Major for pre-physical therapy?

[zimraan95]

Right now, I am a biology major interested in pursuing PT school. I found out that orgo is not a pre-req for the majority of PT schools. Orgo however is required to receive a biology degree at the university I attend. My question is should I switch majors so I won't have to take orgo, or just stick with bio?

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[southernswimmer]

It's your choice. I'm about to graduate with a degree in animal science (will start PT school in the fall), and I had to take organic. To my surprise, it turned out to be one of my favorite classes, especially since I absolutely hated gen chem. My only advice would be to not switch majors just because of 1 class. However you do in organic won't make or break you getting into PT school.

 

[DesertPT]

If it's a one semester organic chemistry class they aren't too horrendous. If it's the 2-semester pre-med sequence that a pain, no doubt. I would stick with the Bio major, but I'm a big biology nerd. And changing majors is always very unproductive as far as efficiency of graduation goes. I just waited to take my 1 semester of o-chem that I had to take until my last semester of my bachelor's, when I had already been accepted to PT school so I could just slide by with a C and not be worried about my GPA anymore.

Really if you can't deal with an undergrad o-chem class, PT school is gonna whoop your butt.

 

[zimraan95]

If it's a one semester organic chemistry class they aren't too horrendous. If it's the 2-semester pre-med sequence that a pain, no doubt. I would stick with the Bio major, but I'm a big biology nerd. And changing majors is always very unproductive as far as efficiency of graduation goes. I just waited to take my 1 semester of o-chem that I had to take until my last semester of my bachelor's, when I had already been accepted to PT school so I could just slide by with a C and not be worried about my GPA anymore.

Really if you can't deal with an undergrad o-chem class, PT school is gonna whoop your butt.

I want to stick with the bio major as well because the course work is more interesting to me than the required courses for an exercise science major. I ended first semester with about a 3.0, and this semester it should go up. I guess I'm just afraid of my science gpa going down since I got a C+ in gen chem 1

 

[DesertPT]

I guess I'm just afraid of my science gpa going down since I got a C+ in gen chem 1

Start making A's now if you know you are going to apply to PT school. Keep in mind that at the majority of schools your pre-req GPA will matter more than your science GPA (sometimes they are quite similar, in the case of biology major though they may very well not be). Getting A's in your PT pre-reqs is absolutely mission critical, as is making sure your overall cumulative GPA is at least a 3.5 by the time you apply (the higher the better).

If the rest of your pre-reqs are A's you should be able to slide by with that C+ in gen chem. To many classes less than a B and you may be looking at some re-takes being necessary.