Newbie here, need insight on DPT applications

[jromer21]

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Hey SDN, I've been going over threads as an unregistered user and had to make an account because every thread I've been to, every replier has been helpful/resourceful. But there are things that I tried to look for an haven't found it (so many threads lol). All I'm reading is retake courses/GREs in order to raise my cGPA and pGPA. As of now, I have a 2.3 pGPA and a 3.0 cGPA (pretty low, I know) 2nd year I slacked off because of unforeseen circumstances, (uncle's death, father going through cancer, work in order to help pay for college but I shouldn't use these an excuses for my lack of work). Down to the main point, I am about to graduate from UIC with a BS in Kinesiology and I'm wondering what are the chances of me getting into PT school? Will they even look at my application? I already logged in 100+ hrs in/outpatients and currently work as a PT/OT rehab aide at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, LOR from the top professors in my college. If I am unable to get into PT school (which I'm sure I won't first time around), what can I do in order to make myself a better candidate? Will retaking courses count towards my undergrad GPA or would it go towards a post-bacc GPA even though they are the same courses I took as an undergrad? This has been going through my head all day when my academic advisor essentially told me "do you have any other aspirations in a different line of work? because with these grades you sure won't be able to get into any PT schools" any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ptlover]

Hey SDN, I've been going over threads as an unregistered user and had to make an account because every thread I've been to, every replier has been helpful/resourceful. But there are things that I tried to look for an haven't found it (so many threads lol). All I'm reading is retake courses/GREs in order to raise my cGPA and pGPA. As of now, I have a 2.3 pGPA and a 3.0 cGPA (pretty low, I know) 2nd year I slacked off because of unforeseen circumstances, (uncle's death, father going through cancer, work in order to help pay for college but I shouldn't use these an excuses for my lack of work). Down to the main point, I am about to graduate from UIC with a BS in Kinesiology and I'm wondering what are the chances of me getting into PT school? Will they even look at my application? I already logged in 100+ hrs in/outpatients and currently work as a PT/OT rehab aide at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, LOR from the top professors in my college. If I am unable to get into PT school (which I'm sure I won't first time around), what can I do in order to make myself a better candidate? Will retaking courses count towards my undergrad GPA or would it go towards a post-bacc GPA even though they are the same courses I took as an undergrad? This has been going through my head all day when my academic advisor essentially told me "do you have any other aspirations in a different line of work? because with these grades you sure won't be able to get into any PT schools" any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there,

First off let me start off with my blog may be a good resource for you and a few other blogs on here. I am a reapplicant .I think you can get in but you should have a year you take off before applying. You need to get solid scores on the GRE . I would also retake classes that you have Cs or lower in. Don't waste your time or money on trying to apply this cycle. Wait until next when you have a solid application. If you'd like to discuss this more you can email or PM me on here. I am glad to help!

 

[Azimuthal]

You will have to retake prerequisite courses and they will count towards your pGPA. Keep in mind that most schools will average your grades, i.e., chem C, A = B. A few will take your most recent. You will need to receive A's in all retakes to maximize your chances. Good luck.

 

[jromer21]

You will have to retake prerequisite courses and they will count towards your pGPA. Keep in mind that most schools will average your grades, i.e., chem C, A = B. A few will take your most recent. You will need to receive A's in all retakes to maximize your chances. Good luck.

Say I re-take the classes and I get As in all of them, would that mean my GPA goes up? Cause my academic advisor has told me it would just change the letter grade rather than the GPA.

 

[Azimuthal]

Say I re-take the classes and I get As in all of them, would that mean my GPA goes up? Cause my academic advisor has told me it would just change the letter grade rather than the GPA.

Maybe it's how your CC operates but normally, it will bring your GPA up. As with the example I used, a 2.0. (C) + 4.0 (A), avg = 3.0 (B). You can use your higher grade in PTCAS, but many schools will calculate their own GPA and average them. Some will use your reported or highest. You'd have to ask each individual school.

 

[jromer21]

Hi there,

First off let me start off with my blog may be a good resource for you and a few other blogs on here. I am a reapplicant .I think you can get in but you should have a year you take off before applying. You need to get solid scores on the GRE . I would also retake classes that you have Cs or lower in. Don't waste your time or money on trying to apply this cycle. Wait until next when you have a solid application. If you'd like to discuss this more you can email or PM me on here. I am glad to help!

