Help the youngin!

[nazmar]

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Alright, so my last post was sometime after I had graduated High School (Youngin!) but I'm in my second semester at a local Community College, doing pretty well thus far. Just have a few follow up questions.

1. When should I start volunteering hours? Should I start now, while I'm in CC, or maybe after I transfer during the summer?

2. How do I even get around to volunteering? Is it normal to just call or show up, and what exactly do I ask? I always feel like it would be odd because I'm just not quite sure what to say, or perhaps it's just as simple as "Hey! I wanna be a PT, and would like to volunteer here!" I don't know.

3. My math is awful, but it is improving with the Prerequisite classes I'm taking. How critical will this be in actual PT school?

4. I fear Physics. I fear Physics because it seems a bit quantitative, and Algebraic...and scary! Any words of advice to alleviate this fear?

And again, any advice you have for me will be invaluable! Thank you!

 

[GMA2013]

It is great to start your PT volunteer hours as soon as possible! Then you will accumulate a lot. Physical therapists went through this when they were applying to school so just go to a local pt place, tell them you are preparing for Physical Therapy school and need to get volunteer hours.

 

[nazmar]

Thanks! 🙂

 

[NeophyteParkour]

While it is nice to get your hours out of the way early in undergrad, you should make sure you still get hours in your junior and senior years.
It's better to have recent hours on your PT school application, and it will be easier for a PT to write a reference for you. You don't want to have to contact someone you worked with 3-4 years ago for 80 hours asking them for a reference.

I would say aim for in-patient hours now, as it can take a while to actually get into a hospital, and because it's just observation, which is good to start with.

As for physics, I was really concerned about it too (thinking it was going to be my hardest pre-req), but I ended up doing really well in it. My concern about it probably just encouraged me to study even more than I would have.

 

[UFballerinaDPT]

i would suggest trying to get in-patient hours ASAP. I am applying this cycle and just finished my inpatient hours. I had called many ( more than 4) hospitals in the area, and only one was responsive to getting me in to shadow. When i finally got into the hospital, they were booked a month and a half out and i was really surprised how hard it was to get in.

 

[nazmar]

Alright, I've got a good plan formulating here. Thanks for the helpful and insightful replies! Greatly appreciated. There's a few clinics that I'm hoping to begin observation hours with, but I've got another question: What's the best way to balance out volunteering/school? I plan on taking more than the full-time amount in this upcoming Fall semester. I'm assuming it wouldn't matter as much, since it's only observation and really wouldn't cause any hindrance to school - but still, I'm curious if more people volunteered during Summer or breaks/weekends or just went ahead and did it weekdays/during semesters too?

 

[jdaniels360]

Just to provide a little insight, I'm in school full time during the year and in basketball full time too. For this reason I'm extremely limited to do any observation during the school year. The summer is really the best time (I think most would agree) to get your hours done, since you generally want to focus on your school work and any other extra curricular stuff you have going on during the academic year.

However, my summers are pretty hectic too! I work 40hrs to save money for the school year because It's the only chance I have to work, I'm enrolled in a few classes, and I'm in the gym almost everyday working out getting ready for the season. Therefore, my only option to observe is to give up my weekends and spend time at the hospital getting experience. Usually hospital settings on the weekends are the hardest ones to get but I've been very fortunate so far to be allowed to shadow. Not sure how long you have left in undergrad but i started after my freshmen year during that summer with a bunch of outpatient hours (again on the weekends). This summer I'm doing inpatient acute/rehab and pediatrics.

As you can see if you're able to start early, I strongly suggest that you do so! That way you're able to easily accumulate 100+ hours by the time you apply with no problems at all. Hope this helps!

 

[nazmar]

Just to provide a little insight, I'm in school full time during the year and in basketball full time too. For this reason I'm extremely limited to do any observation during the school year. The summer is really the best time (I think most would agree) to get your hours done, since you generally want to focus on your school work and any other extra curricular stuff you have going on during the academic year.

However, my summers are pretty hectic too! I work 40hrs to save money for the school year because It's the only chance I have to work, I'm enrolled in a few classes, and I'm in the gym almost everyday working out getting ready for the season. Therefore, my only option to observe is to give up my weekends and spend time at the hospital getting experience. Usually hospital settings on the weekends are the hardest ones to get but I've been very fortunate so far to be allowed to shadow. Not sure how long you have left in undergrad but i started after my freshmen year during that summer with a bunch of outpatient hours (again on the weekends). This summer I'm doing inpatient acute/rehab and pediatrics.

As you can see if you're able to start early, I strongly suggest that you do so! That way you're able to easily accumulate 100+ hours by the time you apply with no problems at all. Hope this helps!

Absolutely, that helps a bunch. I'm still early in Undergrad @ CC - it's my second semester. Luckily, I'm still able to heed this advice. Thanks!