So I just heard back from the PT schools I applied to and I did not receive an acceptance. I think I have a good shot next time around, i just don't know what to do in the meantime to boost my resume. To give you a little background about my credentials. I am graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology. my overall GPA is a 3.35 and my upper divisional GPA is a 3.42 (enough to graduate cum laude). My GRE score is a 307 (150V and 157M). I am in the middle of finishing an internship in my last semester in which I will receive about 600 observation hours on top of already having about 160 additional hours so I will have about 760 observation hours total. I am going to get my holistic chair massage certification to try and look a little better, but I was wondering if anyone else had any ideas that could help. Thanks in advance!
I didn't get into a DPT program... now what?
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What was your pre-req GPA? It's probably one of the most important parts of your application. If you have any C's retake those for an A.
Make sure you have a variety of settings ESPECIALLY inpatient for your observation hours. Aim for 3-4 different settings even if it's only ~10 hours. More definitely is not better. Don't waste your time trying to get thousands of hours. There are tons of applicants with >1000 hours of outpatient, but very few with hours in >4 settings.
GRE is not bad. If you have the resources to retake it and make sure you get high 150s and preferably 160s it can help take the pressure off of your low cumulative GPA.
Honestly extra certifications/jobs/internships don't make a huge difference on paper. Ever notice that's one of the smallest sections of PTCAS? The way those certs/experiences CAN help you is through your essay! Make sure your essay represents you as a person and how your life experience shapes who you are. Don't try and put in buzz words that you think they want to hear. Make yourself stand out. Programs read hundreds of essays so it's important you make a lasting impression. I have never heard of a holistic chair massage certification, so that would be a cool thing to add and tie it back to your values/essay prompt.
Most importantly make sure you know the requirements and average acceptance stats of every program you are applying to. Reach out to all of the programs and ask why you may not have been selected and next round selectively apply to the programs that match your strengths. I wasted so much time and money applying to >10 schools and half of them I realistically had no chance of getting into. Sure it would be awesome to attend the low cost state school, but if the average cumulative GPA for accepted students is a 3.8 and average GRE is higher than yours you need to fix your weaknesses. Don't be me! Apply to 5-7 programs that you have researched the hell out of and have a pretty good chance of getting into. The SDN pre-PT forums are an amazing resource. Search function son!
Good luck!!
Make sure you have a variety of settings ESPECIALLY inpatient for your observation hours. Aim for 3-4 different settings even if it's only ~10 hours. More definitely is not better. Don't waste your time trying to get thousands of hours. There are tons of applicants with >1000 hours of outpatient, but very few with hours in >4 settings.
GRE is not bad. If you have the resources to retake it and make sure you get high 150s and preferably 160s it can help take the pressure off of your low cumulative GPA.
Honestly extra certifications/jobs/internships don't make a huge difference on paper. Ever notice that's one of the smallest sections of PTCAS? The way those certs/experiences CAN help you is through your essay! Make sure your essay represents you as a person and how your life experience shapes who you are. Don't try and put in buzz words that you think they want to hear. Make yourself stand out. Programs read hundreds of essays so it's important you make a lasting impression. I have never heard of a holistic chair massage certification, so that would be a cool thing to add and tie it back to your values/essay prompt.
Most importantly make sure you know the requirements and average acceptance stats of every program you are applying to. Reach out to all of the programs and ask why you may not have been selected and next round selectively apply to the programs that match your strengths. I wasted so much time and money applying to >10 schools and half of them I realistically had no chance of getting into. Sure it would be awesome to attend the low cost state school, but if the average cumulative GPA for accepted students is a 3.8 and average GRE is higher than yours you need to fix your weaknesses. Don't be me! Apply to 5-7 programs that you have researched the hell out of and have a pretty good chance of getting into. The SDN pre-PT forums are an amazing resource. Search function son!
Good luck!!
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Agree with above....what is your pre req GPA? Did you apply to schools where you were truly competitive? I would put class retakes above the massage certificate for reapplying. Did you get interviews or just all rejections? Are you 150% sure your recommendations are stellar?
