I am a 2017 graduate with my Bachelors degree in Kinesiology. For the past year and a half, I have been working as a rehabilitation technician with ATI Physical Therapy. I am extremely interested in Physical Therapy and would like to continue my development in that field. However, during my senior year of college, I was diagnosed with a learning disability.
While in college, I enjoyed learning about Exercise Science, but I and some professors noticed I was not learning like everyone else. Before I was diagnosed, I was persistent and continued to retake classes to try to improve my marks so I could one day, become a Physical Therapist.
Since graduating in 2017, I have spent my time working between 35-45 hours weekly in a clinic with a wonderful staff. At the clinic, I was eager to learn and create relationships with our clients. While outside of the clinic, I was spending my time assessing how my brain works and how I retain information.
I accomplished this with the help of therapist and psychiatrists. I was preparing myself to retake classes. I was put into contact with an extremely helpful director of the DPT program. She was working with me to determine which classes I should retake. However, they noticed that I exceeded the amount of retakes allowed during my undergraduate time. Pennsylvania has a retake limit as a requirement to apply to DPT programs, and by law DPT programs in PA aren't able to look at my application. With this information we realized there wasn't much more guidance she could provide me. From there, I connected with the disability center at that university and had a meeting with their director. Their disabilities director was very nice and sympathetic but unfortunately, was unable to give me a next step in my journey. After this I got in contact with numerous other professionals in the DPT and disabilities field. I spoke with the PT licensing board of PA, persons who help individuals with learning disabilities get into graduate programs, and working PTs (& many others). I even discussed with an out of state school about their Post Bacc program but they told me I did not fit the criteria to apply. The most helpful advice was to look into policies and laws in other states to see if they also have this retake requirement. I have tried to find and hire a lawyer (had meetings with 9 different companies) to help me go over the laws and requirements of the 49 other states but have been unsuccessful with finding someone to take on the "case". I have recently found out that some schools will look primarily at the last 60 credits, but I do not know if these schools have retake limits. I will be contacting them soon. I have unfortunately hit a wall.
This leads me here. I understand I am not the ideal or typical applicant, but I have a lot of passion and love for the Physical Therapy community. I cannot picture myself doing any other profession and I am not willing to give up. I am more than willing to prove my growth since being diagnosed. This will be a lot of hard work, but I am determined and ready to overcome any hurdle that comes my way in order to succeed.
I am reaching out to see if there is anyone who may have had a similar issue or any advice on what to do next. If there is anyone who knows of schools that do not have a retake limit as an application requirement I would appreciate those suggestions. Thank you for your time!
While in college, I enjoyed learning about Exercise Science, but I and some professors noticed I was not learning like everyone else. Before I was diagnosed, I was persistent and continued to retake classes to try to improve my marks so I could one day, become a Physical Therapist.
Since graduating in 2017, I have spent my time working between 35-45 hours weekly in a clinic with a wonderful staff. At the clinic, I was eager to learn and create relationships with our clients. While outside of the clinic, I was spending my time assessing how my brain works and how I retain information.
I accomplished this with the help of therapist and psychiatrists. I was preparing myself to retake classes. I was put into contact with an extremely helpful director of the DPT program. She was working with me to determine which classes I should retake. However, they noticed that I exceeded the amount of retakes allowed during my undergraduate time. Pennsylvania has a retake limit as a requirement to apply to DPT programs, and by law DPT programs in PA aren't able to look at my application. With this information we realized there wasn't much more guidance she could provide me. From there, I connected with the disability center at that university and had a meeting with their director. Their disabilities director was very nice and sympathetic but unfortunately, was unable to give me a next step in my journey. After this I got in contact with numerous other professionals in the DPT and disabilities field. I spoke with the PT licensing board of PA, persons who help individuals with learning disabilities get into graduate programs, and working PTs (& many others). I even discussed with an out of state school about their Post Bacc program but they told me I did not fit the criteria to apply. The most helpful advice was to look into policies and laws in other states to see if they also have this retake requirement. I have tried to find and hire a lawyer (had meetings with 9 different companies) to help me go over the laws and requirements of the 49 other states but have been unsuccessful with finding someone to take on the "case". I have recently found out that some schools will look primarily at the last 60 credits, but I do not know if these schools have retake limits. I will be contacting them soon. I have unfortunately hit a wall.
This leads me here. I understand I am not the ideal or typical applicant, but I have a lot of passion and love for the Physical Therapy community. I cannot picture myself doing any other profession and I am not willing to give up. I am more than willing to prove my growth since being diagnosed. This will be a lot of hard work, but I am determined and ready to overcome any hurdle that comes my way in order to succeed.
I am reaching out to see if there is anyone who may have had a similar issue or any advice on what to do next. If there is anyone who knows of schools that do not have a retake limit as an application requirement I would appreciate those suggestions. Thank you for your time!
