Deciding between schools

[leggs840]

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Help! I have been accepted to the University of St. Augustine in San Marcos, CA for May 2018 and plan on moving there soon, however, I just received my acceptance to the University of Puget Sound. If anyone has been to either school and has insight please let me know! UPS is less expensive, but I would love to live in Southern Cali since I'm originally from WA. Thanks 🙂

 

[DPTTELl]

Honestly I would go with what’s cheaper. Accumulate less debt and complete the program at the most affordable school. It’s not worth to pay that much tuition just because you want to move to a different state. You can always relocate to your dream state once you’re done with school.

 

[KkTTL]

I am graduating this upcoming May from DPT school, however I did not attend either of these universities you mentioned.
I wanted to comment on this post, specifically, because I went out of state for graduate school & I think it was the best thing for me. I was able to study harder & focus on school / adventuring in my new city and focus on relationships with other PT students and faculty.

The only downside to my experience was that I am in a cold climate, but California would be awesome to live!! If there is a time to live in CA, my advice would be to do it now, especially if this is a place you’ve always wanted to live. Now that I am almost graduated, I am so thankful I got the experience to live out of state & meet new people & experience new things.

About the money...Once you’re in school everyone has loans. Everyone doesn’t live in fear about them because they know they will get paid off. Whether that is in 3 years or 15 years. So focus on WHERE you want to be (it sounds like that is California), and the rest will be history!

 

[dpt628570]

Also know what you're getting yourself into. There's a 3rd year at USA's full-time program saying how USA is 51%+ online learning. Know that you are deciding between a private vs for-profit institution . USA programs are some of the most expensive in the nation. San Diego is a beautiful city though. I even consider moving there one day just so I can eat Phil's BBQ every other week or grab some late night tacos in Mexico (might be hard with the new walls though).

 

[DPTTELl]

Also know what you're getting yourself into. There's a 3rd year at USA's full-time program saying how USA is 51%+ online learning. Know that you are deciding between a private vs for-profit institution . USA programs are some of the most expensive in the nation. San Diego is a beautiful city though. I even consider moving there one day just so I can eat Phil's BBQ every other week or grab some late night tacos in Mexico (might be hard with the new walls though).

That really sucks! I was shadowing a PT that graduated from USA in St. Augustine where he would only go to campus twice a month and everything else was online/teach yourself kind of stuff. He graduated and passed the boards, but he said it was the most stressful time of his life, because he pretty much had to teach himself.
He said sometimes he would just step away from class and cry because he thought he was not going to be able to make it.
He told me I should stay away from applying to any of their programs, because accumulating almost 200k in debt for what their program offers wasn’t worth it. He also said to stay away from for profit schools if I could.

 

[leggs840]

Hey guys, thanks so much for your insight! If I choose to go to USA I'd be in the full time resident program, not the FLEX program. I understand that there are online courses, however, from the student I've chatted with that are currently in the program it sounds like it's not too much to tackle. Lots to consider!