PT to med school?

[PlatinumBlue]

Hey SDN,

I’d appreciate some advice from you all. I am at the end of my first year of Physical Therapy school and during my progression through the program, I am becoming more and more sure that medicine is where I want to bring my career to. I was a less than competitive applicant for medical school after undergrad, but I was able to get into a DPT program and I am doing well! However, I can’t get rid of the passion and drive to go into medicine.

With limited access to shadowing these days, are there other opportunities you guys would advise getting involved in? I am confident that I could get involved in PT specific research, but I’m not sure if med schools would interpret that positively when applying to medical school.

I appreciate any advice!

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[Dral]

You may have to work on your grades depending on where they are. Also, you'd have to go through MCAT prep.

Shadowing opportunities are tough, but I'm guessing it will take a decent amount of time to get your grade catch up and MCAT prep done which will carry into hopefully a time when shadowing is more feasible.

I'm an MD, but maybe a DO could chime in to comment on if someone with your background may fit into the practice of OMM (ie, maybe be more attractive to DO schools). I'm just not familiar with it enough to know.

DO schools seem to do better with grade reinvention. I think things changed recently with grade replacement policies for them though. Again, I would need someone more familiar with DO programs to answer that.

I don't see why PT research wouldn't be good for admissions to med school. I think they'd like it.

 

[PlatinumBlue]

@Dral Thank you for the reply. You are correct, I am probably looking at a 2023 matriculation IF everything goes well down the line.

 

[deleted1085158]

The dean at my state school will look at your application and ask this question...

"Is this person running towards medicine or running away from something else."

I would go out on a limb and say you're at more of a disadvantage coming from another healthcare career because admissions will want to know why you chose PT and not medicine the first time around and now why are you leaving PT after having chosen it. How are they not to believe that you will stick around medicine?

At minimum, you need an MCAT score before even taking a decision like this seriously.

And no PT research will not help.

 

[PlatinumBlue]

The dean at my state school will look at your application and ask this question...

"Is this person running towards medicine or running away from something else."

I would go out on a limb and say you're at more of a disadvantage coming from another healthcare career because admissions will want to know why you chose PT and not medicine the first time around and now why are you leaving PT after having chosen it. How are they not to believe that you will stick around medicine?

At minimum, you need an MCAT score before even taking a decision like this seriously.

And no PT research will not help.

That's a good perspective. I'm definitely trying to display "running towards medicine" rather than away from PT. I know that there have been quite a few PT's that have successfully made this transition so I wonder if they were at a disadvantage during their application process. Thanks for the reply.

 

[deleted1085158]

That's a good perspective. I'm definitely trying to display "running towards medicine" rather than away from PT. I know that there have been quite a few PT's that have successfully made this transition so I wonder if they were at a disadvantage during their application process. Thanks for the reply.

They probably had good MCAT scores and very high GPA's like I alluded to earlier. You do not have an MCAT score so the comparison is not equal.

 

[Dral]

And no PT research will not help.

Bad advice. While it would be better to have absolute relevant research experience, I interview people for residency and fellowship positions and even we would find value in something like PT research. People have all kinds of research experiences. The more important thing (to me at least) is they had a meaningful part in it and they followed through with it. I remember one residency candidate from a few years back who had a research project about exercise sciences that we found valuable (and the specialty I work in has nothing to do with exercise science).

 

[Chardeemacdennis60]

The dean at my state school will look at your application and ask this question...

"Is this person running towards medicine or running away from something else."

I would go out on a limb and say you're at more of a disadvantage coming from another healthcare career because admissions will want to know why you chose PT and not medicine the first time around and now why are you leaving PT after having chosen it. How are they not to believe that you will stick around medicine?

At minimum, you need an MCAT score before even taking a decision like this seriously.

And no PT research will not help.

