Importance of Shadowing Hours?

[RUchicSM]

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What's the lowest number of shadowing hours you've ever heard of being accepted? I'm in my senior year of college right now and I didn't decide on PT until the end of last semester. I couldn't shadow this summer because I had to work to support myself (I couldn't have afforded gas money to shadow as the nearest PT clinic is about 45 minutes from my house). I started an internship at the local PT clinic this semester. I currently have 33 verified hours and 11 unverified hours (I did the 11 hours but the MPT won't fill out the verification form). My internship will have me completing 100 hours by March. I've been reading everyone's stats and I'm only going to half as many hours as everyone else...Do I even have a shot at school?

The rest of my Stats:
Undergrad: Radford University
Major: Chemistry (Second Major: Biology)
Overall GPA from Radford: 3.38
Prereq GPA: 3.5-3.7 depending on the school.
GRE: 155V, 151Q, 4.5AW
I have held several summer jobs, I'm currently a Resident Assistant, and I'm a member of several clubs.

I just submitted the PTCAS app on October 7th so I'm waiting for processing. I applied to Emory University-Ga, VCU-Va, Bellarmine-Ky, George Washington-DC, and Marymount-Va.

 

[hardcoretastic]

I think you'll be fine with the hours you have planned and your stats are pretty good. I didn't look at any of those schools you listed but I did look at 8 and some of them like Florida Gulf Coast told me they didn't care about hours that is why their site only has like 10hrs (don't remember the actual # but it was low) needed to apply but I find that a little troubling, personally. Radford was the same way I do believe. I think its important to see what your getting into before applying and the different areas so as to go ahead and see what area of Therapy you might want to focus on. I do know that a good number of schools like you to have hours in multiple settings. I think it really comes down to where you want to go and what your willing to do to improve your resume in order to go there. The more hours could mean you getting in over someone else. I think you'd still get in somewhere might not be your top choice though or it might.

 

[NewTestament]

I would aim for 100 and try to get 2-3 settings. Get one outpatient, one acute care, and one special: neuro rehab (hard to get), SNF, ALF, peds, sports, etc. Variety is more important than gross hours. But I think 100 is a good number. Exceed the minimum required. The minimum is just another barrier to entry.

Kevin

 

[RUchicSM]

Thank you both 🙂