Knowledge is power

[ss1817]

Looking for some words of wisdom and hopefully some uplifting advice regarding the application process for PT school... Really hoping to stay away from negative energy so please only helpful (not hurtful) comments.

They say knowledge is power and that is what I'm here for. I am new to the SDN and have been navigating my way through the Pre-PT threads over the past month. This was my second cycle applying to PT school and unfortunately not the result I had hoped for. I am a non-traditional student (I'm 28) who will be going into my 3rd cycle applying. I earned my BS in Health Science - Pre-Clincial Allied Health at the University of Central Florida in 2011. Unfortunately poor study habits which eventually turned into complacency and not having any plans for grad school, left me with a low cumulative GPA (2.8) at graduation. PT was always a field of interest during college but it wasn't until years later and real life work experience that I decided I wanted to go back to school to pursue a career in physical therapy.

I know there a students out there like me who have been accepted with a lower cum GPA (2.7-2.9) so I'm hoping there's still hope for me out there. I have spent the last 2 semesters starting to retake any pre-reqs I did not receive an A in at my local community college. So far I have a post bac GPA of a 4.0. But there is still much to do... I plan to take courses over the summer and into the fall semester as well as retake the GRE (not my best: 292, 4.0W due to a tough personal issue at the time) which I have only taken once thus far.

Over the past 10 months I have been working as a PT tech in an outpatient clinic and will continue to work there throughout this process. I have 113 inpatient hours from volunteering in the PT department at a hospital and an additional 55 hrs from another outpatient clinic. I am hoping to gain volunteer hrs in another setting, just have to make room in my schedule for it.

I was offered an interview both this year and last at the University of St. Augustine (FL campus) which I felt went well both times. However, I wouldn't be posting this if it had been a different end result.

So I turn this over to any of you out there who have been through or are currently going through this struggle and am hoping to hear some encouraging and helpful advice.

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[Ginglymus]

My situation is very similar in that I am also 28, my PTCAS cGPA is a 2.81, and this was my 4th time applying (was accepted this year not to make you feel pessimistic). At some point in the future I will sit down and write about my story about my short comings during my first three years in school and 5 years after repairing the damages (grades). I also have very similar GRE scores, with my 3rd time taking it being a 148 (V) 152 (Q) and 4.0 (W). I studied my ass off for the verbal reasoning and I strongly believe with my ADD, and the cognitive requirement with a given time limit was why I couldn't improve my verbal score too much. I also obtained a master's degree in health sciences however I don't believe this helped me THAT much which is unfortunate however, with it did make the difference with the school that I will be attending.

1) Retake pre-req courses to receive a high pre req GPA - sounds like you're on the right track for this
2) Develop relationships with these professors for a letter of rec (I had 2 letters from PTs, 1 from a professor, and 1 from my employer who is also a PT)
3) Get as many volunteer hours or work hours as you can. People typically say volunteer hours > work hours but I would have to agree up to a certain point. I feel like 100-200 volunteer hours is acceptable if you want to work as a PT aide the rest of the time.
*4)* Apply to schools that play to your strengths. I did not get into any schools that average grades aka takes PTCAS grades (I applied to them again anyways because I already had the essays written and I thought I might as well). Some schools look at last 60 credit hour for cGPA, or last 45 hour, or just take the highest grade in general. This also goes for pre-reqs, in that some schools take highest grade, some schools only accept 2-3 total retakes, and some schools just average retakes.
5)Re-take GRE. Each year I didn't get in I would retake the GRE again and do my best to improve my score.

This is what I came up with off the top of my head, but I will add if anything else comes to me! Good luck!

 

[ss1817]

@Ginglymus & @socalboy7 Thank you so much for sharing your stories with me and the kind words of encouragement and advice! I cannot tell you how helpful this has all been, as well as the lift I have been needing. I certainly hope I can be in your shoes one day, helping someone through this process.

When I interviewed at Univ. of St. Augustine they mentioned that if you interview twice and get rejections you can no longer apply to the program. @socalboy7 Was this mentioned when you interviewed? I have an email out to them asking for further clarification and to see if I would possibly be eligible to apply to a difference campus. But if anyone knows anything about St. Aug, responding to emails/phone calls is not their forte.

To the both of you, in regards to researching schools that played to your strength... Did you use the PTCAS website? Or are there other websites out there that help you sift through all the information?

