PTCAS Application Questions

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hopefulngratefulDPT

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1. Hi! So I'm at the part where you assign pre-req courses for each school you're applying to. However, I'm a bit confused on which courses you can enter.

For example, for a "Psychology" prereq, should I select every Psychology course I've ever taken (Abnormal, Developmental, Exercise Psych, etc.)? Or can I just select a psych course that meets the requirement but I have an A in?

So if it asks for two Psych courses, can I list the two psych courses I have As in and will PTCAS/the school count that as my pre-req GPA instead of counting a psych course where I might have a B in?

2. Some of the schools I'm applying to have supplemental essay questions. Most of them say in the prompt that it's a max of 500 words (for example), however, the box available has a 500 character limit. What should I do? Because 500 characters is definitely a lot less than 500 words, and I want to answer the question fully with the max given in the prompt.

3. Lastly, what do you *not* need completed before you can submit your PTCAS application? You don't need GRE scores, references, and observation hours all in before you e-submit right? As long as you pay for the whole PTCAS fee and have transcripts, etc. all in?

3a. On another note regarding that^, if I'm applying to say, 10 schools, do I have to pay the 500-something dollars up front? However, what if a school's minimum science GPA is 3.0, but I don't know what my exact PTCAS science GPA is until after I e-submit and get everything verified. Do I just have to sacrifice the $45 to apply to that school even before knowing if my science GPA meets the minimum?


Sorry for all the questions! I appreciate all the help/insight y'all can give!

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Good question that i would like to know as well.
Bump!
 
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I would list whatever you want within the requirements--they have access to your records and and can pick differently if they need to.

Stick to 500 characters no matter what the schools website may say- I ran into this issue with Alvernia last year, and PTCAS just wasn't equipped to take more than 500 characters, so I really had to concisely narrow my focus.

That's correct. But it won't be sent to schools without all that information complete.

And yes it's all upfront. It never hurts to submit to some schools, let everything get calculated, and then submit to more. And those schools may recalculate things themselves depending on retakes. You're still REALLY early in the game so you don't have anything to lose at this point.
 
I would list whatever you want within the requirements--they have access to your records and and can pick differently if they need to.

Stick to 500 characters no matter what the schools website may say- I ran into this issue with Alvernia last year, and PTCAS just wasn't equipped to take more than 500 characters, so I really had to concisely narrow my focus.

That's correct. But it won't be sent to schools without all that information complete.

And yes it's all upfront. It never hurts to submit to some schools, let everything get calculated, and then submit to more. And those schools may recalculate things themselves depending on retakes. You're still REALLY early in the game so you don't have anything to lose at this point.


Thank you so much for answering!
 
I just came across another question while filling out Experiences portion of PTCAS.

How in-depth should I be for the "Description/Key Responsibilities" part? Can I just list bullets like on a resume or should I type out the descriptions in paragraph form?
 
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I just came across another question while filling out Experiences portion of PTCAS.

How in-depth should I be for the "Description/Key Responsibilities" part? Can I just list bullets like on a resume or should I type out the descriptions in paragraph form?

Pretty sure I copied and pasted from my resume and then trimmed it down to meet the character requirements.
 
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Awesome thanks! You're the best! I wasn't sure if it was unprofessional to just leave it as bullets

I also condensed my material to fit the character requirement. I think it is more important that you provide the information you think is important rather than leave stuff out by writing a paragraph.
 
Just to offer a counter point about the character limit, I will provide my experience.

I just found out from Samuel Merritt, where I applied early deadline, that the 450-500 character limit for their supplemental essays was a mistake made by the PTCAS update. SMU is offering a 2 week extension to update the essays, but that means I need to update 5 supplemental essays. I need to change (3) 450 character essays into 1200 characters and (2) into 4500 characters. That's a huge difference! I'm stressing that I only have 2 weeks to update them all, especially since fall semester just started and my time is limited, but I will get it done. Sigh.

If there are low character limits for your schools' essays... you may want to call or email and make sure PTCAS has it correct. PTCAS may in fact have it wrong.

Don't get a call or email from the school(s) after you already submitted, thought you were done, then get stuck updating them last minute like me. :-/
 
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