As someone who transitioned from a different healthcare career (nursing) to medicine (matriculating this August), I have a lot of disagreement with what you said. Are you a non-traditional student yourself? I do not know how you think you can make these claims and use them to tell someone that they are not able to pursue medical school. First off, I will say that having an alternative health care career aided me tremendously in the application cycle and interviews. You will be looked at as a mature individual that has made an educated and motivated decision from their career experience to pursue medicine. I was able to speak about why I chose my original field and how my experiences within this field motivated me to pursue a medical career, and this argument can be very convincing when compared to a typical pre-medical student's perspective.

"Is this person running towards medicine or running away from something else." You could make this claim about literally any premedical student while they are applying to medical school and it is erroneous to claim you know how a dean would respond.

Furthermore, the claim that you need the MCAT prior to taking this decision seriously and that PT research will not help are just egregiously incorrect. If you took a poll of every non-traditional student in this forum and asked if they had their MCAT score prior to deciding on pursuing medicine, I am willing to bet that nearly nobody would say yes. When you decide to change careers and pursue medicine you do so because you believe in yourself and you are driven to pursue your passion, you know that you can succeed. As I made the decision to apply, similar to any premedical student beginning college, I did not have a single credit of prereqs and certainly did not have my MCAT score. Also, of course PT research will help an application - why wouldn't it? Is this really different than most research experience pre-medical students list on their application? It indicates they have experience and an understanding for research methods.


With that being said, I think that there is no reason you could not pursue a medical education BUT do so after you graduate PT school and gain some work experience. Work for a year or so and then decide if the career is not right for you and if you still have a passion for medicine. I do not think it would be wise to apply to medical school straight from PT school, as I do not think you would be able to convince someone why the career wasn't right for you without any actual experience in the field.

PS: In one of my interviews this past cycle, I was interviewed by a medical student that... used to be a physical therapist.

 

[deleted1085158]

As someone who transitioned from a different healthcare career (nursing) to medicine (matriculating this August), I have a lot of disagreement with what you said. Are you a non-traditional student yourself? I do not know how you think you can make these claims and use them to tell someone that they are not able to pursue medical school. First off, I will say that having an alternative health care career aided me tremendously in the application cycle and interviews. You will be looked at as a mature individual that has made an educated and motivated decision from their career experience to pursue medicine. I was able to speak about why I chose my original field and how my experiences within this field motivated me to pursue a medical career, and this argument can be very convincing when compared to a typical pre-medical student's perspective.

"Is this person running towards medicine or running away from something else." You could make this claim about literally any premedical student while they are applying to medical school and it is erroneous to claim you know how a dean would respond.

Furthermore, the claim that you need the MCAT prior to taking this decision seriously and that PT research will not help are just egregiously incorrect. If you took a poll of every non-traditional student in this forum and asked if they had their MCAT score prior to deciding on pursuing medicine, I am willing to bet that nearly nobody would say yes. When you decide to change careers and pursue medicine you do so because you believe in yourself and you are driven to pursue your passion, you know that you can succeed. As I made the decision to apply, similar to any premedical student beginning college, I did not have a single credit of prereqs and certainly did not have my MCAT score. Also, of course PT research will help an application - why wouldn't it? Is this really different than most research experience pre-medical students list on their application? It indicates they have experience and an understanding for research methods.


With that being said, I think that there is no reason you could not pursue a medical education BUT do so after you graduate PT school and gain some work experience. Work for a year or so and then decide if the career is not right for you and if you still have a passion for medicine. I do not think it would be wise to apply to medical school straight from PT school, as I do not think you would be able to convince someone why the career wasn't right for you without any actual experience in the field.

PS: In one of my interviews this past cycle, I was interviewed by a medical student that... used to be a physical therapist.

Good for you. Just tell the OP not to apply to my state school and I guess we're all good then.

