This is a great question! Honestly, my first semester was finding the right balance between school and relaxing. It's something that I still struggle with because I often feel guilty about going out and having fun, feeling like I should be studying or doing something productive. It's important however to take time to yourself. Go out, have fun! I enjoy taking my dogs for long walks after class, going out and getting food with friends on the weekends! It's important to take some time off and decompress! PT school is long and hard so it's important to be able to figure out a method that allows you to decompress and have fun! It will definitely take some time to figure things out, but if theres a will, theres a way!
Great question! The cost to attend my program is around 125k for all 3 years. My family is helping me pay for my housing but I did take a little bit of extra money per semester for living expenses. I'm anticipating around 140k in total loans at the end of my PT school.
Thank you for the questions!
Thank you!
I feel that my cohort has definitely grown together during these hard times. We have a google doc where we all put our notes in and that really helps out. The on campus lab that we have a few days a week definitely helps!
Don't be nervous! Make sure you continue utilizing your strengths that you have accumulated throughout undergraduate! It's definitely hard and stressful at times, but extremely rewarding! The hardest part was adapting to the online learning and distributing the appropriate amount of time between all of my classes! I would say the hardest class I've had thus far would be pathology. Each exam contains a lot of information and you have to work thru a variety of case studies to come up with a potential diagnosis/issue. Knowing all of the contraindications, possibilities, etc and knowing how to rule out diagnosis all play a role in answering the questions correctly.
Sorry for the late response! it's been a hectic week! Don't be nervous about PT school. The admissions committee and the program you're attending chose you because they believe in you and your ability to succeed! Continue to utilize your strengths from undergrad, and adjust them as needed! For example, my time management skills from undergrad were one of my greatest downfalls. Although in undergrad they might have had minimal consequences, in PT school these bad habits were magnified much more. My first year was definitely an adjustment period! Use your strengths to your advantage!! I plan on tackling my 140k of debt after graduation by working as a travel-therapist. I think that this will allow me to pay off more of my student loans in a shorter time frame, while allowing me to travel and find a place to plant my roots. Other classmates are considering re-financing, etc.
