Differences in Job Placement Based on School Attended

[Texassotan]

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Hello, everyone!

I'm a Senior at Iowa State and I have recently been accepted into Washington University in St. Louis and the University of South Dakota. I have an interview in January at Des Moines University. So I'm very excited and fortunate that I have multiple schools interested in me!

My dilemma is this: I know that WashU is an amazing PT school, but it's much more expensive than USD, and a super-urban setting is not really what I'm looking for location-wise. I like USD, but I'm not sure if going there (vs. WashU) will affect my job placement/salary/etc.

Does the school you attend affect where you get jobs, how much you get paid, or how much clinics would prefer you other job applicants? Basically, I want to know if I would be as competitive getting a job graduating from USD than I would from WashU. I also don't want to limit myself as to where I could get a job (geographically and setting) I want to know how important long-term the extra chunk of change will be if I go to WashU. I don't want to pay twice as much and be in debt much longer and get the same results.

Any insight into this, as well as any other advice, would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much!

 

[Pinesfootball]

As long as you pass your license exam you will have the same results in job placement regardless of the school you graduate from

 

[BrokenDancer]

As long as you pass your license exam you will have the same results in job placement regardless of the school you graduate from

Everyone keeps saying this on here, but I have my doubts. The #1 thing effecting the job you get right out of school is your clinical experience, right? And where you go for your clinicals is highly dependent on where you go to school. If I want to work as a therapist for a prestigious hospital in NYC, it'd be much more beneficial for me to go to Columbia, which has fantastic options for clinicals and greats hospital affiliations, as opposed to Touro, which may have great connections as well, but, all other things be equal, if there's only spot available for a student, it's going to go to the kid from Columbia. On a similar note, going to a school that has no clinicals in NYC could diminish my chance of getting my ideal job here. I have no doubt that I'd find a job, but it'd be much harder for me to claw my way up the totem pole, I'd be starting lower.

 

[trimex104]

Everyone keeps saying this on here, but I have my doubts. The #1 thing effecting the job you get right out of school is your clinical experience, right? And where you go for your clinicals is highly dependent on where you go to school. If I want to work as a therapist for a prestigious hospital in NYC, it'd be much more beneficial for me to go to Columbia, which has fantastic options for clinicals and greats hospital affiliations, as opposed to Touro, which may have great connections as well, but, all other things be equal, if there's only spot available for a student, it's going to go to the kid from Columbia. On a similar note, going to a school that has no clinicals in NYC could diminish my chance of getting my ideal job here. I have no doubt that I'd find a job, but it'd be much harder for me to claw my way up the totem pole, I'd be starting lower.

I feel the exact same way and I used this logic while selecting which school to attend. If your goal is to specialize in a field that doesn't offer too many residency spots why wouldn't you want to ensure that the school you attend has great connections with hospitals and clinics that focus on that field. If your goal isn't to specialize and to work with the general population, then I might be tempted to say that it matters much less where you attend, as long as you are still exposed to worthy clinicals.

 

[BrokenDancer]

I feel the exact same way and I used this logic while selecting which school to attend. If your goal is to specialize in a field that doesn't offer too many residency spots why wouldn't you want to ensure that the she school you attend has great connections with hospitals. If your goal isn't to specialize and to work with the general population, then I might be tempted to say that it matters much less where you attend, as long as you are still exposed to worthy clinicals.

I completely agree. If you just want to work in a general outpatient clinic which are a dime-a-dozen, then it doesn't matter so much, go wherever. But I want to one day work specifically with dancers (ideally NYC ballet) or in a great hospital with a prestigious neurological unit. In cases like that, I feel like where you go to school makes a huge difference. It's just a matter of how much money you're willing to lay out to potentially have a future more in line with your current goals. $10k extra? No question. $50k+ extra? Well, now it gets tricky...

