PTCAS & Competition

[TopShelf85]

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What type of impact has the PTCAS had on the DPT application pool? Since it's much easier to apply to several schools, do you think the applicant volume has grown significantly? I know the amount of spots is kept artificially low around 40 per program and the numbers of applicants have grown.

Is this trend of applicant volume growth expected to continue from the PTCAS?

 

[iseidthat]

What type of impact has the PTCAS had on the DPT application pool? Since it's much easier to apply to several schools, do you think the applicant volume has grown significantly? I know the amount of spots is kept artificially low around 40 per program and the numbers of applicants have grown.

Is this trend of applicant volume growth expected to continue from the PTCAS?

I actually asked some admissions people this question. Yes, volume has grown immensely. When I toured Chapman, the guy said that they received around 8,000 apps last cycle. HOWEVER, he also said that many people don't understand that they have to meet all the minimums (eg. you can't "even out" your apps by making up for low GPA with a super high GRE) and so around half of the apps are automatically weeded out. PTCAS has made applying faster and more convenient since applicants can apply to as many schools as they want. You have to also consider that many people will be accepted by more than one school, so being wait-listed isn't necessarily a bad thing as well.

On another note. It is good that class sizes stay small. Not only for education and student/teacher interaction, but also for the professional field. My best friend is a pharm school student and his class size is around 100. He said that some schools have classes as big as 300...so they are pumping out pharmacists, which consequently is making jobs more scarce and may eventually lower average salary. Hopefully that doesn't happen to DPTs. The largest class size I know of is USC's. Well thats my understanding of it all.

 

[TopShelf85]

It won't matter. The ACA is already making it harder for Doctors to collect on their reimbursements from multiple third parties and Medicare. Many Doctors are leaving the medical field altogether since they can no longer sustain a profitable practice. It's gotten to the point where no area in the medical field is exempt from the market externalities.

This does not mean PT's and practitioners cannot make a living... it means moving forward it'll be more difficult to monetize.