PT school advice!

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FuturePT321

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Hello everybody,

I have a curious question that maybe someone can answer for me. My ultimate focus in the end it to get my doctrine in PT. I am in college and I am one semester away from completing my AA. I was told from there, I have two options on what I could do to enter graduate school.

First route, I can go get my exercise science degree and then apply for PT school which I heard GPA needs to be very high as well as test scores.

Second route (Easy route), I was told for money saving purposes and even not as much stress on high GPA, would be to go straight into a PTA program and from there once complete it, I can just transfer into a PT program with the downfall that it takes about half a year longer to complete in total.

Is this true? Is it a smart option to take? How does it really work?

Thank you in advance! 🙂
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I am worried I may have been in the wrong program for the past 12 months: after 3 years, I won't get a "doctrine" in PT...

Seriously, OP - do some research. There is no "bridge program" for a PTA to get a DPT. Even if you've been a PTA for years, you still have to start over from scratch, for a DPT. And I would advise against getting an Exercise Sc. degree: it's not very marketable, should you change your mind and not want to go into PT any more.
 
Ya and don't get a biology or psychology degree if you're not going to go to grad school either lol...

But either way if you can find a way to get into PT without a bachelor's degree, please share....or else maybe become a pharmacist haha
 
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I saw that on CAPTE too...but you still need a bachelor's degree to be eligible...and it seems like it would take a long time if it's only weekends...
 
I would get the biology degree because it's so versatile, but as the OP said, a bachelor's in biology is not marketable. You would need a master's degree to find work in that field. However, very few bachelor's degrees are worth anything anymore, and no matter what you major in, you're going to need a graduate degree to get a decent job.

DO NOT get a degree in exercise science. It's basically a pre-PT degree. If you decide to go into something other than PT, then it will be a complete waste. You will be an expensive and broke personal trainer.

A biology degree, OTOH, includes the pre-requisites for many health sciences, so if you choose not to go into PT, then you have other options.

Kevin
 
FuturePT321, have you considered a 3+3 program? It's competitive but it could be worth it. Just a thought
 
knj27 said:
I saw that on CAPTE too...but you still need a bachelor's degree to be eligible...and it seems like it would take a long time if it's only weekends...
Click to expand...

Agreed. The only advantage is the schedule and the same prerequisites apply. It's not a true 'bridge' program.
 
Azimuthal said:
Agreed. The only advantage is the schedule and the same prerequisites apply. It's not a true 'bridge' program.
Click to expand...

You're right, it's really not...it's just being called that because you can take it on weekends only...which you would only do if you were working full time, most likely as a PTA.
 
I don't get why people go around posting these threads and then never reply back...this one seemed like it would be one of those from the beginning though...
 
My advice is not to go the PTA route if your ultimate goal is DPT. Ive never heard of transfering from PTA to PT school. Your safest bet is get your bachelors and apply to school. Although getting into school is competitive if I got in with a 3.2 gpa and 1100 on my GRE i think anyone can. Focus on doing well on your sciences and accumulating a good amount of hours in different settings. trust me once your in school and graduate with that DPT it is very gratifying. Good luck
 
Thank you for all the information! I really appreciate it, I'm going to look into it more in depth so I don't make a decision that isn't smart!
 
knj27 said:
Ya and don't get a biology or psychology degree if you're not going to go to grad school either lol...

But either way if you can find a way to get into PT without a bachelor's degree, please share....or else maybe become a pharmacist haha
Click to expand...

I am currently in a PT program without a Bachelor's degree 🙂 There are many: UND, UNMC, Creighton, St. Ambrose (midwest schools)

Just FYI 🙂
 
futurePT16 said:
I am currently in a PT program without a Bachelor's degree 🙂 There are many: UND, UNMC, Creighton, St. Ambrose (midwest schools)

Just FYI 🙂
Click to expand...

That's surprising as I applied to St. Ambrose a few years ago and didn't know that people could do that. Did you enter the program as a high school senior (or equivalent) or did you jump right into the three years of graduate school?
 
1.Yes you would save a little bit of money going to the PTA program, depending on whether you applied in or out of state, but the low stress on the GPA part is anything but.

2. I graduated class of 2012 from NOVA, and I'll tell you that they make you work your behind off to maintain your grades. I had people in my class with masters degrees who admitted that the program was quite rigorous. Also, if you do poorly in PTA school to begin with, you might have shot down your chances of DPT school. "IF" you do poorly in the PTA program, The admissions committee might look at you as a weak candidate for PT school seeing as it is much more rigorous than PTA school. But then again it might weigh in your favor as well if you do good seeing as you will have been practicing alongside DPT's and will have some experience in the field of physical therapy

3. Your counselor should not be advising. Having a PTA degree does not allow you to transfer directly into PT school, ask her where she heard that?
Any PT program you apply to now-days requires that you must have a Bachelors as a prerequisite requirement. MAJORITY OF SCHOOLS DO NOT CARE WHAT YOUR BACHELORS DEGREE MAJOR IS. THE BEST WAY TO FIND OUT IS TO VISIT THE WEBSITE OF THE ACTUAL SCHOOLS YOU WANT TO APPLY TO. HOWEVER, THERE ARE SOME SCHOOLS THAT WANT YOU TO HAVE A SPECIFIC BACHELORS DEGREE SUCH AS VCU; they want you to have a BA or BS. YOU ALSO NEED LOOK AT THE PRE-REQUISITE COURSES EACH SCHOOL REQUIRES, AS THEY MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY. USUALLY A BACHELORS IN BIOLOGY OR A BACHELORS IN SCIENCE COVERS ALL THE PRE-REQS FOR JUST ABOUT ALL ALLIED HEALTH GRADUATE PROGRAMS. I myself am thinking about doing DPT after having been practicing for about a year. I have been looking at multiple schools and have been doing some research. I have came to the conclusion that in fact I will be starting from scratch to acquire my bachelors degree unless I transfer somewhere that they plug my PTA degree into a four year bachelors degree (which is rare).

4.The PTA degree is an AAS degree, meaning that its purpose is to get you a job as soon as you graduate, not help you transfer to another institute, or program, in your case the DPT program.

5. Another good way to see what bachelors degree will be a good option is to look at the faculty teaching the DPT program at your selected school. Look to see if there is a trend in the bachelors degree acquired by all the teaching faculty. For example: I was looking at Marymount university for DPT school and realized that each one of the teaching faculty (all DPT's) had a BS (Bachelors in Science), every single one of them. I think that speaks volumes, well in my opinion.


Hope this helps
 
I have a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and a 3.0 undergrad GPA (with a 3.8 prerequisite GPA) and I got into 4/5 DPT programs that I applied to. Your undergrad degree is only a small part of presenting yourself to these programs. That being said, as others have mentioned, exercise science may not be the best major if you decide along the way that you want to do anything other than become a PT. If you are really into exercise itself, consider a bachelors degree in athletic training, which will make you marketable in itself, or will make you that much more desirable as a PT who is also an AT.
 
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