It's not negatively affecting the competitiveness of my class. We're hard on ourselves, but not on each other and we support each other 100%.

Wow, I guess it has changed over the past couple years. Interesting! Thanks for the heads up (many people ask me about the CU program so it's good to know)...

 

[USP45]

Our school is technically non-competitive when it comes to affiliation selection, but you can pretty much bet that if there are two people wanting the same afil that the one who is a bigger douche in class and has worse grades will not get their first choice.