Daunting challenge.. Not sure how to proceed.

[alexg554]

Hello all I am writing this post in need of some help deciding on my future and if the future leads to PT school. Blunt answers or suggestions are welcome.

My stats right now are cGPA 2.72, Pre Req 3.2

I've compiled a total of 160 credits at the point of my graduation with a Sociology degree, and am the non traditional student in most ways.

Until about 3-4 years ago I was basically going to school for a bachelors because that's what most people did. Get your bachelors and then find a job somewhere..

At 21 I worked as a personal trainer,group exercise instructor, and was the fitness manager of my local Powerhouse gym. At the time my goals was to get my bachelors so that I could become the GM (was under a verbal agreement with proprietor).

Now most of this isn't relevant to the story other than to say (and this is no excuse) that I didn't care about my education other than just getting my bachelors, and figured that I already had my career path lined up. My class load was part time and I would constantly skip classes if it meant getting another client ($60/hr 2-4xs per week).

Eventually though, as with a lot of my friends and family in the gym world it becomes tiring, yes the money was good but it came at the price of living at the gym. My average work week that started at 40 hours jumped to 70, and I soon felt the grind that is the life of a personal trainer. I wanted to leave but at the same time I loved helping people achieve their goals, and I love everything that has to do with the human body.

Along comes the suggestion by a friend to volunteer at a PT office. One week there and I knew my goals were completely changed, I fell in love with the idea of becoming a PT and immediately enrolled back in school (after a semester off) to take the pre requisites necessary. Uncertainly I was almost 90 credits in and had a GPA around 2.2-2.3.

I'm now 25 and finished all my pre-Reqs but unfortunately I'm not a straight A student, and while my trend has improved my GPA it hasn't done enough to even get me to the cutoff for any schools. To even bring my total GPA up to the 3.0 minimum it would take me around 50 credits of straight As, and I am working full time as a PT aide and as a group exercise instructor (love to teach my silver sneakers ladies, and wouldn't trade it for the world).


So now that my life story is out there my question is am I too little too late? Should I find a new path, and if so what suggestions do you all have?

Or are you saying there's a chance and I should push on? If there is how should I go about it? Taking over my classes one or two at a time would take forever, and unless I take out student loans I won't be able to afford going back to school full time..

I know this is a decision I have to make on my own but I'm not sure what my choices are.

Also last semester in Lou of doing nothing I enrolled into a pre req class that I received a C in, and should be getting a B+, A. But will only move my GPA to a 2.75..

So Tl;dr

I went to school and did poorly, went back and did alright. Am I too late to continue onto PT school or are there options I'm missing?

Thanks for all who took the time to read this and respond positively or negatively.

-Alex

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[BannBann]

Hello all I am writing this post in need of some help deciding on my future and if the future leads to PT school. Blunt answers or suggestions are welcome.

My stats right now are cGPA 2.72, Pre Req 3.2

I've compiled a total of 160 credits at the point of my graduation with a Sociology degree, and am the non traditional student in most ways.

Until about 3-4 years ago I was basically going to school for a bachelors because that's what most people did. Get your bachelors and then find a job somewhere..

At 21 I worked as a personal trainer,group exercise instructor, and was the fitness manager of my local Powerhouse gym. At the time my goals was to get my bachelors so that I could become the GM (was under a verbal agreement with proprietor).

Now most of this isn't relevant to the story other than to say (and this is no excuse) that I didn't care about my education other than just getting my bachelors, and figured that I already had my career path lined up. My class load was part time and I would constantly skip classes if it meant getting another client ($60/hr 2-4xs per week).

Eventually though, as with a lot of my friends and family in the gym world it becomes tiring, yes the money was good but it came at the price of living at the gym. My average work week that started at 40 hours jumped to 70, and I soon felt the grind that is the life of a personal trainer. I wanted to leave but at the same time I loved helping people achieve their goals, and I love everything that has to do with the human body.

Along comes the suggestion by a friend to volunteer at a PT office. One week there and I knew my goals were completely changed, I fell in love with the idea of becoming a PT and immediately enrolled back in school (after a semester off) to take the pre requisites necessary. Uncertainly I was almost 90 credits in and had a GPA around 2.2-2.3.

I'm now 25 and finished all my pre-Reqs but unfortunately I'm not a straight A student, and while my trend has improved my GPA it hasn't done enough to even get me to the cutoff for any schools. To even bring my total GPA up to the 3.0 minimum it would take me around 50 credits of straight As, and I am working full time as a PT aide and as a group exercise instructor (love to teach my silver sneakers ladies, and wouldn't trade it for the world).


