Is it going to hurt my application to only have a few hours in each specialty?

[hope4baylor]

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I'm anticipating having about 300 hours by the time schools see my applications, but almost all of those hours are going to be outpatient ortho. I have 4 hours acute care inpatient shadowing and 3 hours pediatric outpatient, which I did just to see what it was like. The rest will be from a typical outpatient clinic, the bulk in a very atypical, athletic/performance centered clinic and a chunk from a military base (I'm applying to Baylor amongst other schools).

Is this going to hinder my applications? I work full time and have to take a day off work to get hours in hospitals and such, while the clinics I've been going to let me come in after leaving work at 4 PM. Then, after finally finding hospitals to shadow in, they only let you do 3-4 hour shifts!

I wanted to *try* and get a day in an SNF but, with getting the military hours being my priority, I'm just not going to have the time, or money, to do more than that. I'm hoping my application will reflect that I'm balancing full time work, finishing up prerequisites and getting shadowing hours.

 

[jdaniels360]

There's absolutely no time to get at least 10 hours minimum in a few more settings? That's what you should shoot for. If you have to take a few days of then I suggest you do so if at all feasible.

Joe

 

[situational]

While having a lack of variety in volunteering and observation hours doesn't necessarily put a negative mark on your application, keep in mind that your peers DO have hours in those settings. In addition, DPT programs enjoy seeing applicants who have dabbled in different settings in the career they'd like to be in, so they know what they are getting themselves into.

Source: Me. I didn't make it in last cycle (on waiting list, but it's a grim outlook at this point) and I had 150 hours all at a small outpatient clinic. When I spoke with the head of the admissions committee for one DPT program, that is one of the point we went over when discussing how to improve my application for the next time.

 

[hongryhippo]

hey! it's great that you have a good variety. the only thing I would be cautious about is that some schools don't "consider" a setting that you volunteered in unless you did X amount of hours there

For example Western University of Health Sciences in CA requires "a minimum of 40 hours must be completed in a setting or facility in order to count"

good luck!

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http://christina-pt.blogspot.com

 

[hope4baylor]

There's absolutely no time to get at least 10 hours minimum in a few more settings? That's what you should shoot for. If you have to take a few days of then I suggest you do so if at all feasible.

Joe

I'm going to try but with 3-4 hour shift requirements, that's 3 days off work for each specialty! Since its seemingly going to hurt me I guess I'm going to have to try, or find a place that allows longer shifts. Hmph.

 

[paulrc]

I know quite a few people who did the bare minimum observation hours plus a little bit more and got in to really competitive schools - Northwestern, NAU, Regis, Loma Linda, etc . Its not a deal breaker if you don't have hundreds of observation hours. Some schools place emphasis on it, others not so much.

The advice I was given was the following - If your grades and GRE are not solid, obtain a little more than the required observation hours but don't sacrifice your grades to get hundreds and hundreds of hours of observation time. Grades and GRE are usually the most highly weighted portion of the application. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

 

[hope4baylor]

I know quite a few people who did the bare minimum observation hours plus a little bit more and got in to really competitive schools - Northwestern, NAU, Regis, Loma Linda, etc . Its not a deal breaker if you don't have hundreds of observation hours. Some schools place emphasis on it, others not so much.

The advice I was given was the following - If your grades and GRE are not solid, obtain a little more than the required observation hours but don't sacrifice your grades to get hundreds and hundreds of hours of observation time. Grades and GRE are usually the most highly weighted portion of the application. Don't miss the forest for the trees.

I have a good number of hours just not a good number in each specialty. I think I'm going to try my best to get 10+ inpatient hours then just go from there. Hopefully they will connect the dots and see that I work full time, am taking classes and have done everything I can short of maxing out credit cards so I can afford missing work. Thanks!

 

[schnell8]

I have a good number of hours just not a good number in each specialty. I think I'm going to try my best to get 10+ inpatient hours then just go from there. Hopefully they will connect the dots and see that I work full time, am taking classes and have done everything I can short of maxing out credit cards so I can afford missing work. Thanks!

I got accepted to UM - Flint but before I got accepted, I was told a specific scenario by their advisers and your case is fairly close to this scenario.

Let's say you have about 200 hours in outpatient, 20 hours inpatient, and 20 hours in a nursing home. Now let's say your up against someone with IDENTICAL stats as you except they have 400 hours in outpatient alone. Even though they have more hours, you would get accepted over them because you have the VARIETY.

Now, I am not sure how it would play out with having only 3-4 hours in each setting but I do know if you went up against someone identical at least with identical number of hours but lower variety, you would win for having the variety. I agree with everyone else here. At least get yourself to 10 hours in each setting to be safe. I know it might hurt you with work right now...but that sacrifice is the investment for your future. Sacrifice a few days of work to get your dream career that you will enjoy doing! That what I keep telling myself anyways when I encounter a situation where I have to make a sacrifice. I gave up a $17/hour job a few months ago but it was a career-like job with full benefits (maxed out at $21/hour) that required a lot of my time. I turned it down. I did feel that pit in my stomach for about a week until I reminded myself that I am going to grad school this fall which we lead to a career that I will enjoy and get paid better too. The point I am making is that sometimes we have to sacrifice now to get something much much better later. 👍

 

[jdaniels360]

The reward isn't so great without the struggle! I'm on my Mr. Motivation speeches today as you guys will probably notice haha. So... While I'm here, for those of you who are about motivation, search will's wisdom on YouTube and let me know what you think. It's a 7 or 8 minute video I believe.

 

[jdaniels360]

I stand corrected, it's a 10minute video 🙂