How important are extra curriculars?

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ammonihah99

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I am still at community college for the next year until I transfer to the state university and our CC doesn't have a pre-PT club. I was thinking about starting one because I think it would look good on my PT school application, and because it would be a good opportunity to start networking early. The problem is that I have a LOT of responsibilities outside of school and to add one more thing on my plate might bring it crashing down. I have a decent GPA at 3.5+, but I'm not sure I can afford to jeopardize it by bringing my focus away from school. I read the rules for starting a club and it really is a lot of work to get it off the ground, plus once I start something I do it right, so no halfsies here. What do you think? Would it be worth it? Is that something that would put me ahead of the pack, as long as I can maintain my GPA?

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I would say definitely not. Focus on grades and studying for GRE. PT is professional school, not undergrad. They don't really care too much about extracurrics.

I am still at community college for the next year until I transfer to the state university and our CC doesn't have a pre-PT club. I was thinking about starting one because I think it would look good on my PT school application, and because it would be a good opportunity to start networking early. The problem is that I have a LOT of responsibilities outside of school and to add one more thing on my plate might bring it crashing down. I have a decent GPA at 3.5+, but I'm not sure I can afford to jeopardize it by bringing my focus away from school. I read the rules for starting a club and it really is a lot of work to get it off the ground, plus once I start something I do it right, so no halfsies here. What do you think? Would it be worth it? Is that something that would put me ahead of the pack, as long as I can maintain my GPA?
 
I am still at community college for the next year until I transfer to the state university and our CC doesn't have a pre-PT club. I was thinking about starting one because I think it would look good on my PT school application, and because it would be a good opportunity to start networking early. The problem is that I have a LOT of responsibilities outside of school and to add one more thing on my plate might bring it crashing down. I have a decent GPA at 3.5+, but I'm not sure I can afford to jeopardize it by bringing my focus away from school. I read the rules for starting a club and it really is a lot of work to get it off the ground, plus once I start something I do it right, so no halfsies here. What do you think? Would it be worth it? Is that something that would put me ahead of the pack, as long as I can maintain my GPA?

I disagree with the above poster. I'm not saying it's the most important thing, but some schools do look at more than just numbers. Also, you don't have to start your own club if you don't have the time, it's not worth compromising your grades. Look at volunteering in your community, playing intramurals, getting involved with campus organizations ( this doesn't have to just be pre-PT club ), etc.
 
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I think different schools have different views on extracurriculars. It's hard to give a universal answer for what's important without contextualizing what schools we're talking about.

In a general sense though, I don't think the majority of schools would reject a strong candidate just because they don't have extracurriculars. If you keep up your good GPA and get a nice GRE score as well, I wouldn't worry about trying to get extracurriculars unless the school has a specific requirement of some minimal amount of hours doing something like that.
 
I am looking at Rocky Mountain in UT, and the AZ schools: AT Still, Franklin Pierce, Midwestern and NAU. I don't think they have any specific requirements, at least not that I saw. And I am a non-traditional student, being in my thirties with kids and a lot of volunteer/work/community experience under my belt already. I just thought that one in particular would be impressive. Would the networking opportunity be worth it though? Organizing lectures from guest speakers like PT school professors and PT professionals in general? Coordinating tours of AZ schools? etc?
 
Don't worry about extracurricular. Being in your 30's and having kids is plenty enough to distinguish you. I am in the exact same boat and I got into Rocky Mountain without any extracurriculars and they didn't even really ask. Focus on your life experience over any type of club membership. It will take you a lot farther.
 
Yeah that's kind of what I'm banking on. There are a lot of other PT hopefuls in one of my exercise science classes and I think I can say with confidence that I definitely have a big head start, just even as far as maturity and experience goes. And then there are some who are downright clueless, ha. It's okay, though, let 'em weed themselves out. More room for me. Thanks.
 
My extracurriculars at the time of my application was that I taught spinning classes. I had listed all my volunteering/club leadership stuff I did in my undergrad (even though it was unrelated, I figured it showed that I was involved) and I figured that working full time and teaching my spinning classes was enough... and I got accepted to 2 of the 3 schools I applied to (and waitlisted at the 3rd).
 
While we are on the subject of Extra curr. I read a few threads and there's people saying you put things you do outside of school/academic like dancing, playing an instrument, playing a sport, etc... But what if you do those activities for quite awhile but its not really from an organization. Like maybe you were in a few bands, or played basketball for years but with random people at a park. Does these count? :confused: Or how would we put it in?
 
While we are on the subject of Extra curr. I read a few threads and there's people saying you put things you do outside of school/academic like dancing, playing an instrument, playing a sport, etc... But what if you do those activities for quite awhile but its not really from an organization. Like maybe you were in a few bands, or played basketball for years but with random people at a park. Does these count? :confused: Or how would we put it in?


If that's all you have, it's better to leave it out.
 
While we are on the subject of Extra curr. I read a few threads and there's people saying you put things you do outside of school/academic like dancing, playing an instrument, playing a sport, etc... But what if you do those activities for quite awhile but its not really from an organization. Like maybe you were in a few bands, or played basketball for years but with random people at a park. Does these count? :confused: Or how would we put it in?

I think maybe I'd put it in as recreational basketball and leave it at that... I mean, something that basic should probably be left out, but if you are looking for things to use, then you could do that. :)
 
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