health education & behavior or ES?

[amg1322]

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I know that a lot of people, or even schools, state that the undergrad degree you get before has no major affect on your acceptance or anything of the sort. but in terms of anyone who has experience or more knowledge about these fields, in the long run would I be better off with an exercise science undergrad or a health education and behavior undergrad? I'm not sure which way to go. I have been offered acceptance by both programs for the upcoming fall but they are at different schools, which is irrelevant, but I can't seem to decide which degree would be more beneficial to have? any advice?

 

[obeshy]

They way I look at undergrad degrees being beneficial is how effective are they in getting me a job after gradation. If you search these forums, ES doesn't really get you any kind of job. Health education-- maybe a PE teacher? I'm not too sure about that degree. And yes it's true, for PT schools, the type of degree you earn doesn't matter. I would consider AT. Buy ideally,if I could do it again, I would go engineering 🙂

 

[amg1322]

They way I look at undergrad degrees being beneficial is how effective are they in getting me a job after gradation. If you search these forums, ES doesn't really get you any kind of job. Health education-- maybe a PE teacher? I'm not too sure about that degree. And yes it's true, for PT schools, the type of degree you earn doesn't matter. I would consider AT. Buy ideally,if I could do it again, I would go engineering 🙂

I would love to be able to consider AT, but sadly I messed around so much when I first started college a while back that I don't have the gpa requirements for it now. I've heard that ES doesn't really help get a job, but are the courses you take to attain the degree beneficial ? Health education and behavior seems like it may have more potential as a stand alone degree or if I were interested in creating some kind of health program, but the classes don't seem very exciting, or like they'll help me prepare for grad/dpt either.

 

[02143]

I'm super thankful that I had my exercise science degree as my foundation for PT school. The courses were a great prep for PT school.

That being said, I went into undergrad knowing that I would be unemployed if I didn't have a high gpa and strong app to guarantee me admission to PT school on round 1. My opinion will probably differ from others, but I would say, if you're planning to go to PT school right away and your gpa will be high enough to give you a 80%+ chance at admission (3.8-4.0 range), I'd personally do exercise science. If you are planning to take a break before PT school, or your gpa is already on the lower side, I would definitely go with a more usable degree so if you don't get into PT school the first or second round, you're not stuck working a minimum wage job. That's just my two cents though.

 

[amg1322]

I'm super thankful that I had my exercise science degree as my foundation for PT school. The courses were a great prep for PT school.

That being said, I went into undergrad knowing that I would be unemployed if I didn't have a high gpa and strong app to guarantee me admission to PT school on round 1. My opinion will probably differ from others, but I would say, if you're planning to go to PT school right away and your gpa will be high enough to give you a 80%+ chance at admission (3.8-4.0 range), I'd personally do exercise science. If you are planning to take a break before PT school, or your gpa is already on the lower side, I would definitely go with a more usable degree so if you don't get into PT school the first or second round, you're not stuck working a minimum wage job. That's just my two cents though.

thanks for the input. As of right now, my gpa isn't on the high side. I am considering doing a masters in between undergrad and DPT, 1 to get some more science background in, and 2 to continue working on my gpa and DPT application. Which is why this kind of leaves me on the fence, do I go with the not very science but possibly usable undergrad and then get a more science related masters? or do I just get in all the science I can between now and DPT?

 

[amg1322]

bump.

 

[situational]

Man, for me the degree didn't even matter. I graduated with a physiology and neuroscience degree in 2010. I'm currently a quality control engineer and with several duties as a logistics coordinator for a TV company. Everyone around me is either a EE or a business major.

 

[02143]

@amg1322

if it were me, I probably wouldn't do a masters if I knew that my end goal was DPT... mainly because its an additional 2 years of schooling and loans. Your pre-reqs for PT school should give you an adequate science background to not need the masters, but if your gpa is low, I can definitely see where you're coming from to strengthen your app.

I honestly don't feel like I'm super "qualified" to give a strong opinion just because I haven't been in your position with this debate. Maybe someone else has a similar background and story as you do and can give you a much better/more educated opinion on the matter