Need Help: Planning to get into PT School in Canada

[barsha]

I have a 4 years bachelor degree in Computer Information System from an US university. I am thinking of changing my career to PT. I will be moving to Canada soon. I know I have to do some pre-req courses before I can be able to apply for the PT school. Can anybody help me on the process (from taking pre-reqs to applying to PT schools)?

1. Does Canada have community colleges? Can I take the pre-reqs in community colleges?
2. If I have to go to a school to finish these, do I have to declare any degree while I am going to finish those pre-reqs?

3. I want to finish pre-reqs and get into PT school ASAP. So any recommendations on community colleges/Uni for pre-reqs?

4. I assume PT schools are hard to get into but any idea in which admission would be doable?

If you have experience this situation or know anybody you had this situation please pass me the contact info.

I will appreciate any helpful advise.

Thanks

barsha

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[Danae00]

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[mac_kin]

First, where are you coming from and what province are you moving to?

I would highly recommend that your prerequisites are done at the University level and not in community colleges, admissions will look more favourably on someone who does the prereq courses in university. In Canada, there is a distinct hierarchy between college and university. This doesn't hold for everyone but typically the more intelligent kids go to university, while the C+ high schoolers go to college to learn a quick skill for work. Also, Canadian colleges are more for the "technical and skill trades", most health care professionals (other than x-ray technicians, dental assistants, physiotherapy assistants, etc.) go through university. PT is a very respectable career choice and I will just say that I have never met any PT who had not done both degrees (undergrad, grad) at the university level. College students become the PT assistants.

Next, in Canada the job market is much different than in the US, with very few opportunities and avenues for those who are ambitious and want to be successful professionals. Thus, health care is a very very popular choice for intelligent young adults who want a respectable and stable career. It is EXTREMELY tough to get into PT or medicine in Canada - trust me!


There are only I think 12 or 13 PT schools in Canada, but that number doesn't matter because any given person has a real shot at only like 4 or 5 of those. Like someone said above, it all depends what province you live in, but typically schools outside Ontario accept maybe like 5 out of province students each. So if you are coming to Ontario, and as a foreign student, you really only have a shot in Ontario to be honest. You can still apply, but don't count on getting in out of province.

Again, it is EXTREMELY competitive. Lots of hard-working people, few opportunities. In Ontario, 8% of applicants get in on average, 80 students/900 applicants on average.

http://www.ouac.on.ca/orpas/pdf/rc_orpas_e.pdf

If you don't have a GPA of at least 3.7 don't bother. Because it is so competitive up here, many medical school applicants also apply to physical therapy as a back up, so you are going up against some high GPAs.



I don't want to discourage you but I am giving you the facts. I know from my own experience how difficult and stressful university was for us because we knew how competitive all this is in Canada. But keep this in mind. I would honestly say, if you are coming from the States, you probably have more chance there since there are just so many more schools!

 

[mac_kin]

PS I know the file above lists GPA at minimum B level - and yes that is the minimum to even be considered, but a B will not get you in!


Reading over my posts they seem very negative! Again, I don't want to discourage you or anyone else. Feel free to send me a private message, I can give you more specific advice and what pre-requisites I would recommend. Also if you don't mind sharing your GPA I will honestly tell you what your chances are. I've been through the process and helped others a few times now.

 

[barsha]

First of all thanks a lot mac_kin for your reply. Yes I feel a little scared now. But I really think I will be happy in this career. I found out that there are some universities in Canada where I can take my pre-reqs. http://www.physicaltherapy.utoronto.ca/prospect/prereq.htm

Sometime some uni/school like to make the class harder. I have seem it many times. So that is where I need help.

My Background:
I have a 4 years Bachelors (from USA) in Computer Information Systems. GPA 3.6. Then I worked for 10 years in USA. Now I want to move to Canada. I have a PR. My plan is to finish Pre-reqs and apply to a PT school. I don’t have 3.7 but I need to finish the pre-req courses. So I might give it a shot.

I am a serious and hard working person, and if this I want to do it for rest of my life I want to work really hard and give it a shot. But at the same time I don’t wanna be super confident and bang my head for this. So I need your advice.

1. Please give me advices on what pre-requisites I should take and from which Universities?
2. Should I target to get into Ontario Universities? the others as well?
3. I was thinking of University of Alberta or UBC. My thought was competition may be a little less over there. What do you think?
4. Please feel free to advice me on anything. Just about anything will help me out.

Please please please… I need help. I would really appreciate it.

Are you in PT school?

Thanks mac_kin.

 

[Danae00]

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[CKin]

Hi there,

I applied to UofT, Mac, & Western (U.W.O) for Physical therapy last year, I was rejected across the board, and was told that the minimum for an interview was around 3.7 as well. I spoke to someone from the admissions office at Queen's at was told that the competitive GPA is around a 3.5-3.6, so that would definately work out for you.

I suggest you take the courses at any university (NOT UoFT - the science classes are much harder there), all they care about is GPA so just get the GPA they want and I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[mounir1]

I am from Algeria 21 years studying a second year in science at the University of International Business Dali Brahim. And I want to turn to Canada for further education there .. Is it possible your best friends?
Thanks
I am a wait. .

 

[barsha]

Thanks for all the reply.

1. For the Pre-reqs, can you recommend me some universities and courses which are not rock hard from this site? http://www.physicaltherapy.utoronto.ca/prospect/prereq.htm. I know I have to finish Anatomy, Physiology, Psychology and Stat mainly. Any idea in which University I can go to get a good grades (not that I don’t wanna learn, but sometime some universities just make it unnecessarily hard)

2. I see the minimum GPA is 3 to apply for the program but I guess that is not the case. What would be the minimum GPA required to get into the program for your university?

3. Do you think I should go for ON schools? I am thinking in competition level, also provincial applicant would matter too, right?

4. Is UofAlberta/ UBC would be better/easier? I definitely want to get into a PT school so it does not matter where. At last if I pass the licensing exam that would matter the most.

I would really appreciate if you share advices/ tips on “How to get into MS PT program in Canada”

Thanks
barsha

 

[CKin]

Hey there,

to finish up your pre-req coures, which I see are all life-science based, don't take them at the University of Toronto - St. George campus - that is the main school where the sci classes are unecessarily hard there!!!


hope that helps, I went to the University of Western Ontario and I got an A in Bio, Chem, Anatomy, Physiology, and Physics.- they really werent that tough, except for Anatomy only cause that was Cadaver anatomy but that is only because it was required for my program.

The other anatomy classes are much easier, and are not cadaver based.

 

[watkin]

I would also like some advice from someone about successfully applying to physical therapy school.

- I am in my final term of study in Kinesiology (Co-op) at University of Waterloo
- I have an average of 77.9 in my last 20 courses (75.8 cumulative)
- I am currently working on getting reference letters and plan on applying for the 2011 fall year at all the Ontario PT schools and some out of province schools (UBC, McGill, etc)
- I am working on improving my GPA and by the end of the term if all goes well should be at around 79-80% (~3.6-.7)

My problem is I had failed calculus and had to redo it in third year and got 55% (me and calc don't get along). I don't know how much this will hurt my application as things here are very competitive. However, if I take three more courses in spring it would push calc to the 21st course and it would not be counted. At least according to what they say, I don't know if they take the whole transcript into account.

Is this a good idea? Or is it unnecessary schooling and a waste of time and money? Also, if I took three "easy" elective courses unrelated to Kinesiology would this look bad?

Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.