Miami Vs. Arcadia

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

bythebay

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Messages
107
Reaction score
1
Anyone have thoughts on how to pick between PT programs? Right now I am choosing between Miami and Arcadia. I was just going to go to the cheapest school, but with the scholarship from Arcadia they cost the same amount. I'm running out of criteria to choose between.

They are both highly ranked with impressive faculty that seem to care a lot for their students. Arcadia has a really cool curriculum with 3 week units instead of semester classes. This means no midterms/no finals! The think I like about Miami is that they have a ton of really awesome electives and you only go to school 4 days a week, so you have a lot of study and down time. Both have the opportunity to do research with the faculty. At Arcadia it's a choice at Miami it's a requirement.

Miami and Philly are both pretty cool cities, though I do like the fact that it doesn't snow in Miami. I don't think the cost of living would be that much different if I lived in Philadelphia instead of Glenside, though maybe a little cheaper then Miami, but not by that much. And both have really nice campuses with gym facilities and the students were really cool at both places.

My gut tells me I'd be happy at either school. Someone on this forum got a lot of flak for suggesting flipping a coin but honestly that's kind of where I'm at here. Does anyone have other criteria that I'm missing???

I am kind of at a loss here
 
For me, no snow and south beach would be really big factors. I would also look to see what each program emphasizes. For example, neuro vs. manual. I shadowed at a clinic where a new grad from Miami had just started working. Said he loved it and the beach factor was big too. But he said he didn't like that they focused on more neuro than manual. It just comes down to what you want to focus on.
 
I say if distance wasn't a factor and moneys not a factor then go to Miami. I never been to Miami but I've been to arcadia and though they do have their own building for pts they do not have a cadaver lab, so they share with Drexel. In addition, although arcadia is technically in philly, it is on the outskirts so u would have to travel to be in center city and traffic sucks. As for Miami, hey its a chance to study in warm weather and good looking people lol. That can be a blessing or a curse but if you can be discipline then go for it!
 
Thanks to both of you. Good point about what they emphasize. I know Arcadia emphasizes being a general physical therapist, which I guess is what all schools should be emphasizing. Their director is a Neuro specialist and it's good to hear Miami emphasizes Neuro because I'm pretty sure I want to do Neuro rehab.

I guess I'm down to deciding on the weather, lol!
 
Top