I appreciate the feedback, my advisor has told me to begin a masters program rather than retake the courses. I just don't know how I would feel about that. Though a MS would look nice, I rather much spend less $$$ at a CC retaking my pre-reqs rather than paying $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for a MS.

 

[Azimuthal]

I appreciate the feedback, my advisor has told me to begin a masters program rather than retake the courses. I just don't know how I would feel about that. Though a MS would look nice, I rather much spend less $$$ at a CC retaking my pre-reqs rather than paying $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for a MS.

A masters "may" look nice but it isn't a primary factor into the application decision making. It sounds like you have the typical counselor, someone who regularly screws students over because they have no clue about acceptance rate statistics and the weight for individual requirements. Just be glad s/he didn't tell you that you needed 5 additional classes the week before graduation.

 

[jromer21]

A masters "may" look nice but it isn't a primary factor into the application decision making. It sounds like you have the typical counselor, someone who regularly screws students over because they have no clue about acceptance rate statistics and the weight for individual requirements. Just be glad s/he didn't tell you that you needed 5 additional classes the week before graduation.

I appreciate your feedback Azimuthal, but that last part had me worried I had to check my progress report haha, I had a friend who couldn't graduate because he was missing 4 credit hours and the advisor wouldn't waive the class for him because it was a 4 credit hour class.

 

[SympatheticTrunk]

I am going to sound like a broken record, but re-taking pre-req courses is a good option to raise both your pre-req and cumulative GPA's. With a cumulative GPA of a 2.3 most schools will not consider the application. You can check on PTCAS and see which schools accept GPA's lower than a 3.0. I know Columbia's min. GPA is a 2.8. If you re-take the pre-reqs and need some more help with the GPA then a master's degree is not a bad option. I had a rough first few years of college, then I took a break went back for my BS in health science and was pre-pt, but unfortunately all of those bad grades were calculated into my cum. GPA. The first time I applied my GPA was a 2.97, and no schools considered my application (that I applied to). I went back for my master's degree and pulled up my cum. to a 3.3, and was accepted.

 

[starrsgirl]

I was in your same position years ago. If you are serious about this, you can do it.

First, calculate exactly how many more credit hours of receiving As you need to bring your pGPA up to a 3.0 or higher. I wouldn't bother spending the money to apply before then. This calculation will give you an idea on how many semesters this will take. You need to know this number so there are no delusions about how long this will take.

Second, start by scheduling a retake of every pre req class you don't have an A in. In my case, yes I did pretty much retake every single one. Once you have those plugged into a schedule, fill in other credit hours with any random class you can. I did a ton of online random ones....writing, different psychology, genetics. This is because you are unlikely to be able to fill a semeaters schedule just with pre reqs (you might end up with 2-3 pre reqs a semester). So use any other time to take other classes which will simply boost your overall gpa. Consider online classes here too as they wont jam up your schedule.

Third, don't waste your time on a masters. It will not help your pGPA at all!! Why do people recommend this?!! In my case, I did a masters in kinesiology, got a 4.0 but still had terrible GPAs like yours. Did not help in the slightest (luckily I did my masters for other reasons before I thought about PT)

Good luck. Feel free to PM me with other questions. It's a long road but doable! Make smart decisions and you will do great.

 

[SwampPT]

Say I re-take the classes and I get As in all of them, would that mean my GPA goes up? Cause my academic advisor has told me it would just change the letter grade rather than the GPA.

First of all I would get a new advisor ASAP. The one you have doesn't know what he/she is talking about. Definitely retake prerequisite courses that you got a C in. Be strategic when you apply to schools. You need to apply to schools that count your highest grade instead of averaging them. You should also apply to schools that place a greater weight on your last 60 semester hours. You also need to do really well on the GRE. I'd say get at least 160v 160q and 4.0 AW.

 

[SympatheticTrunk]

Third, don't waste your time on a masters. It will not help your pGPA at all!! Why do people recommend this?!!

