HELP!!! Applying to PT School Questions

[Onyang]

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Hello everyone, I am about to apply to PT school but am very worried that I won't get accepted. I have worrying about this for the past month.

My background:
I currently have a gpa:3.98
I will have about 200 observational hours
I have very good letters of rec
but I got a GRE score: 850 total

I do not plan of taking the GRE exam. I currently have to much on my plate and the new GRE will be taking effect this august so that gives me no time to take a class. What are my chances of getting in?

 

[jbizzle]

Hello everyone, I am about to apply to PT school but am very worried that I won't get accepted. I have worrying about this for the past month.

My background:
I currently have a gpa:3.98
I will have about 200 observational hours
I have very good letters of rec
but I got a GRE score: 850 total

What do you guys think? Also, I will be graduating next year spring 2012 but applying in fall 2011. Is there any problems with doing that?

No problem at all in applying unless you have more than the allotted pre-reqs that are outstanding. The Mr. Obvious in me is telling you to retake the GRE, but if you dont feel like it, research every school and check if they require it.

 

[fejin757]

Hey man,

I would kill for that GPA 😎 I feel like GRE scores always come second to GPA but an 850 is pretty low( lower than 50 percentile on both sections I imagine ). Did you do equally poor on the AW section? Sounds like you have solid observation hours also.

If you have the time, you could always retake the GRE in July before it switches to the new format in August.

Focus on math as vocab is a crap shoot with the amount of time you have to prepare.

The GRE is definitely a learnable exam and taking multiple practice tests will probably help you out. I recently retook it, after a two year hiatus, and improved from a 1040 to a 1270 with about a month of studying.

 

[Onyang]

The reason why I did so poorly is because I do not like standardized test. Not only that, this summer, I am taking summer school, currently a T.A (human Structure), I work, and Im doing observations. Not only that, my grandmother passed away last week. I had so much anxiety while taking the test also.

 

[Onyang]

]The reason why I did so poorly is because I do not like standardized test. Not only that, this summer, I am taking summer school, currently a T.A (human Structure), I work, and Im doing observations. Also, my grandmother passed away last week. I had so much anxiety while taking the test also.

 

[jbizzle]

Sorry for your loss.

Yeah, you should try it again one time, but like I said do a quick search of where you want to apply. A friend of mine had a very high GPA like yours and she took the GRE 3 times and the highest she could get on it was a 980, but she was accepted because of her high GPA, LORs, etc.

You would be a shoe in at the schools that dont require the GRE...and I actually did a quick lookup, per the PTCAS website and I found two that I remembered. University of Utah and Howard. I dont know if you'd want to go there or not, but you have options.

 

[Onyang]

Thanks for the quick reply. haha really needing support. I was just relieve to get out of the test. Im planning on going to school in texas. So far there are two schools that do not look at the GRE. I was just wondering whats the average of people gpa, observations, and GRE. I was hoping that my high GPA would compensate for the low GRE.

 

[markelmarcel]

Hey Onyang, you sound like me! I took the GRE and got a so-so score but was really upset because I didn't get a 500 on verbal and that is usually considered "the cut off" ... I wanted to get my application out through PTCAS, though so it was a tough call. So, since I got a "eh" score, I immediately came home and scheduled another testing date for the next month and put that on my PTCAS application. You can put that you've scheduled a testing date without putting in the scores, so I did that. My application went out and then I retook the exam (actually 2x) and added the additional scores onto my application.

We all understand your stress, because we have all been there, and I'm also sorry about your loss. Contact the schools that you are interested in to make sure they will accept the new GRE test and then schedule another date... You may want to do this even if the schools won't officially accept it, because they may see it as an attempt to do better-- Your GPA is phenom, so if you get invited to an interview you can definitely explain the low score.

If you decide to retake, try to calm down and focus (harder to do than it is to say, I was a basketcase all 3 times I took it and still felt like I was screwed... Ended up getting accepted to 2 of the 3 schools I applied to and waitlisted on the 3rd!)

 

[Onyang]

Hey Onyang, you sound like me! I took the GRE and got a so-so score but was really upset because I didn't get a 500 on verbal and that is usually considered "the cut off" ... I wanted to get my application out through PTCAS, though so it was a tough call. So, since I got a "eh" score, I immediately came home and scheduled another testing date for the next month and put that on my PTCAS application. You can put that you've scheduled a testing date without putting in the scores, so I did that. My application went out and then I retook the exam (actually 2x) and added the additional scores onto my application.

We all understand your stress, because we have all been there, and I'm also sorry about your loss. Contact the schools that you are interested in to make sure they will accept the new GRE test and then schedule another date... You may want to do this even if the schools won't officially accept it, because they may see it as an attempt to do better-- Your GPA is phenom, so if you get invited to an interview you can definitely explain the low score.