So now that my life story is out there my question is am I too little too late? Should I find a new path, and if so what suggestions do you all have?

Or are you saying there's a chance and I should push on? If there is how should I go about it? Taking over my classes one or two at a time would take forever, and unless I take out student loans I won't be able to afford going back to school full time..

I know this is a decision I have to make on my own but I'm not sure what my choices are.

Also last semester in Lou of doing nothing I enrolled into a pre req class that I received a C in, and should be getting a B+, A. But will only move my GPA to a 2.75..

So Tl;dr

I went to school and did poorly, went back and did alright. Am I too late to continue onto PT school or are there options I'm missing?

Thanks for all who took the time to read this and respond positively or negatively.

-Alex

Hey man. Your story is similar to mine. Im 26.As to whether it's too late or not, let me explain. I was like you. I went and got my bachelors because it was the "right" thing to do. It was in exercise science though. That degree is probably the most useless degree in the world! I'm gonna be straight up! I graduated with a 2.6 cumulative because I was originally a bio major and I did horrible. That killed my gpa. I went the route of becoming a personal trainer. It was cool. I am also a bartender. I make a good living to say the least. Probably as much as a PT but my hours suck! I went back to school for a masters in exercise science to keep myself busy. I finished with a 3.7. That was even more useless!!! I went back to get my pre reqs for pt after that. Some were retaken classes.I took 26 hours in the summer.( believe it) and boosted my gpa to above 3.0 with my pre req gpa like 3.15. I then applied to a slew of schools!!!! I had a bachelors, masters, and an acceptable gpa. I got ALL REJECTIONS. It turns out that MOST schools cumulate your retaken classes with your originals. Those original classes that I took when I was a volatile 19 year old watered down my gpa. They did not take the higher grade, they just averaged it. Needless to say I was furious! Luckily, St. Augustine in Austin gave me an interview. I got waitlisted, but hey its not a rejection. Just keep in mind that there are PT schools that actually evaluate the human being, rather than just throw their application through an assembly line that rejects you as soon as you don't reach one thing on their criterion. Just really look closely at each school's requirements and not just spray and pray. Some schools look closely at your last 45-60 hours which would play to your advantage. Some schools accept 2.75 gpa's. You just got to look. Hope I was some help. If PT is something you really want to do, then go for it! If you're making good money at what you're doing now, thats cool. But ask yourself if thats what you want to do for the rest of your career. Holla

 

[Ginglymus]

Take a look at this recent thread, its very similar and might help out with some answers aswell.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/knowledge-is-power.1190769/

 

[PTpursuit]

Hey there, I was a low overall GPA applicant (2.97-3.01), but I made sure to retake my science courses to get A's and had a prereq GPA of 3.66-3.8. This GPA is the most important and could be your saving grace. I researched schools and made sure to apply to schools that do not put much stock in overall GPA. As a matter of fact, two very good programs (MGH IHP and Boston U) do not prioritize overall GPA at all and only look at prereq... I wound up being accepted to both ! I also was accepted to USA- FL which is more holistic and forgiving as well. I would recommend getting your prereq GPA up to a 3.6-3.8... Getting a variety of clinical settings for your hours, writing unique essays, and making sure to do well on the GRE... My score was AVG ( 156V, 149Q, 4.5A). I wish you the best.. Feel free to personal message me if you need more advice or help ... I never thought I would get into PT school, none the less, my dream schools.. But it happened. I also recommend applying to schools that are candidates for accred, they most likely will make sure you do well and you have a better chance of acceptance.

 

[redrose424]

Hello all I am writing this post in need of some help deciding on my future and if the future leads to PT school. Blunt answers or suggestions are welcome.

My stats right now are cGPA 2.72, Pre Req 3.2

I've compiled a total of 160 credits at the point of my graduation with a Sociology degree, and am the non traditional student in most ways.

Until about 3-4 years ago I was basically going to school for a bachelors because that's what most people did. Get your bachelors and then find a job somewhere..

At 21 I worked as a personal trainer,group exercise instructor, and was the fitness manager of my local Powerhouse gym. At the time my goals was to get my bachelors so that I could become the GM (was under a verbal agreement with proprietor).

