Physical Therapy Assistant

[PrePTguy]

Hi, I was recently accepted into a Physical Therapy Assistant program. If I were to complete it and try to apply into a physical Therapy Program afterwards, would it also take three years to complete or would it be fewer?

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[abynormal]

I think yes, but google bridge programs which may be a hybrid program of in class and online. Below is what a quick google search resulted in:
http://shp.utmb.edu/PhysicalTherapy/BridgePTA-DPT.asp

 

[aroszko]

From what I have heard you would still do the three years unless you do some hybrid program like the above posted said. Mainly because every school does their curriculum in a slightly different order - there is no set schedule for all the 1st years in every program so it would be hard to fit a PTA in to certain PT programs as they could miss very big things. I would contact school that you are interested in and see what they say.

Also if its DPT you want apply for that because doing PTA you're gonna do 2 years of school then what in a few years apply for PT then its another 3 years, why not take a year or two now to get everything to apply right in to a DPT program if in the end you want to be a PT?

 

[ecbprept4]

Hey, my boyfriend is trying to do the same thing. He just got into a PTA program because he can't wait so long without a decent paycheck (nontraditional student). After being a PTA you will need to get a bachelor's degree in order to apply to a DPT program (even if it's a bridge program from pta) then you can go to a bridge program which is suited for pta's only (I believe there are two stated on apta that have a bridge program) if not you will not be able to skip classes in another program because most programs take student's as a cohort so they take every class together and the structure of courses may be different than from pta program

 

[PrePTguy]

Thank you. I will look into the bridge program.