Physical Therapy

[Salkha]

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I'm currently a junior and became really interest in the Physical therapy field. I've played volleyball practically my whole life up until this year so I could focus on ACT's and school work. I practically have seen every injury and seen teammates go from tearing their ACL to being able to jump up and spike a ball. What Physical Therapists do is amazing and I hope to be one in the near future. I know that I will need a BS in a field and a Doctoral Degree as well.

I just have a few questions that could halt this decision, like I said I am interested in this field. Here's few of my problems and questions:

My Freshman and Sophomore year wasn't that good. Averaged B's both years and having C's in math both those years. I've used the excuse that volleyball was to blame but it wasn't all. Junior year I decided to make a good decision on not doing volleyball in terms of colleges look at junior year. I have straight A's and am working my butt off but here's the thing, I didn't take any AP classes. My GPA is decent it's a 4.3 on a 5 point. Would this all affect how undergrads will deteremine my acceptence? BTW I got a 23 on my ACT (still working on bringing it up)

Senior year I will be taking AP Bio and AP Calc. Do physical therapy majors like to see AP Stats or AP Calc?

My high school history I know will only matter to my undergraduate school which I intend on majoring in Exercise Science. Do Physical Therapy schools rather have their students do Pre-Physical therapy since that has all the requirements or will the discriminate against those who have an Exercise Science BS? (I will probably have to take classes at a junior college to meet the requirements of a PT school) Also do they offer scholarships in PT schools ($30,000 a year 😱)

In PT school's is that when you specialize in a deep field? (Sports injuries, basic PT, ect)

And lastly, how is the career going to look like within coming years? I know Physical Therapy is one of those medical fields that you do not need to go to med school for and the pay is good. Just wondering if there is any professionals in this field or students still working their ways towards their degree can help! Thanks

Sorry the questions were so unorganized just my junior year is ticking down I would like to know if Physical Therapy is a good field

 

[SteinmetzMD]

Try asking this in the Pre-PT forum a little further down, we don't know much about that stuff here lol 👍

 

[skiflutept]

If you are applying to PT school from as an undergrad, the schools will not care about what you did in college. If you are applying to a combined BS/DPT program as a high school student, then the schools will look at your high school GPA, extracurriculars, etc.

What I mean by combined PT program is either a 6 or 7 year program where you are accepted into the graduate portion and undergraduate portion at the same time. These programs have a GPA requirement that you need to maintain (its usually a 3.0). If you maintain the GPA for your entire undergrad career, you get to move on into the professional phase without applying or taking the GRE's. I just finished my freshman year in the PT program at the University of Hartford in Connecticut.

PT is a competitive program so just because you meet the admissions requirements doesn't mean you'll get in. They accept the most qualified applicants. I feel like getting into the type of program that I am in is easier than getting into PT school after you get your bachelors. Here's why. From the schools that I applied to, they usually got between 400 and 500 applicants for the program. They accept between 70 and 100 depending on the school. They want you to have at least an 1100 on the SAT (550 CR, 550 Math) or a 24 on the SAT, honors classes (especially math and science), B+/ A average, good amount of extracurriculars, and observation hours (most schools want them but the amount of hours differs). For applying when you have your bachelors, the programs get way more than 500 applicants, and accept no more than 60 students. For your application to even be considered, you need to have at least a 3.3 GPA, to have good shot at getting in, a 3.5, and to be pretty sure, a 3.8. I don't know about GRE's. This is just what I learned while looking at colleges.

I wouldn't get discouraged by not having stellar grades your freshmen and sophomore year, but it doesn't help you either. I got a 1070 on my SAT and a 23 on my ACT and I still got into 3 programs, one of which is one of the best in the country (Ithaca College). Here are the rest of my stats from HS:

3.7 unweighted GPA at the end of junior year, my average for 5 core courses: 89 Rank:40/284
1660 SAT (CR-550 Math-520 Writing-590), ACT-23
I took honors English all 4 years of high school (A's frosh/soph, B junior & 1st marking period senior year)
Honors history frosh(A+)/soph(B)
AP US History junior year(B)
Lab Anatomy and Physiology Honors (A 1st marking period senior year)
The rest of my classes were regular classes but I got mostly A's with 1 or 2 B's in there.
I took Spanish through Spanish 4 and got A's (in 4 I got B's)
Band was my elective all four years.
1st marking period of senior year I got 5 A's and 2 B's. I tookEnglish 4 Honors, Pre-Calc, Lab A&P Honors, Psych, Law for Business, Band, Gym, and Lunch.

I did concert band, jazz band, pit band, and community band. I was in National Honor Society and I did Academic Challenge. I been babysat for twin girls since they were 2, and my next door neighbors who are adopted from China.

I was the music librarian for my HS band sophomore and junior year and a section leader senior year. I always made honor roll or high honor roll and I was student of the month my sophomore year. I had a lot of observation hours (way way way more than I needed to have): 426 in outpatient orthopedics, 15 in sub-acute, and 6 in pediatrics. I think what really helped me get accepted to programs where my excess hours, and the fact that I had great letters of rec from a PT and my guidance counselor and I also wrote an awesome essay. Schools look for upwards trends in grades and you have that. As a back up I applied to a couple of exercise science programs. If you don't get accepted into a combined program, go for exercise science and get good grades and you could still be a PT.

Good luck with everything and if you have any questions, feel free to ask me! 🙂