Alright, so my pre-req GPA is about the same as my cumulative, ~3.4. I will probably try and take the GRE again and try and get a better score (that makes a lot of sense.) I applied to 4 schools, got straight up rejected by Hunter College, NYIT emailed me saying they already filled their class before I applied and encouraged me to apply again, I got interviews from both NYU and Columbia (since the interviews I have been rejected from NYU and am currently on the alternate list at Columbia). I am also pretty certain that my recommendations were solid. As for retaking classes with low grades I'm not sure how able I will be to do that because I am graduating in May and moving to NYC. So I haven't looked into how I would be able to retake classes.
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Local community college or online.
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If your pre req is just a 3.4, that stands out to me as a weaker area in front of your GRE. I don't see your GRE as a weak area at all...I personally wouldn't retake it unless there were outlying circumstances that may have affected your score the first time around. What are your pre req grades? Do you have 1-2 classes that are on the low side? I would tackle those and you should be good to go.
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And also put a good amount of time into interview prep. That may be a weak area for you. Definitely look for a lot of outside help and advice when you prep for this next round.
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Completely agree with Starrsgirl
I did three group interviews this year and there were a lot of people who really struggled with the interview process. If you think you fall into that category, see if your undergraduate university has any career services. I know my undergrad has a service that will do a mock interview for you and assess your performance.
I did three group interviews this year and there were a lot of people who really struggled with the interview process. If you think you fall into that category, see if your undergraduate university has any career services. I know my undergrad has a service that will do a mock interview for you and assess your performance.
I have a C in Biology I and a C+ in Chemistry I. I could definitely try to retake those classes and see if that would make a difference. I took those my first year in college and wasn't really mature enough to understand how to put in my full effort for those classes. After those my pre-reqs are all much better. I feel as though my grades are definitely my weak point. I actually felt that way going into this whole process. Other than that, I am very confident in my interview skills, but I will be sure to hard core prep next time around. I know my GRE is good, but I might try and retake it because I was a fool and did almost zero prep for it. Also, thanks for all your help guys! if you have any more advice I am still all ears.
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Yikes! I would absolutely retake both of those classes ASAP. Did either school you applied to have any rules about how many Cs you could have? Unless you nailed both Bio II and Chem II with an A, those are glaring weak areas. Ditch the chair certification, ditch the GRE prep and retake those classes (if you have a weak follow up grade in BioII and ChemII, say B-....I would retake the whole sequence). Even though your cum GPA isn't bad, your pre req GPA is especially when you open it up. Consider that you are applying against people with straight As "on top" in pre reqs. Meaning that their most recent grade in every class is an A. Others might have a 3.4 too, but maybe they failed a class one time but then retook everything again for As (still have a 3.4, but the schools can now see they did very well in all classes) Also, how did you do in the labs with these classes? You may be able to get away with retaking Bio and Chem online without the lab as long as you have a separate lab class that you passed. That's what I did for a grade boost. My schools only required the labs be in person and because I had completed the labs the first time around, I just redid the lecture portion online easily.
What are the rest of your pre req grades? I ask because I worry you might have fairly low grades (Bs) in the science courses and are balancing out with As in English/speech to get that 3.4.
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I'd say the weak points, from reading this thread, are your interview, GPA, and possibly observation hours.
First, you received an interview from one school and were subsequently rejected. From what I've heard, it is fairly rare to receive an interview and subsequently get rejected (rather than waitlisted). This tells me you had poor interview skills.
Secondly, your GPA isn't "bad" by standards, but in the case of the schools I've applied to and know about it is well below the average of students accepted. For example, GSU has an average GPA of accepted students as 3.7 for cum and 3.6-3.7 for prereq. You are below average on both of these and have poor grades in two base sciences (if not more). As others have said, you should retake them.
Last, you have a fair amount of observation hours, but you didn't specify what settings they are in. If you have 760 hours in an outpatient ortho, that is less impressive than the applicant who has 150 hours but has 50 in an outpatient clinic, 50 in SNF, and 50 in inpatient rehab. Some schools even have a requirement that the observation hours are in 2-3 different settings.
These things, combined with your GRE (which is average but not outstanding) probably resulted in your immediate rejections and then the interview probably resulted in the waitlist/last rejection.
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Hey!
I'm a little late to this, but I am actually graduating from Hunter this May, so I can give you a few pointers if you plan on applying there or other NYC schools.
1. Your GPA. Honestly, Hunter sees about 400 applicants for 28-30 seats. You need to be top notch, get those grades up. You want at least a 3.8 to be in the running (this year the average for the incoming class was 3.9, according to the director).
