Question about being a late applicant

[epicpt89]

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Hey whats up guys? So my dilemma is this. I kind of did pretty poor in undergrad (one of my topics is actually a sticky, go figure haha). I am back in school and a large portion of my chances of getting into Physical Therapy School would be relying on the schools that check out the last 60 credit hours.

My whole situation is that the last portion of those credit hrs will not be done until the end of the fall 2016 semester (I was going to apply for schools and try to get into the start of 2017). I really wanted to get into Physical Therapy School by then, but my question is, will being that late of an applicant almost destroy my chances? I do not want to hand in an early application and get denied knowing that I would still heavily rely on those last 15 credits I would take during that last fall semester.

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[Phyline]

What do you mean by "late of an applicant"? Anything submitted before the deadline isn't late.

You can have some prerequisites incomplete (but planned) when you send in your application. If you're aiming for fall 2017 entry, you can keep taking classes all through spring of 2017. Schools will tell you how many outstanding prerequisites they allow - it's usually 2-3, but do check. 15 credits is 5 classes? That's a lot. You probably can't have 5 outstanding prerequisites when you apply.

 

[epicpt89]

Thank you for your reply!

Yeah, by late I was mostly pertaining to applications that might not be passed the deadline, but I would assume that most classes would been filled by December (when I was going to apply)

All of my prereqs would be done by December 2016, however my whole thing is that in that specific fall semester, I would only be taking classes to raise my GPA , in part so those classes would be counted as my last 60 credit hours taken if that makes sense.

 

[Phyline]

You should research schools some more. There's rolling and non-rolling admissions. A school with non-rolling admissions usually holds interviews in January-February no matter the application deadline, and classes fill in April. All the posts you see right now on SDN about acceptances and interviews are probably schools with ridiculously early deadlines, early decision, or rolling. I, for example, won't hear until December if I even got an interview.

If you apply for Spring 2018 entry, that pushes your deadlines even further - might be worth looking into if you're scrambling to finish up the prerequisites.

Your best bet would be to email individual schools and let them know your plans. If you're only taking classes to raise your GPA, I'm assuming your PT prereqs are all done? You can indicate the classes as "in progress" and update your application in December (?) during Academic Update. This would boost your GPA.

 

[epicpt89]

fantastic! i will def look into talking to each individual school.

 

[epicpt89]

Hey I had a question for everyone. If I were to say have a GPA under a 3.0 by the time I applied, but would be banking on the fact I would have a 3.0 after the fall semester of next year.... do you think some schools would be me on like "in progress" sort of wait?

this was granted if everything else was strong.

 

[aroszko]

Hey I had a question for everyone. If I were to say have a GPA under a 3.0 by the time I applied, but would be banking on the fact I would have a 3.0 after the fall semester of next year.... do you think some schools would be me on like "in progress" sort of wait?

this was granted if everything else was strong.

There is no "banking on" with admission committees, if you don't have a 3.0 when you submit and thats the requirement, don't apply. Not trying to sound discouraging but they receive 100's of applications that DO meet all the requirements, why look at someone who MAY meet the requirement after all their course work is done when they have people that are well above a 3.0 and will most likely maintain that until PT class begin.

 

[starrsgirl]

Hey I had a question for everyone. If I were to say have a GPA under a 3.0 by the time I applied, but would be banking on the fact I would have a 3.0 after the fall semester of next year.... do you think some schools would be me on like "in progress" sort of wait?

this was granted if everything else was strong.

Do not apply if your GPA is not above a 3.0 (or whatever is required by that school) at the time of admissions. The schools can't count on your in progress classes. They will just see (i.e. a computer will "see") that you don't meet the minimum GPA and you will get rejected. I learned this lesson the hard way. From what you are saying, it sounds like you need to wait another cycle to apply or apply to schools that have January or later application deadlines so those fall classes would be in with grades. Sure, you can apply with incomplete pre reqs , but you sound like you NEED those pre reqs for the grade boost. Can you increase your # of classes for this spring and summer? I was in the same boat as you and I ended up double registering at 2 different schools in the summer to complete pre reqs before applying.

 

[tcpt]

There is no "banking on" with admission committees, if you don't have a 3.0 when you submit and thats the requirement, don't apply. Not trying to sound discouraging but they receive 100's of applications that DO meet all the requirements, why look at someone who MAY meet the requirement after all their course work is done when they have people that are well above a 3.0 and will most likely maintain that until PT class begin.

This is spot on. PTCAS recommendations are that applicants who do not meet a program requirements should not apply. Many applicants fail to heed this advice shouldn't end up surprised when they get denied. An applicant is either eligible, or ineligible based upon the minimum academic requirements of a program. Once the applicant is eligible, then the question becomes if they are competitive or not. Only a certain % of applicants who are eligible, are actually competitive.