Hi all! I am currently a senior Health Education Major and I'm VERY interested in becoming a physical therapist. I am supposed to graduate in December yet I don't have any of my pre-reqs completed for physical therapy. My advisor suggested I take them at my university and post-phone graduation for a year or more. The thing is I'm very worried about recieving any loan money from the government. I have been looking at programs and University of St. Augustine only requires 24 credits that I would need as opposed to the 40 that my school's PT program requires. I would like to take my pre-reqs at my local community college but they aren't titled "general college chemistry 1" or "general college physics 1" so I'm not exactly quite sure which classes I would need. I need to apply for FAFSA within the next week. I'd much rather prefer to take CC classes because they'd be cheaper but I'm not exactly sure what my next step should be. I realize I still need many observation hours because as of right now I have about 20 and I still need to take my GRE which I'd like to complete after classes. If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great.
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You have alot going on. I would wait to worry about the GRE until you have other things settled. Your community college will have the equivalent of physics and chem 1, not all schools use the same titles for courses. I wouldn't delay graduation just to get your pre-reqs. Graduate and start working on your pre-reqs at CC. As far as paying for it, hopefully you get some aid, but the debt from CC is likely going to be much less than any 4-year school.
Also, look at where you are planning on applying so you know exactly what courses you need to squeeze. That will help you not waste time or money. Talk to an advisor at the CC and find out what they offer.
You probably arent going to be applying this year if you have none of the pre-reqs done. You have plenty of time.
I don't mean to go off topic, but I felt like this could be helpful come january 1st (when fafsa for the 2012-2013 year opens)
do the application as soon as possible! I didn't really know that it could make that big a big difference until I started working in the financial aid office at my school a few years back. The sooner you do the application, the sooner your school receives your info (EFC - expected family contribution) and the greater opportunity you have of receiving your maximum financial aid award. I help students almost every day who aren't receiving their full award because their application didn't come in soon enough (even if it was before the march 2nd deadline) because the school ran out of award money - they are only granted so much depending on the size of the school, etc.
It may help you in the future to finish fafsa asap; you never know if you could qualify for more than just loans, because your school will not have ran out of grant money by then, hopefully.
Again, I apologize for going off topic, but I felt that this is pretty vital info that every student should know about. It's helped me out a ton!
Hope this was helpful
Chinadoll; you are absolutly correct. Plus the school / FAFSA will make adjustment +/- after the original award dependend on school / student circumstances and Gov. issues. Had it happen both directions w/ my sister during undergrad. One of my PT schools of interest told me that even though I am under 24 for grad school I can still apply to FAFSA as an independent student....... w/o no employment..... should qualify for the subsidized loans. Maybe we need to start a new string on FA
I also would recommend that you do not delay your graduation. You can take your prerequisites at a community college for a much lower cost. Different schools name the classes slightly different, but pretty much all colleges have some kind of General Chem and General Physics classes. Just make sure they are the classes that count for a science major (as opposed to Introductory Chem or Physics, for liberal arts majors). If you have a question regarding whether PT school will accept a certain class, give the PT school a call and ask them.
Once you figure out your classes, you can worry about the GRE and observation hours. One thing at a time! Good luck!
I agree, I feel like there is be a lot of super important info that we could all share. especially because this is such a big investment for many of us