Graduate School?

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curiouslex01

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I just graduated from OSU and I just wanted some advice on what I should do with my situation. I graduated with a 2.4 GPA, but also with outside classes from other schools. Does physical therapy calculate GPAs from the prerequisuites or is it all of the classes I've taken?

So far this is what my grades are in my prerequsuites;
Anatomy - B-
Biology - C
Chemistry 1 - B (classes taken twice)
Statistics - C+
Abn Psy- C
Psch - B
Algebra- C
Physio- C
Physics 1 - D+ (will be retaking for a third time)
Physics 2 - A
Chemistry 2- C

& I don't know how they include classes taht have been retaken for a better grade. As you can see when I take certain classes I get a better grade in which has to do wth the teacher being a better teacher, speaking better english, as well as exlaining the materiual better. How would I explain this in my description for why my grades don't represent me? I know you have to have a 3.0 and higher to get into most schools., But how are they calculating GPA's? Because in my major I got A's and B's mostly. The classes that brought me down were my science classes I had to take. I'm just really scared.

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I just graduated from OSU and I just wanted some advice on what I should do with my situation. I graduated with a 2.4 GPA, but also with outside classes from other schools. Does physical therapy calculate GPAs from the prerequisuites or is it all of the classes I've taken?

So far this is what my grades are in my prerequsuites;
Anatomy - B-
Biology - C
Chemistry 1 - B (classes taken twice)
Statistics - C+
Abn Psy- C
Psch - B
Algebra- C
Physio- C
Physics 1 - D+ (will be retaking for a third time)
Physics 2 - A
Chemistry 2- C

& I don't know how they include classes taht have been retaken for a better grade. As you can see when I take certain classes I get a better grade in which has to do wth the teacher being a better teacher, speaking better english, as well as exlaining the materiual better. How would I explain this in my description for why my grades don't represent me? I know you have to have a 3.0 and higher to get into most schools., But how are they calculating GPA's? Because in my major I got A's and B's mostly. The classes that brought me down were my science classes I had to take. I'm just really scared.

How GPA is calculated varies from school to school. Some take the last 60 credit hours or something to that nature, other take your entire overall GPA. The reality is that both your overall GPA and your pre-requisite GPA both matter. Any pre-requisite course with a C or lower you will want to retake and get at least a B. You are going to need that GPA up no matter where you go, but you will have to research the schools you are applying for to find out what that will take. You can still go to physical therapy school but you are unlikely to get in with your current grades. You can do it but there is more hard work a head of you and it can be done.

Also consider, why do you want to go to PT school? Graduate school is hard work and you don't get a ton of second chances if any to retake courses. My school had a two strike policy, if you failed twice you were done (you had to maintain a 3.0 GPA and C or C+ was the minimal grade depending on the course, some classes were a B minimum). I had a classmate who was set on PT school but failed and was stuck with a load of graduate school debt and no degree. It wasn't that she wasn't as smart as the rest of us but she couldn't manage the amount of work. She had done her bachelors over 6 or 7 years and had rarely if ever had a full load of courses. Programs don't want to see students fail (usually), so you will have to show that you can keep up with the coursework. If you don't make it through the program they lose a lot of money, they want students to make it.

Not being a physical therapist isn't the end of the world, I used to think it was and now that I am one I realize I could have done any number of other things to provide for my family. Its a great career but I don't think anyone should blindly chase a dream job.
 
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PT schools look at:
-Cumulative GPA. A few schools consider 60-100 last units GPA only. In your case, it is very worth finding/applying to those schools.
-Pre-reques GPA.
You don/t need to describe why you got your low grades. You either fix them (and that would be your explanation during interviews if they ask you) or you will not meet minimal requirements and your application will be tossed.
 
Does physical therapy calculate GPAs from the prerequisuites or is it all of the classes I've taken?

So far this is what my grades are in my prerequsuites;
Anatomy - B-
Biology - C
Chemistry 1 - B (classes taken twice)
Statistics - C+
Abn Psy- C
Psch - B
Algebra- C
Physio- C
Physics 1 - D+ (will be retaking for a third time)
Physics 2 - A
Chemistry 2- C

& I don't know how they include classes taht have been retaken for a better grade. As you can see when I take certain classes I get a better grade in which has to do wth the teacher being a better teacher, speaking better english, as well as exlaining the materiual better. How would I explain this in my description for why my grades don't represent me? I know you have to have a 3.0 and higher to get into most schools., But how are they calculating GPA's? Because in my major I got A's and B's mostly. The classes that brought me down were my science classes I had to take. I'm just really scared.

A few things: 1) ALL schools look at prereq GPAs (at the minimum), but how they do that varies. My school, for example, would take the average of any class you completed twice. So if you got a d in physics and then an A in the same class next time, you would end up with a 3.0(ish?). I imagine this changes based on school preference.

2) If you do land an interview (which I believe is possible so do not freak out!) I would be careful about placing blame on the teachers for your performance. We've all had educators under which we struggle. Showing that you've thought about how YOU could have done better is something that admissions personnel like to see. It is easy and unhelpful to throw blame at external sources. Showing your future faculty that you have thought about and identified your weaknesses is far more important.

3) Basically, your main question is answered in much the same way many things in PT school are answered: it depends. The above posters give great insight into what a GPA means from different perspectives. My majors were philosophy and psychology. PT schools admissions committee did not so much care that I knew the ins and outs of ethical pedagogy, but they did care that I could successfully put my mind to a task and see it through. Fast forward quite a few years, I had to take prereqs that my majors didn't cover. I got a D in chemistry and had to retake it. Got an A the second time. The admissions committee simply asked me "what happened there?" If you can show introspection, reflection, and the ability to take onus for yourself, you are moving in the right direction.
 
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