Now most of this isn't relevant to the story other than to say (and this is no excuse) that I didn't care about my education other than just getting my bachelors, and figured that I already had my career path lined up. My class load was part time and I would constantly skip classes if it meant getting another client ($60/hr 2-4xs per week).

Eventually though, as with a lot of my friends and family in the gym world it becomes tiring, yes the money was good but it came at the price of living at the gym. My average work week that started at 40 hours jumped to 70, and I soon felt the grind that is the life of a personal trainer. I wanted to leave but at the same time I loved helping people achieve their goals, and I love everything that has to do with the human body.

Along comes the suggestion by a friend to volunteer at a PT office. One week there and I knew my goals were completely changed, I fell in love with the idea of becoming a PT and immediately enrolled back in school (after a semester off) to take the pre requisites necessary. Uncertainly I was almost 90 credits in and had a GPA around 2.2-2.3.

I'm now 25 and finished all my pre-Reqs but unfortunately I'm not a straight A student, and while my trend has improved my GPA it hasn't done enough to even get me to the cutoff for any schools. To even bring my total GPA up to the 3.0 minimum it would take me around 50 credits of straight As, and I am working full time as a PT aide and as a group exercise instructor (love to teach my silver sneakers ladies, and wouldn't trade it for the world).


So now that my life story is out there my question is am I too little too late? Should I find a new path, and if so what suggestions do you all have?

Or are you saying there's a chance and I should push on? If there is how should I go about it? Taking over my classes one or two at a time would take forever, and unless I take out student loans I won't be able to afford going back to school full time..

I know this is a decision I have to make on my own but I'm not sure what my choices are.

Also last semester in Lou of doing nothing I enrolled into a pre req class that I received a C in, and should be getting a B+, A. But will only move my GPA to a 2.75..

So Tl;dr

I went to school and did poorly, went back and did alright. Am I too late to continue onto PT school or are there options I'm missing?

Thanks for all who took the time to read this and respond positively or negatively.

-Alex

I think you're going to get a lot of "you can do it!" posts, and you most certainly can, but I'll tell you the truth. It's going to be hard, it's going to take a lot of time, and it's going to cost money. Judging from your post, I'm not sure you're willing to put in that effort. People have brought lower GPAs up than yours, so it can be done. What is most concerning, however, is that you have *recently* enrolled into a pre-req class that you had a C in and now are going to receive a B+. Here's the thing, all the classes you take now need to be As. It doesn't look good that you're going to retake a prerequisite and only make a B the second time around. I suggest going back and retaking any and all prereqs that you have Cs in and get As. Only As. That should increase your cum and prereq GPA. From there, if it still isn't good start retaking B classes. You may have to take out loans, or work part time, in order to accomplish this. From there, diversify your hours. Knock out your GRE. Then, apply strategically to schools that place more emphasis on later credits or take the best of your retakes.

 

[alexg554]

Thanks for the replies. Most of the classes I did poorly in are not part of my pre reqs, would it behoove me to retake the gen eds that I didn't do well in? Or to take new undergraduate classes in sciences.

 

[Ginglymus]

No problem man, and this depends. If you've already graduated, retaking gen ed courses wont change your school cumulative GPA since that GPA is frozen (atleast thats how it was at my university, shouldnt be different though i dont think). Retaking courses pre graduation is beneficial for PT schools that look at the highest when calculating the cumulative GPA (since technically they would use your University GPA rather than PTCAS GPA). The PTCAS GPA will change regardless, but not very much and I don't think enough to take the time and money to retake gen eds. I postponed my graduation for quite a while during my undergrad and retook a lot of general courses. If you've already graduated though, the only courses I would retake are prerequisites.

Sorry if this was confusing, i'm typing this at work and trying to get it done quickly haha .

*Ultimately, if you haven't graduated I would personally retake some general ed courses before graduation (just my opinion, I did 3 semesters of retakes) but if you have already graduated, I would only retake prerequisites since many schools take the highest grade when calculating prerequisite GPA.

 

[starrsgirl]

I would take/retake all pre req classes until you have As on the last retake in every class. "A's on top". Consider doing this in a full time manner (i.e. at least 12 credit hours at a time and multiple hard science courses. this proves to the schools you can handle a tough course load). Then I would target schools that look at your last 60 credits hours.

I had a similar GPA to you....I ended up taking the billion classes to get my GPA up to a 3.0 (tons and tons of any random online class I could take while working. The I retook all of my pre reqs too). But, I wanted to stay in my town and both schools here look at total cumulative GPA.