 

[Pinesfootball]

Everyone keeps saying this on here, but I have my doubts. The #1 thing effecting the job you get right out of school is your clinical experience, right? And where you go for your clinicals is highly dependent on where you go to school. If I want to work as a therapist for a prestigious hospital in NYC, it'd be much more beneficial for me to go to Columbia, which has fantastic options for clinicals and greats hospital affiliations, as opposed to Touro, which may have great connections as well, but, all other things be equal, if there's only spot available for a student, it's going to go to the kid from Columbia. On a similar note, going to a school that has no clinicals in NYC could diminish my chance of getting my ideal job here. I have no doubt that I'd find a job, but it'd be much harder for me to claw my way up the totem pole, I'd be starting lower.

I read the OP's question thinking that she meant in a generic outpatient setting lol...but I completely agree with you in your scenario.

 

[Texassotan]

Of course, I don't want to severely limit myself. But at the same time it's not a passionate goal of mine to work at a premier facility either. It would be nice, but I'd be perfectly happy just as your friendly neighborhood PT, haha. This helps a lot! 🙂

 

[NeuroRehabilitation]

BrokenDancer's reply hit the nail on the head. The people on this forum that keep reiterating that "the quality of the school you attend doesn't matter" are omiting a few important points that may apply to certain pre-DPTers.

"All that matters is passing your state licensure exam" This conception is constantly floating around when quality/prestige of school is discussed. This is true for the majority of areas that a general DPT may be searching for employment, but it does a HUGE diservice to touching on specialty and prestigious hospitals/ healthcare networks. Yes, in the grand scheme of things, graduating from an accredited DPT program and passing your boards are minimum requirements for employment. Once again, minimum criteria that must be met for most PT jobs on average. However, as PT continues to grow and get increasingly competitive, "hard to get" positions at top rehabilitation hospitals or in great networks will only cater to the best of the qualified applicants. Additionally, for anyone thinking of doing an NCS, OCS, CCS, GCS, etc. you'll have to be able to "separate yourself from the pack" if you want a serious shot at being one of the two or three residents for a residency program.

I work with several top DPTs in the field and learned very quickly that school matters, at least to those who consider PT to be a career rather than just a job. If you truly want to rise to the top of the field by getting involved with leading research, providing therapy to VIP clientel, or work with niche populations, you'll have to UNDERSTAND that a multitude of things come away from your education and YES networking, affliations, prestige, and politics are involved. I know that I want to specialize in Neurology and be employed by the best rehabilitation hospital and I am very aware of which schools have certain affliations/opportunities to lead me to the top residencies and will give me the greatest potential for hire. I'd say that 90% of people on here will be perfectly content working for any PT Franchise, hosptial, or outpatient clinic and that's why school doesn't really matter for YOU. We've got to remember that generalizations are exactly that and schools/careers require critical thinking.

BrokenDancer's talk to clinicals gives great insight into career outlook. The fact that schools that have clinical sites in top/prestigious healthcare networks/hospitals is the BEST predictor for how likely it may be for you to gain employment at one of those places. Don't apply to any DPT program that has limited clinical affiliations if your goal is to work for RIC, Kessler, TIRR, UWash, Mayo etc. Anyways, the important point here is that you ask a ton of questions and think critically in your decision to attend a certain program. It's a huge life decision and it's not something to take lightly. Please avoid the cost argument and remember that YOU should decide which factor carries more weight. I suggest that you create your own scale (custom taylored) and use it to evaluate programs.

This is how I evaluate schools

COL: 5 %
Cost: 15%
Board pass: 20%
Research: 20%
Affliations: 40%

Best of luck with apps!

 

[SuperKirby]

In a nutshell I agree with most here. OP, if you're looking into specializing into something very specific, then choosing the school does matter. If you want to be a general PT, then as most people say, and they're absolutely correct, then any school is fine as long as you pass your license exam.

Even with that said, even when you're a "general PT" and you then later decide you want to specialize in something, it's really not that hard getting into a specialized field and obtaining a spot in a residency. Maybe it will be a lot different in the future, but as of now, the school you choose doesn't matter much at all as long as you obtain your license.