Pursue DPT or PTA

[Yellow_lily_Co]

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Hey guys. I'm currently still in my undergrad program. I have one semester left and am trying to decide whether or not to pursue PT school or go into a PTA program. My dilemma with PT school is that I'm honestly not sure if I can afford it. I will need to get loans but I have already had a lot of trouble getting them in my undergrad because I don't have any credit built up and no one to cosign for me. So, if this is still the case for grad school, I'll have to apply for a lot of scholarships. After looking into it and reading some of the forums on here on the subject, it seems that applying for scholarships for PT school will be a tedious process. So the way I see it right now is that I will have to apply for PT schools and apply for scholarships on top of finishing school and working multiple part time jobs. My advisor suggested PTA because it will be cheaper and shorter for me in the long run. Salary isn't much if a deciding factor for me since either job will have me making much more than I do now and I'm pretty comfortable. I was wondering if anyone has any insight on both options or any personal stories on choosing one or the other. I don't know as much about PTA. Is it as rewarding as being a PT? Are there any suggestions for scholarships (outside of the forums posted already)? I'm willing to hear any insight to help me work through this decision.

 

[UpDownPT]

Hey guys. I'm currently still in my undergrad program. I have one semester left and am trying to decide whether or not to pursue PT school or go into a PTA program. My dilemma with PT school is that I'm honestly not sure if I can afford it. I will need to get loans but I have already had a lot of trouble getting them in my undergrad because I don't have any credit built up and no one to cosign for me. So, if this is still the case for grad school, I'll have to apply for a lot of scholarships. After looking into it and reading some of the forums on here on the subject, it seems that applying for scholarships for PT school will be a tedious process. So the way I see it right now is that I will have to apply for PT schools and apply for scholarships on top of finishing school and working multiple part time jobs. My advisor suggested PTA because it will be cheaper and shorter for me in the long run. Salary isn't much if a deciding factor for me since either job will have me making much more than I do now and I'm pretty comfortable. I was wondering if anyone has any insight on both options or any personal stories on choosing one or the other. I don't know as much about PTA. Is it as rewarding as being a PT? Are there any suggestions for scholarships (outside of the forums posted already)? I'm willing to hear any insight to help me work through this decision.

If you took out loans for PT school your salary would be almost equal to PTA for the first 10 years.

You may consider just saving money for a few years and cash paying for PT school.

 

[low5059]

Loans work differently at the graduate level. On the FAFSA, parental information isn't required (and with those loans you can get up to $20,500 a year), and I don't believe Grad Plus loans are too difficult to get. I essentially had no credit score other than my undergrad loans & could get approved. Maybe private lenders would be an issue, but I haven't looked into that too much.

 

[Dinked]

Loans work differently at the graduate level. On the FAFSA, parental information isn't required (and with those loans you can get up to $20,500 a year), and I don't believe Grad Plus loans are too difficult to get. I essentially had no credit score other than my undergrad loans & could get approved. Maybe private lenders would be an issue, but I haven't looked into that too much.

What's the interest rate now a days?

 

[nd_dpt]

Loans aren't difficult to get in grad school. Like someone above said, I can guarantee that you'll receive $20,500 a year in federal loans. You can look into applying to programs with annual tuition in that range. PTAs work under a PT, so they're not diagnosing injuries, performing initial evaluations, or creating a plan of care for a patient. They basically help carry out the plan of care for a patient by taking them through exercises, stretching them, etc. You have to decide how much you want to be involved in the rehabilitation process.

 

[Weirdy]

What's the interest rate now a days?

6.8%