 

[starrsgirl]

I graduated undergrad with a 2.5 GPA in an unrelated field and started working. Along the way, I picked up a masters with a 4.0 but that left my cumulative GPA still very low (maybe around a 2.7 something after my masters?). I was a "failed" pre med in undergrad so I did have most of the pre reqs done except for Anatomy. I took Anatomy and got As in both classes. I thought surely it was enough to apply with As in Anatomy and a 4.0 masters in a relevant field. I received straight rejections my first round applying. That was my big wakeup call....I got mad and I got smart after that. I realized that the system is somewhat unfair to non traditionals (in that you can NEVER erase the past no matter how long ago it was. I literally had classes that were older than 10 years so I couldn't "count" them as pre reqs....and yet they counted against my pre req GPA and cum GPA). I had an exceptional work record and had done well in a masters program while working full time so I knew I could handle the load, but my numbers didn't say that to admissions. It's hard when your last 10 years of work is reduced to grades you got when you were 18. But that is the reality. So like I said, I got smart. I went back to community college and retook nearly every pre req. I took the classes in the most random ways. Night courses, weekend courses, online courses. I was a full time community college student on paper while also working. I even double enrolled at 2 community colleges one semester to get more credit hours. Most of the community college classes were so basic they made me want to cry. I had done work many times more difficult in pre med undergrad but received Cs/Bs....so it burned me everyday that I felt like I was just paying money and punching my card for the A (for some reason this was more difficult to me than if the classes had been challenging). I call it "eating humble pie"...But it was exactly what I needed. For me, i had to do my worst sentence (burn up every spare second of my free time doing mind numbing work because I didn't do it right the first time) so I could truly see how badly I wanted to be in this career field. I inched my cum GPA just over a 3.0 to apply. I got a new observation position and did it consistently (previously I just had a slew of random here and there hours). I earned the confidence that when I applied the second round, I KNEW without a doubt that I had done everything I humanly could to prepare. During interviews, I was proud of my work. I felt like I had nothing to lose because I had given it my very best shot. And if I didn't make it, I was going to be at peace with that decision because there was nothing else left to do.

I only wish I had taken the time to research more and understand the admissions process before my first time applying. I wasted a lot of time and money that first round. I had plenty of time to get everything done before my first time applying but I didn't think it was important. I would be graduating this year if I had gotten my stuff together. Live and learn.

(I think it's important to add this caveat: taking classes at a community college, in my opinion, though it's fine for admissions purposes, does you no favors when you actually get into PT school. I got my butt handed to me the first year as there was such a huge gap between the community college work I did and the rigor to PT school. I turned myself around and I'm doing really well now....but that was a shock for me...just be prepared for that one.)

 

[Cheezy89]

I lived for the social experience in college so it's no surprise that I earned a GPA of 2.68. I took the GRE three times and I barely hit the 150 mark. My chances of getting into a school_very unlikely!! I had also realized I wanted to pursue PT towards the end of my junior year. So I had to spend the last three years working my butt off to retake all the pre-reqs, and to rack up over 300 hours of clinical experience. Needless to say PT school is super competitive but I had low stats just like you and now I am starting school this summer.

To get to this point I had to apply twice and I only took my chances with schools that only care about pre-reqs GPA. The first time I had plan to apply to 6 schools but after seeing rejection coming from every corner I stopped at 3. I realized there was clearly something weak in my application so I went to my #1 school and sought advice from the professors. I took the opportunity to show them my passion for the profession and why I wanted to come to their school. Though they did not tell me specifically what to do, I listened to their advice and went to work for the next 6 months. I added to my clinical hours by getting a PT internship, which generated a strong recommendation. I retook two more pre-reqs and finally I had three people edit my essay.

When I got the email for the interview at my #1 school I knew I was in right away (or so I thought). Even though interview was my strong point I practiced for a month. When the time came I aced the interview. I felt great due to the fact that I prepared well but also because some of the professors knew me from 6 months ago. All this hard work however got me through a waitlist. That's when I realized how competitive PT school was. So the same day I received the waitlist letter, I emailed the school and asked them to keep me on the list. I explained to them why I wanted to be part of their culture and I mentioned my plan to make my application better next year in case I had no luck with the waitlist. A month later they offered me admission.