2. Hunter doesn't care about GRE. I have a classmate who was accepted prior to even taking them.
3. Screw the chair massage, HOWEVER do look into another integrated health fields. Hunter College looks to create a very diverse student body in order to suit the diverse needs of the population... I'm a yoga teacher/ former fashion wholesaler, another student is a Feldenkrais practitioner, we have 2 pilates instructors, an aerialist, a few athletic trainers, a nutritionist... and some people who just stuck out. Half of us are working on our second careers while the other half are just out of school.
4. Find something that will make you shine. Why do you want to become a PT? Did you have an amazing experience when volunteering? Can you volunteer in other settings?
ALSO: Don't overlook LIU and Tauro, they have rolling admissions and it's not too late. SUNY Downstate also has a decent program but I think it's too late for that.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Jess
I'm a little late to this, but I am actually graduating from Hunter this May, so I can give you a few pointers if you plan on applying there or other NYC schools.
1. Your GPA. Honestly, Hunter sees about 400 applicants for 28-30 seats. You need to be top notch, get those grades up. You want at least a 3.8 to be in the running (this year the average for the incoming class was 3.9, according to the director).
2. Hunter doesn't care about GRE. I have a classmate who was accepted prior to even taking them.
3. Screw the chair massage, HOWEVER do look into another integrated health fields. Hunter College looks to create a very diverse student body in order to suit the diverse needs of the population... I'm a yoga teacher/ former fashion wholesaler, another student is a Feldenkrais practitioner, we have 2 pilates instructors, an aerialist, a few athletic trainers, a nutritionist... and some people who just stuck out. Half of us are working on our second careers while the other half are just out of school.
4. Find something that will make you shine. Why do you want to become a PT? Did you have an amazing experience when volunteering? Can you volunteer in other settings?
ALSO: Don't overlook LIU and Tauro, they have rolling admissions and it's not too late. SUNY Downstate also has a decent program but I think it's too late for that.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Jess
I agree with the above that this literally will not improve your chances at all. This is a giant numbers game, not an attempt to win over people's hearts. I don't even know what holistic chair massage is.
EDIT: Googled it...it's exactly what it sounds like, lol. Being a fully licensed massage therapist might help your app a teensy bit, but any certificate you can receive in a matter of just a few weeks is just fluff material as far as applications are concerned and won't make any difference.
Here's a quote from another post I wrote a few weeks ago that also applies here:
Schools have to use objective criteria that can be applied equally to every candidate, or the selection process would require an overwhelming amount of resources. These criteria generally are cumulative GPA, pre-requisite GPA (and rarely science GPA), GRE scores, amount and (more importantly) diversity of observation experience, and interview scores (which may be influenced by subjective elements such as essays/personal statements, volunteer experiences, etc). Look at the application process from the perspective of: "If this element of my application had to be somehow entered numerically into an Excel spreadsheet, could it be? And if so, what to I need to do to have a higher number than other applicants in this category". Different schools weight different elements differently, and many schools place heavy weight on interview scores which can be a boon to those with lower academic stats. A couple of programs I interviewed at only use the hard numbers to determine who will get interviewed, then the interviewer looks at the other elements of your application, as well as your interview performance, and give you a score. This number is used to determine who gets in. Again though, this is highly variable school to school. At the end of the day however who gets accepted and who does not unfortunately comes down to a numbers game and not a philosophical discussion of which applicant is most worthy.
Schools have to use objective criteria that can be applied equally to every candidate, or the selection process would require an overwhelming amount of resources. These criteria generally are cumulative GPA, pre-requisite GPA (and rarely science GPA), GRE scores, amount and (more importantly) diversity of observation experience, and interview scores (which may be influenced by subjective elements such as essays/personal statements, volunteer experiences, etc). Look at the application process from the perspective of: "If this element of my application had to be somehow entered numerically into an Excel spreadsheet, could it be? And if so, what to I need to do to have a higher number than other applicants in this category". Different schools weight different elements differently, and many schools place heavy weight on interview scores which can be a boon to those with lower academic stats. A couple of programs I interviewed at only use the hard numbers to determine who will get interviewed, then the interviewer looks at the other elements of your application, as well as your interview performance, and give you a score. This number is used to determine who gets in. Again though, this is highly variable school to school. At the end of the day however who gets accepted and who does not unfortunately comes down to a numbers game and not a philosophical discussion of which applicant is most worthy.