Just finished my first year of PT school. Shoot me some questions!

[kellerac]

I know this happens quite a bit here, but it's the time of year when some schools are getting ready to start. Feel free to ask anything here, or PM me! I'll be checking every 20 minutes or so! As about admissions, transition to grad school, how was the first year, or just general non-school things.

Good luck everyone!

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[DPTTELl]

Thank you for taking the time to do this.
What was the most challenging part as a first year student?
Do you have time to do other things other than study?
Is it worth buying every single book for every class? I know this would depend on the school, but do you feel like you actually use them?

 

[kellerac]

Thank you for taking the time to do this.
What was the most challenging part as a first year student?
Do you have time to do other things other than study?
Is it worth buying every single book for every class? I know this would depend on the school, but do you feel like you actually use them?

1) A lot of people will try to scare you with how hard the graduate curriculum is. I think the general consensus in my cohort is that the information isn't hard. There's just a lot of it, and you move at a very quick pace. This for me (and my classmates as well) was the biggest thing. You need need need to stay on top of your schoolwork. If you fall behind you get left behind unfortunately. However, with a little discipline this is fairly easy to do.

2) Definitely. Unless I have an exam Monday or Tuesday, the weekend is my time. I still hike, hang out with friends, and travel a little bit. I can't speak for other PT programs, but we have weeks where there are lulls (2-3 weeks with just classes, no exams) that are pretty laid back. You just have to capitalize on this time.

3) This is the classic question. I do, because I like having the paper reference that my professors use to write tests, create PowerPoints, etc. However some of my classmates don't buy any, or only buy the ones that are explicitly needed. What's nice in PT school, however, is that a lot of the books you buy are used in multiple courses. My advice for this is get in touch with a second year student at whatever program you're going to and ask them. They're you're best resource, and they just took the class a year ago. They'll be able to let you know if they used it heavily or not and whether it's worth buying.

Thanks for the questions!

 

[Spaceball1]

How long did it take you to find a rhythm (between class and studying) after starting your first month of PT school? Put another way, was the transition to the graduate school lifestyle difficult or not too bad?

 

[kellerac]

How long did it take you to find a rhythm (between class and studying) after starting your first month of PT school? Put another way, was the transition to the graduate school lifestyle difficult or not too bad?

We started our first semester with only two classes (exercise physiology and gross anatomy), so by nature of our curriculum they sort of eased us in. That said, the first month or so is tough adjusting to the wealth of information being thrown your way.

In short, it's just different. My advice is to go slightly overboard with studying (within reason, of course) at the beginning, and once you get the hang of it you can back off a little bit. Better safe than sorry, right?

Edit: I didn't really answer your first question. It took until the first exam (~3 weeks in) for me to realize that I what I was doing wasn't enough. I guess then that it took a few weeks for me to full adjust.

 

[Spaceball1]

Ok cool. Pretty much what I'm expecting. My school does not really provide a reliable academic schedule online. Did you get a break at all over the summer, like a couple days or so? Or did it blend right into the fall semester? And I'm sure all programs are different, I'm just curious.

 

[dogetreats]

You said that as far as weekends go, it’s not too difficult managing your free time with studying (on the weekends).

How about during the weekdays? I’m looking to get involved in extracurriculars and student life programs/clubs and I imagine meetings and such would primarily occur on weekdays.

Lastly, would it be okay if I were to message you to ask for me advice?

 

[kellerac]

Ok cool. Pretty much what I'm expecting. My school does not really provide a reliable academic schedule online. Did you get a break at all over the summer, like a couple days or so? Or did it blend right into the fall semester? And I'm sure all programs are different, I'm just curious.

My program gave us two weeks off between summer and fall semester.

 

[kellerac]

You said that as far as weekends go, it’s not too difficult managing your free time with studying (on the weekends).

How about during the weekdays? I’m looking to get involved in extracurriculars and student life programs/clubs and I imagine meetings and such would primarily occur on weekdays.

Lastly, would it be okay if I were to message you to ask for me advice?

You will [almost] never have schoolwork to do every night of the week. If you want/need a night off school to do other things, you just NEED to make time either earlier or later. A lot of my classmates, including myself, are involved in our campus in some way. About half of my class plays in one or more of our campus' intramural sports during the week too. You just need to be aware of the extra time it takes and prepare accordingly.

Please message me with whatever Q's you got!

Edit: people will try to scare you. Study hard, be responsible with you're time, and grad school will be what you make it.

