Pre-PT and I have a lot of questions

[MJN55]

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Hi guys,

I am slowly approaching my junior year in college. I still feel so lost and confused when it comes to PT school and what I should be doing in undergrad in order to prepare myself to start PT school.

First off, I have noticed how hard it is to intern and or get volunteer opportunities within PT. Whenever I talk to my friends they are always talking about interning here or doing this with their major, and I feel like I have nothing to show for because It's so hard to "intern" somewhere. I just ended a volunteer opportunity at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. I got 24 hours out of that and I really enjoyed the acute/hospital setting! Every week I was excited to see what new patient or floor we got to work on. Are there any places I should be looking at to volunteer? Is volunteering important factor with PT admission? Temple Hospital was my first observation place and I can tell I really liked it. So any advice with where to look for more volunteer places would be helpful.

Secondly, GREs: I know I should start studying for them now since I will have to take them soon. Any recommendations on what books to study from or anything else. The only sciences I have taken thus far is Anatomy and phys 1 and biology 1. Would I need to take more sciences before taking the GREs? Would that help me perform better?

Thirdly, Any advice on studying for science classes? I try my best in school but sometimes that is not enough. Right now I have a 2.8 GPA and I am trying to get it up to a competitive level.

Any advice for a confused undergrad - pre-pt student is helpful.

I hope to hear from you guys!

 

[FTZ]

I think we can all relate to PT school applications being pretty daunting but you've got some time so don't freak out. So you have 24 hours of inpatient, that's a good start! Inpatient hours are hard to get where I live for some reason. When i needed hours I just cold called and emailed a ton of places in one day trying to set up some hours. I didn't know where to start and it seemed like a good idea. I would say it worked out. I got a bunch of replies for many different settings and saw different approaches to treatments; some good and some horribly bad. I talked about that experience in my personal statement too. I eventually landed on a spot that I meshed well with the PT's and whom I thought gave incredible care while also challenging me on my knowledge. I've stuck around this place for a long time now just volunteering a few hours a week. Some of the PT's there have put me in touch with muuuuuuccccchhhh better settings that I could have ever got on my own (neuro, peds, prosthetics ) and again, that only strengthens your application and puts you in touch with more people in the community.

As far as the GRE goes, I didn't do as well as I would have liked, mostly because I am awful at standardized test taking. I studied my face off and I used Kaplan. I liked their books and their class. I don't think I would have done as well as I did without their class though, that's a for sure.

Lastly, I would probably take more sciences. Have you not taken your chem series and physics series yet? Doing well in your science classes is not only a good way to boost your GPA but also a great way to boost your science and prereq GPA's. Schools also take into account those as well. I have a 2.91 cGPA in PTCAS but my prereq and science GPA are good, especially if you take an F and a D off from 6 years ago.

Also, don't forget extracurricular activities. These are important in your application as well and taken into consideration. Overall though, just take one thing at a time. With the amount of time you have to get things done you can definitely turn in a solid application by the time your cycle rolls around if you are slow and steady with getting some of these things done. That is all.

 

[DesertPT]

Outpatient observation hours are easily obtained by calling the clinic and asking to be an observer.

The GRE does not contain questions on science subjects. Please visit www.ets.org and inform yourself.

 

[MJN55]

I think we can all relate to PT school applications being pretty daunting but you've got some time so don't freak out. So you have 24 hours of inpatient, that's a good start! Inpatient hours are hard to get where I live for some reason. When i needed hours I just cold called and emailed a ton of places in one day trying to set up some hours. I didn't know where to start and it seemed like a good idea. I would say it worked out. I got a bunch of replies for many different settings and saw different approaches to treatments; some good and some horribly bad. I talked about that experience in my personal statement too. I eventually landed on a spot that I meshed well with the PT's and whom I thought gave incredible care while also challenging me on my knowledge. I've stuck around this place for a long time now just volunteering a few hours a week. Some of the PT's there have put me in touch with muuuuuuccccchhhh better settings that I could have ever got on my own (neuro, peds, prosthetics ) and again, that only strengthens your application and puts you in touch with more people in the community.

As far as the GRE goes, I didn't do as well as I would have liked, mostly because I am awful at standardized test taking. I studied my face off and I used Kaplan. I liked their books and their class. I don't think I would have done as well as I did without their class though, that's a for sure.

Lastly, I would probably take more sciences. Have you not taken your chem series and physics series yet? Doing well in your science classes is not only a good way to boost your GPA but also a great way to boost your science and prereq GPA's. Schools also take into account those as well. I have a 2.91 cGPA in PTCAS but my prereq and science GPA are good, especially if you take an F and a D off from 6 years ago.

Also, don't forget extracurricular activities. These are important in your application as well and taken into consideration. Overall though, just take one thing at a time. With the amount of time you have to get things done you can definitely turn in a solid application by the time your cycle rolls around if you are slow and steady with getting some of these things done. That is all.

 

[MJN55]

Hey, thank you so much for the insights. I will definitely try my best to do well in my chem and physic sequence classes to boost my GPA!