In my case, I pulled up my GPA to a 3.3 from a 2.97. When I applied with a lower GPA I did not get in, when I applied with the higher GPA I did get in. It depends on individual situations. Re-taking pre-reqs to get higher grades is smart and will help with pGPA, and cGPA, but with an original cGPA of 2.3, they might need more credit hours to pull the cGPA up even higher. In my case, getting a masters degree was helpful not only in raising my cGPA, but I also got another letter of recommendation out of it, plus exposure to classes I had not taken before and this has been very helpful while in PT school. This is just my situation and it may not be for everyone, but it may be something to consider for multiple reasons.

 

[starrsgirl]

I should have clarified that one of the main issues with masters is the cost for most people. The classes per credit hour are much more expensive than community college or undergrad classes. PT school is expensive so stay out of debt before you go. Also in a masters, you are usually committed to a 2 year program whereas on your own you can squeeze in many more credit hours per semester and be done in a shorter time (one of my tricks was dual enrollment at 2 community colleges). Believe me, I don't hate my own masters and it's certainly helped me in PT classes, but I fear it's an inefficient method to get to the same end goal.

 

[jromer21]

I totally understand both of your points. The reason why I may stray away from a MS is because of the cost, even if I did have a MS, that's almost an extra 40-60k depending on where I go, then if I do wind up in DPT, that's an extra 80k for 3 years. I wish money wasn't an issue and education wasn't as expensive

 

[DesertPT]

my academic advisor has told me

As I've said before, one should always listen to SDN and the PT school's websites over an an undergrad adviser. Everything an academic "adviser" tells you has to be thoroughly fact-checked anyway, so you might as well just do your own research to begin with and not waste your time. I have yet to encounter an example of an undergraduate academic adviser providing a pre-PT student with helpful, complete, 100% accurate information.

 

[DesertPT]

Do not do a masters.

Retake as many pre-reqs as possible, do your research and target schools that use grade replacement rather than averaging.

I realize you said that you searched the forum, but really these questions have been answered a lot so if you search a little more thoroughly for what to do about bad grades/low GPA you will find a lot of good advise. @starrsgirl comes to mind as one who has a number of excellent posts on this topic.

First of all I would get a new advisor ASAP.

A preferable option would be to avoid undergraduate advisers like the black plague.

 

[bjjpurplebelt]

Hey SDN, I've been going over threads as an unregistered user and had to make an account because every thread I've been to, every replier has been helpful/resourceful. But there are things that I tried to look for an haven't found it (so many threads lol). All I'm reading is retake courses/GREs in order to raise my cGPA and pGPA. As of now, I have a 2.3 pGPA and a 3.0 cGPA (pretty low, I know) 2nd year I slacked off because of unforeseen circumstances, (uncle's death, father going through cancer, work in order to help pay for college but I shouldn't use these an excuses for my lack of work). Down to the main point, I am about to graduate from UIC with a BS in Kinesiology and I'm wondering what are the chances of me getting into PT school? Will they even look at my application? I already logged in 100+ hrs in/outpatients and currently work as a PT/OT rehab aide at Rush Medical Center in Chicago, LOR from the top professors in my college. If I am unable to get into PT school (which I'm sure I won't first time around), what can I do in order to make myself a better candidate? Will retaking courses count towards my undergrad GPA or would it go towards a post-bacc GPA even though they are the same courses I took as an undergrad? This has been going through my head all day when my academic advisor essentially told me "do you have any other aspirations in a different line of work? because with these grades you sure won't be able to get into any PT schools" any help would be greatly appreciated.

Agreed on not taking the MA/MS program. Retake prerequisite courses that are bringing you down. Enjoy the if possible 🙂 and look for schools that looks t the last 60 credits for pGPA. Use the writing center to improve your essays and enjoy the ride. Getting into PT school is arguably harder than medical school. A lateral options would be Athletic Training/Chiropractic/Osteopathic Medicine.

Schools that look at last 60hrs
Central Arkansas
Arkansas State
Texas State
Texas Womens
North Texas
San Angelo
Missouri
Wichita State
North Florida
Central Florida
St. Augustine
Northern Illinois
Chicago

If you want it bad enough it doesn't matter if the process takes 1, 2, or more years. I had an Associates Degree from long ago take a four year degree pGPA from a 3.34 to a 2.98 because they were not combined on my transcripts (my GRE and knowledge of the field and experience are stellar). I applied to 7 schools (not on the list above) and only got onto 1 waitlist. My problem was I focused applications on the Western US and did not make the list above or focus on schools with interviews.

Hope this helps.