- Joined
- Jul 19, 2017
- Messages
- 2
- Reaction score
- 2
Hi all, I'll start with posting my stats and then explaining how I found myself here.
University: University of Minnesota
Major: Biochemistry
Overall GPA: 3.96
Pre-Req GPA: ~3.9-4.0 (Unsure exactly)
GRE: Not taken yet
Extra-Curric: Transfer student government, IM sports, undergrad research
Volunteer: Only 16 (and counting) in inpatient PT clinics, probably around 150 in other healthcare settings, Big Brother Big Sister
I'll try to keep this brief and get to the questions. So basically, I went through college on the pre-med route, having taken the MCAT and even applied for med school twice (technically, I have yet to be rejected, but I've already made my decision even if a spot does open up very last second in the next couple weeks). I never really got exposure to physical therapy until late/post-college, and the more I interacted with it as a patient, the more I realized it's a side of health care that I really enjoyed and maybe connected more with. So basically for the better part of the last year, I've been mulling over whether to take another crack at what I have been working towards for years or to change course pretty significantly and pursue something I might end up enjoying to a much greater extent. It was only recently that I decided to commit fully to PT, hence the lack of GRE and the low number of PT specific volunteer hours. Because of where I'm at with the two noted application requirements, a couple pre-reqs I have to complete, and the rolling admissions nature of most schools, I'm not planning on applying until next year, meaning I'm in no rush yet, but it's better to find out potential obstacles now than a month before applying. I guess the point of this all is to say, I'm new to pre-PT and have some questions regarding preparing to apply. A theme to follow may be how I am ignorant to the differences between applying for MD schools and applying for PT schools.
1) State residency requirements: For public medical schools, not only was there a (slightly) lower tuition for in-state residents than out-of-state residents, but unless you were an extremely impressive applicant, public medical schools showed such a huge bias for in-state residents that if you were out-state your odds were slim to none. Do we find similar trends in the acceptance rates for public PT schools?
2) Volunteering requirement: Based on my cursory glances at a few different schools thus far, it seems like a lot of them require a minimum of right around 100 hours of volunteering in a PT setting. Obviously, getting up to 100 or 101 hours and abruptly calling it quits on volunteering/shadowing might reflect poorly that I'm willing to do the bare minimum, but is this a situation where technically the minimum is 100 but to realistically be competitive I'd need to be more around 250? How specific are those volunteer hour minimums?
3) Best use of my time: Since graduating, I've been working at a breast cancer research position at my alma mater. I enjoy it because it's pretty flexible scheduling which allows me to take classes and volunteer as needed, as a university employee it gives me discounted tuition, I've gotten to learn a lot about cancer research as the field currently stands, and it's generally a fun job. However, I can't help but wonder if admissions committees are going to look at this as time that would be better served doing something more closely related to PT. While I enjoy this job, it is not something I want to do long-term and have no interest in obtaining a PhD, as this job would be best suited towards. This may seem like a stupid question, but would this hurt me in some way?
4) Additional volunteering: As stated above, I have a pretty decent chunk of volunteer hours in health care settings, just very little that are directly related to PT. The closest thing I have is 24 hours volunteering in a fitness center at a hospital that could be maybe loosely be associated with PT, though I never personally worked directly with one. Will schools care about all of these other hours at all, or should I just consider those as maybe a side piece as something to throw in, but not really highlight?
5) DPT statistics database: For med schools, there is the MSAR database, which you can basically use to look up a bunch of different admissions statistics for all the different schools. Is there any equivalent for PT schools that I should know of? I feel like if there is something out there, that could go a long way to answering any additional questions that come to mind.
Sorry for the mounds of text, especially for some questions that I am sure have been asked and answered here before, but I am new to both this career and this forum and need to learn to navigate both. Thanks for any advice anyone provides!
University: University of Minnesota
Major: Biochemistry
Overall GPA: 3.96
Pre-Req GPA: ~3.9-4.0 (Unsure exactly)
GRE: Not taken yet
Extra-Curric: Transfer student government, IM sports, undergrad research
Volunteer: Only 16 (and counting) in inpatient PT clinics, probably around 150 in other healthcare settings, Big Brother Big Sister
I'll try to keep this brief and get to the questions. So basically, I went through college on the pre-med route, having taken the MCAT and even applied for med school twice (technically, I have yet to be rejected, but I've already made my decision even if a spot does open up very last second in the next couple weeks). I never really got exposure to physical therapy until late/post-college, and the more I interacted with it as a patient, the more I realized it's a side of health care that I really enjoyed and maybe connected more with. So basically for the better part of the last year, I've been mulling over whether to take another crack at what I have been working towards for years or to change course pretty significantly and pursue something I might end up enjoying to a much greater extent. It was only recently that I decided to commit fully to PT, hence the lack of GRE and the low number of PT specific volunteer hours. Because of where I'm at with the two noted application requirements, a couple pre-reqs I have to complete, and the rolling admissions nature of most schools, I'm not planning on applying until next year, meaning I'm in no rush yet, but it's better to find out potential obstacles now than a month before applying. I guess the point of this all is to say, I'm new to pre-PT and have some questions regarding preparing to apply. A theme to follow may be how I am ignorant to the differences between applying for MD schools and applying for PT schools.
1) State residency requirements: For public medical schools, not only was there a (slightly) lower tuition for in-state residents than out-of-state residents, but unless you were an extremely impressive applicant, public medical schools showed such a huge bias for in-state residents that if you were out-state your odds were slim to none. Do we find similar trends in the acceptance rates for public PT schools?
2) Volunteering requirement: Based on my cursory glances at a few different schools thus far, it seems like a lot of them require a minimum of right around 100 hours of volunteering in a PT setting. Obviously, getting up to 100 or 101 hours and abruptly calling it quits on volunteering/shadowing might reflect poorly that I'm willing to do the bare minimum, but is this a situation where technically the minimum is 100 but to realistically be competitive I'd need to be more around 250? How specific are those volunteer hour minimums?
3) Best use of my time: Since graduating, I've been working at a breast cancer research position at my alma mater. I enjoy it because it's pretty flexible scheduling which allows me to take classes and volunteer as needed, as a university employee it gives me discounted tuition, I've gotten to learn a lot about cancer research as the field currently stands, and it's generally a fun job. However, I can't help but wonder if admissions committees are going to look at this as time that would be better served doing something more closely related to PT. While I enjoy this job, it is not something I want to do long-term and have no interest in obtaining a PhD, as this job would be best suited towards. This may seem like a stupid question, but would this hurt me in some way?
4) Additional volunteering: As stated above, I have a pretty decent chunk of volunteer hours in health care settings, just very little that are directly related to PT. The closest thing I have is 24 hours volunteering in a fitness center at a hospital that could be maybe loosely be associated with PT, though I never personally worked directly with one. Will schools care about all of these other hours at all, or should I just consider those as maybe a side piece as something to throw in, but not really highlight?
5) DPT statistics database: For med schools, there is the MSAR database, which you can basically use to look up a bunch of different admissions statistics for all the different schools. Is there any equivalent for PT schools that I should know of? I feel like if there is something out there, that could go a long way to answering any additional questions that come to mind.
Sorry for the mounds of text, especially for some questions that I am sure have been asked and answered here before, but I am new to both this career and this forum and need to learn to navigate both. Thanks for any advice anyone provides!