 

[PlatinumBlue]

As someone who transitioned from a different healthcare career (nursing) to medicine (matriculating this August), I have a lot of disagreement with what you said. Are you a non-traditional student yourself? I do not know how you think you can make these claims and use them to tell someone that they are not able to pursue medical school. First off, I will say that having an alternative health care career aided me tremendously in the application cycle and interviews. You will be looked at as a mature individual that has made an educated and motivated decision from their career experience to pursue medicine. I was able to speak about why I chose my original field and how my experiences within this field motivated me to pursue a medical career, and this argument can be very convincing when compared to a typical pre-medical student's perspective.

"Is this person running towards medicine or running away from something else." You could make this claim about literally any premedical student while they are applying to medical school and it is erroneous to claim you know how a dean would respond.

Furthermore, the claim that you need the MCAT prior to taking this decision seriously and that PT research will not help are just egregiously incorrect. If you took a poll of every non-traditional student in this forum and asked if they had their MCAT score prior to deciding on pursuing medicine, I am willing to bet that nearly nobody would say yes. When you decide to change careers and pursue medicine you do so because you believe in yourself and you are driven to pursue your passion, you know that you can succeed. As I made the decision to apply, similar to any premedical student beginning college, I did not have a single credit of prereqs and certainly did not have my MCAT score. Also, of course PT research will help an application - why wouldn't it? Is this really different than most research experience pre-medical students list on their application? It indicates they have experience and an understanding for research methods.


With that being said, I think that there is no reason you could not pursue a medical education BUT do so after you graduate PT school and gain some work experience. Work for a year or so and then decide if the career is not right for you and if you still have a passion for medicine. I do not think it would be wise to apply to medical school straight from PT school, as I do not think you would be able to convince someone why the career wasn't right for you without any actual experience in the field.

PS: In one of my interviews this past cycle, I was interviewed by a medical student that... used to be a physical therapist.

I appreciate the advice. Congrats on matriculating this August, that's really exciting. I think my timeline works out well to graduate, work for a while, and prep for the MCAT. I'm a couple years away, but this is pretty encouraging. Thanks!

 

[PlatinumBlue]

You may have to work on your grades depending on where they are. Also, you'd have to go through MCAT prep.

Shadowing opportunities are tough, but I'm guessing it will take a decent amount of time to get your grade catch up and MCAT prep done which will carry into hopefully a time when shadowing is more feasible.

I'm an MD, but maybe a DO could chime in to comment on if someone with your background may fit into the practice of OMM (ie, maybe be more attractive to DO schools). I'm just not familiar with it enough to know.

DO schools seem to do better with grade reinvention. I think things changed recently with grade replacement policies for them though. Again, I would need someone more familiar with DO programs to answer that.

I don't see why PT research wouldn't be good for admissions to med school. I think they'd like it.

Hello @Dral,
It took some time but I got access to my PT school application and PTCAS calculated my grades. I was hoping you had an idea whether or not this is a "rising trend" in your mind.

Freshman: 2.69
Sophomore: 2.85
Junior: 2.91
Senior: 3.25
Cum undergrad: 3.02
Science: 3.26
Post-Bacc: 3.55

I will be the first one to admit this is not impressive but it does look like it continually improved. Again.. I truly appreciate your time.

 

[Dral]

Hello @Dral,
It took some time but I got access to my PT school application and PTCAS calculated my grades. I was hoping you had an idea whether or not this is a "rising trend" in your mind.

Freshman: 2.69
Sophomore: 2.85
Junior: 2.91
Senior: 3.25
Cum undergrad: 3.02
Science: 3.26
Post-Bacc: 3.55

I will be the first one to admit this is not impressive but it does look like it continually improved. Again.. I truly appreciate your time.

It looks as if it is to me. One of the important points is that if you get interviews you can defend it as such. You can't change that part of your application at this point (without taking more courses). However, if you get an interview invite, you are in control of defending it that way. If you get an interview, I wouldn't bring it up yourself, but if asked about your grades you can discuss that your gpa sequentially increased for whatever reason applies (got used to studying, worked harder, etc).