So it is possible to get into school with low cum. GPA. You just have to work hard to excel in the other criteria for admission. it seems like you're on the right path. Don't give up and if possible seek advice from admission staff, preferably face to face. I think that's what helped me the most

 

[Skyris]

(I think it's important to add this caveat: taking classes at a community college, in my opinion, though it's fine for admissions purposes, does you no favors when you actually get into PT school. I got my butt handed to me the first year as there was such a huge gap between the community college work I did and the rigor to PT school. I turned myself around and I'm doing really well now....but that was a shock for me...just be prepared for that one.)

It pains me to read this, particularly because I know some programs feel the same way. I'm also a non-trad (pre-med, but I switched before I trashed by GPA too bad), and I retook all my prereqs at a very good CC (even though I had taken some of them in undergrad, at a public ivy). The science courses were not significantly easier, but the quality of instruction was far superior. Whereas at my undergrad (UC Irvine) they stuffed the premeds into a lecture hall with over 300 students and you had to elbow your way into office hours if you wanted any hope to meet the professor, my class sizes at CC were around 30 once all the unmotivated students failed and dropped out. My bio and chem labs at the 4 year were taught grad students, while at CC it was you, the professor, and about 15-20 other students. And the professors were highly qualified-- my anatomy/physiology prof was an MD and Phd, and the other science professors were Phds with fascinating careers (many of them had left positions at 4-year schools to teach there), and the whole class would quickly be on a first name basis, anatomy had a cadaver, etc. When people whined about how hard the classes were, the professors made it a point to tell them the courses had to be transferable, they had to have the same subject matter and difficulty as courses at 4 year schools.

I can't know how I'll actually fare my first year if I get accepted to school, but I'm confident I'm at least as prepared as students coming in from 4-years, and it'd be a shame if programs out there look down on CC's because some of them are lax on their standards. Then again, maybe it makes sense, maybe their statistics show CC students don't fare as well on average. We'll see

 

[starrsgirl]

It's great to hear your community college was a good experience!!! Mine was complete opposite. Amazing professors in my 4 year university, top notch teachers in the field, top researchers the field as well. My university really valued the ability to teach over just being knowledgable too. They did not have grad students teach. My community college required WAY less. I had to study to earn a C in undergrad, I had to show up to earn an A at community college. My community college teacher was decent (she had a masters in Biology), but definitely very straight forward multiple choice tests....no complex thinking required.

So far, it seems that PT schools have stayed very friendly to community colleges. I know med schools feel differently (this was a big factor in me choosing PT school over med school as a non trad student). In the end, if you come in ready to work, you will be fine.

I'm on clinicals now, and I am with 3 other students from different schools. It seems like our anatomy experiences varied greatly. My course was extremely difficult and geared for med students, some of the other students reported a very straight forward, memorization based anatomy for PT students. So....hard to say....each school is different.

 

[ss1817]

I know this thread is pretty old at this point but I wanted to post just in case some of you may still be active on SDN. Yesterday I was finally accepted into PT school. I am currently waitlisted for another school and have yet to hear back from a handful of others. I just wanted to take a minute to thank you all for your words of encouragement and advice during what was a very difficult time. I am so incredibly excited to start my DPT journey and so happy to be one of the few low cGPA success stories! A lot of hard work went into this process and I appreciate all of your guidance.

@socalboy7 @Ginglymus @starrsgirl @Cheezy89 @Skyris

 

[Cheezy89]

I know this thread is pretty old at this point but I wanted to post just in case some of you may still be active on SDN. Yesterday I was finally accepted into PT school. I am currently waitlisted for another school and have yet to hear back from a handful of others. I just wanted to take a minute to thank you all for your words of encouragement and advice during what was a very difficult time. I am so incredibly excited to start my DPT journey and so happy to be one of the few low cGPA success stories! A lot of hard work went into this process and I appreciate all of your guidance.

@socalboy7 @Ginglymus @starrsgirl @Cheezy89 @Skyris

HAHAHAH, Listen when you believe and you work for it, nothing is impossible!!!!

 

[ss1817]

HAHAHAH, Listen when you believe and you work for it, nothing is impossible!!!!

So true!

 

[gotaspirations]

I'm an older folk and I did terrible in my undergrad. It's depressing how that follows around with me now. I know I can do better, but what the heck can I do really? I feel ya, I the feeling sucks. You're definitely not alone on this. I know someone who's applied 5 cycles and has over 5000 hours as an aid. Unfortunately, his GPA has not shown admissions what they were looking for. Tbh, he is kind of a slacker, so if you get A's, and have a good GRE score, you may have something to show for.