Should I write something out? my cGPA is a 3.1, but I have one semester left. My prGPA is 3.4. On the PTCAS form there's a section asking "Does your academic record accurately reflect your capabilities?" Should I write something out explaining my low gpa? I don't want to come off like i'm irresponsible/making excuses, so i'm worried writing something may back fire.
(Low cGPA) Does your academic record accurately reflect your capabilities?
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As an admissions director, I can tell you that admission committees, generally, want to select the most well qualified applicants for the class. Programs may differ on what represents "well qualified." For some programs, your CGPA would be too low to apply. I suggest only applying to those for which 3.0 is the minimum.
Keep in mind 3.0 is likely not competitive.
Given this, you want to give the most well-reasoned answer as to why you want to be a PT and what issues impacted your ability to succeed as an undergraduate. These should not be a laundry-list of excuses. But if there is an actual rationale, I don't think it hurts to say that. Also include whether or not this issue persists, and if is does, what you've done about it in the past.
Good luck!
Josh Morrison
Director, Student Enrollment Services
IU School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, IUPUI
Keep in mind 3.0 is likely not competitive.
Given this, you want to give the most well-reasoned answer as to why you want to be a PT and what issues impacted your ability to succeed as an undergraduate. These should not be a laundry-list of excuses. But if there is an actual rationale, I don't think it hurts to say that. Also include whether or not this issue persists, and if is does, what you've done about it in the past.
Good luck!
Josh Morrison
Director, Student Enrollment Services
IU School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, IUPUI
Thanks for the info @indianadpt. And best of luck to you guys I'm in basically the same situation to an extent. There were ssome issues my first couple years and my gpa wasn't that great. But right now Ive done better. And now entering my last year and have nothing but the pre- reqs legitimately. So hopefully if I knock out these last 40 hrs or so ill be alright. Any advice or knowledge on how you think schools may respond or how they've been responding to you guys would be great.
My stats were VERY VERY similar in terms of GPA. I had lots of retakes, but lots of hours with a variety (about 300 hours in about 4 varieties). I had a great Rec Letter as well and my GRE was about average. In my circumstance, I stated that it did not reflect my overall capabilities because I was naive going into school. I pretty much worked 30-40 hours while in community college and got ok grades. When I transferred to a University I got the reality shock and didn't have the greatest first semester. However, I got a new job and lessened my hours and my grades started on an upward trend. Im not saying to copy my story..lol But its an example to serve as an idea as to how to go about this. Explain how you were naive in your youth in THIS way but got over THIS problem by changing THAT which led to this improvement.
I then stated that there is always room for improvement and that we as a people can always find improvement through changing study habits, etc etc etc. One thing that I stated (during an interview anyways) that apparently no one in the history of the school has ever stated (according to the guy who interviewed me anyways) was that "We can always improve by changing out study habits. In undergrad, we always believe that we can simply memorize the material. In PT school, I realize that I can't simply memorize the material. This is something I will have to really LEARN and I will do that in every way possible by changing my study habits for the better." ...or something along those lines. But when I said that...I pretty much won the guy over and I knew I had a spot at that university.
Out of 7 schools that I applied to, I got accepted to 2 and wait listed for 1. I applied to all schools in Michigan and Northwestern University in Chicago. I got accepted to Andrews University and UM - Flint and waitlisted for Northwestern.
Give clear reasoning and be prepared to justify everything you say. Hope this helps and gives you some ideas/inspiration at least!