 

[SR_DPT]

Do you suggest knowing origin, insertion, action, and nerve interaction before you start school?

 

[kellerac]

Do you suggest knowing origin, insertion, action, and nerve interaction before you start school?

There's two schools of thought with that. For some people, that may help them with classes. If you want to go that route, it certainly won't hurt you. However, your school will teach you all of that, and it will be reinforced in many of the classes. I did not review anything prior to school starting, but I did have a gross anatomy course the fall before I started.

If it will calm your nerves, study part of it for now. Consider studying only the big muscles, or only knowing origin/insertion right now. I hope that makes sense. The school will give you plenty of time to not only learn, but reinforce all of that as you go.

 

[kdubz7w7]

I know this happens quite a bit here, but it's the time of year when some schools are getting ready to start. Feel free to ask anything here, or PM me! I'll be checking every 20 minutes or so! As about admissions, transition to grad school, how was the first year, or just general non-school things.

Good luck everyone!

Hi!
I just finished my first tri (gross anatomy, phys, intro to PT and critical inquiry). It probably took me a month to acclimate and a good 6-8 weeks to really learn HOW to study as efficiently as possible. Do you find each tri to be very different from each other given the variance in classes, or did you kind of follow the same pattern in terms of studying, time spent on studying, and so on?
We just started our second tri this week, and I'm nervous about another acclimation and super high stress period...neuro, clinical skills, movement science, and ex phys.....neuro has us all terrified!

 

[kellerac]

Hi!
I just finished my first tri (gross anatomy, phys, intro to PT and critical inquiry). It probably took me a month to acclimate and a good 6-8 weeks to really learn HOW to study as efficiently as possible. Do you find each tri to be very different from each other given the variance in classes, or did you kind of follow the same pattern in terms of studying, time spent on studying, and so on?
We just started our second tri this week, and I'm nervous about another acclimation and super high stress period...neuro, clinical skills, movement science, and ex phys.....neuro has us all terrified!

Unfortunately I think there will always be a little bit of that. Each semester has its own challenges and set-up. Personally I think the beginning of the semester is as stressful as finals week in a way. However some of the studying skills you've developed will continue to adapt and evolve to meet the changing curriculum.

Just roll with the punches!

 

[jyu62]

Hello!
I am entering my third year with little to no extracurricular activities that makes me a competitive applicant for PT school. What should I focus on this summer and in my third year to build my resume and application? Should I start looking for a PT aide job/internship or volunteer more?

About me: I am a second-year Kinesiology student at Cal State University, Los Angeles with an interest to become a Physical Therapy. My current GPA is 3.93 and I have 100 hours of volunteer experience with physical therapists. I am in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and also in a Kinesiology and Exercise Science club at my school.

 

[anyutka2009]

Any idea if re-applying to PT school the 2nd time around will negatively impact you?
I'm deciding if I should try this year with 1 year to go with undergrad, but might be not the strongest application and then seeing how that goes and re-applying the following year if I don't get in anywhere...

 

[sheflieswithherownwings]

Hello!
I am entering my third year with little to no extracurricular activities that makes me a competitive applicant for PT school. What should I focus on this summer and in my third year to build my resume and application? Should I start looking for a PT aide job/internship or volunteer more?

About me: I am a second-year Kinesiology student at Cal State University, Los Angeles with an interest to become a Physical Therapy. My current GPA is 3.93 and I have 100 hours of volunteer experience with physical therapists. I am in the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and also in a Kinesiology and Exercise Science club at my school.

Hey, I'm not quite a SPT yet myself (starting school in August), but I just went through the application process. I was a non-trad applicant and my diverse experience since my undergrad (which was unrelated to PT) played *really* well in my interviews (I got in everywhere I interviewed). With that in mind, I think you should consider investing some time in energy in an activity that you love that might not feel directly applicable to your applications. Find a hobby, sport, club, passion, or whatever that will set you apart -- something that will make you *different* from every other kinesiology and exercise science major that's applying to DPT programs. This will not only give you something unique to talk about at interviews, it's also (imho) a really good idea to have something you're into that's *not* PT -- it will be a welcome distraction and stress relief both during the application process and when you're in school. If you already have something like this, awesome! Don't forget to include it in your applications and talk it up in interviews.

I had (still have) an aide job that's definitely been really useful both in terms of learning more about PT and also developing relationships with PTs who wrote recommendations for me, so that's definitely worthwhile too. 🙂 Good luck on your applications!