If you decide to retake, try to calm down and focus (harder to do than it is to say, I was a basketcase all 3 times I took it and still felt like I was screwed... Ended up getting accepted to 2 of the 3 schools I applied to and waitlisted on the 3rd!)

Thanks for the info, I probably wont retake the test. I would but I dont have the time to study like i want to. Im taking summer classes and doing observation. There are two school in texas that do not require the GRE. If I dont get accepted this year, ill try next time when I actually have time to study. Also, the cut of is july 1. Im hoping they see my GPA and my letter of rec

 

[johncronejr]

If the two schools in Texas do not look at the GRE, then why are you so worried? You have an excellent gpa, more than the required observation hours, and good rec letters. What's the worry?

 

[Onyang]

If the two schools in Texas do not look at the GRE, then why are you so worried? You have an excellent gpa, more than the required observation hours, and good rec letters. What's the worry?

Im just worried because ive been thinking about PT school for 3 years now. Thats all I want to do and I want to get into a programed. I worked really hard for my GPA. haha I might have a little OCD. I was really aiming to go to a school in my city, but the standards for that school is high. I meet all the requirements except for the GRE portion.

 

[johncronejr]

Last I checked, North TExas University does not require the GRE and I would expect them to have a top notch program given their reputation in other areas.

I do think you are over worrying. From the stats I have seen, average gpa for many entering classes is in the 3.6 range. I don't think you have a thing to worry about. Apply to the two that don't require the GRE, then apply to the one in your city and just see what happens.

Good luck! and STOP WORRYING!

 

[DancerFutureDPT]

I would take the GRE again (I know you don't want to) just to see if you can do better under different circumstances... I hate to be the one to tell you this, but even if you graduate with a 4.0 from PT school and can't pass the board licensing exams (which are 5 hour standardized tests), then the degree doesn't do you any good. Obviously everyone studies for the board exams and takes prep courses if they feel they need it, but if you have a history of not doing too great on standardized tests (ACT/SAT/GRE), that is something to think about...I'm not saying don't go to PT school, but it might be helpful to try to retake it to see if you can figure out how to get your score up a bit - it'd be good practice for future exams.

 

[Onyang]

Last I checked, North TExas University does not require the GRE and I would expect them to have a top notch program given their reputation in other areas.

I do think you are over worrying. From the stats I have seen, average gpa for many entering classes is in the 3.6 range. I don't think you have a thing to worry about. Apply to the two that don't require the GRE, then apply to the one in your city and just see what happens.

Good luck! and STOP WORRYING!

Thanks for the tip.

 

[PTisfun]

You may want to check with schools. There was a PTJ article (you can find it on medline) that predicted success with passing NPTE with a verbal GRE score of 490 or higher. If I remember correctly that was one of the strongest predictors. Math GRE was 530 or 500 or something like that, but not nearly as strong a predictor. I know there are schools (in my area) that use this paper when setting minimums for GREs for admissions.

 

[markelmarcel]

I would take the GRE again (I know you don't want to) just to see if you can do better under different circumstances... I hate to be the one to tell you this, but even if you graduate with a 4.0 from PT school and can't pass the board licensing exams (which are 5 hour standardized tests), then the degree doesn't do you any good. Obviously everyone studies for the board exams and takes prep courses if they feel they need it, but if you have a history of not doing too great on standardized tests (ACT/SAT/GRE), that is something to think about...I'm not saying don't go to PT school, but it might be helpful to try to retake it to see if you can figure out how to get your score up a bit - it'd be good practice for future exams.

Oh man, now I can have anxiety about boards and I haven't even had my first class yet! 😉

 

[Onyang]

Oh man, now I can have anxiety about boards and I haven't even had my first class yet! 😉

haha. i think i will be very prepared for the board. Even if I tried to retake the GRE, i wouldn't be able to study. Im going through some personal problems with my family and already have tons of other things to do.

 

[kcrat21]

haha. i think i will be very prepared for the board. Even if I tried to retake the GRE, i wouldn't be able to study. Im going through some personal problems with my family and already have tons of other things to do.

I don't want to sound mean at all, but it sounds like you are making excuses. Believe me, I totally understand family pressures/tragedy and an overloaded class schedule, but if getting into PT school is your ultimate goal and has been for 3 years, and you've done just about everything else to get there, then why would you stop at the GRE? It won't hurt to take it again even if you do not have a lot of time to study. If you had all those other factors hindering your test-taking ability the first time and most of those stressors are out of the picture now, then you should do better and it would definitely be to your benefit to just bite the bullet and retake the test.

Get some flash cards and study up on some simple algebra and things should definitely go better for you this time around.

Just my 2 cents. I hope it works out for you! Good luck!