I'm getting ready to register for my senior year and I was just wondering if anyone had any idea of courses (outside of prerequisites) that would be recommended/look good for PT school? Thanks!
Recommended courses?
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Speech, biochemistry, microbiology, exercise physiology, med terminogy .. Some of these are required by programs though ... I bet any upper division science and/or math class would look good as long as u get an A
I really enjoyed cell biology and immunology, among many other bio classes. That's a lot of studying for not a lot of bang for your buck as far as admissions chances go though, and those classes were part of my major. And I just really like biology in general. I feel like all my upper division bio classes provided me with a lot of really good knowledge, but not critical for passing pt school. I also took an upper division quantitative physiology class which I feel has been helpful. I think immunology was honsestly the best pt school prep class I took simply because the pace and volume of the material was more on par with pt school. But I wouldn't necessarily recommend taking anything that will be likely to damage your gpa.
Honestly the pre reqs are the only thing the schools super care about...some are starting to look more at your schedule and evaluate academic rigor as part of your application, but I don't know that most schools do that. You could certainly call each schools you are applying to and ask. I would just call them up and ask if there are any classes they recommend or not.
Honestly the pre reqs are the only thing the schools super care about...some are starting to look more at your schedule and evaluate academic rigor as part of your application, but I don't know that most schools do that. You could certainly call each schools you are applying to and ask. I would just call them up and ask if there are any classes they recommend or not.
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@coach_T : what is your major?
Assuming you are an Exercise Physiology/Kinesiology major or anything closely related to it: I would recommend these courses within the field (these may or may not be required for you to graduate)
- Adaptive Therapeutic Exercise
- Biomechanics (this will give you a solid foundation of understanding Arthrokinematics) - if there is a senior level course for this, make sure to take it!
- Introduction to Athletic Training: will provide you some basic insight on some fundamental concepts of therapeutic exercise
- Medical Terminology: will give you good insight into how to break up some of those longer med terms you may not be familiar with, and you can use this to provide you some assistance in your Pathophysiology class
Assuming you are an Exercise Physiology/Kinesiology major or anything closely related to it: I would recommend these courses within the field (these may or may not be required for you to graduate)
- Adaptive Therapeutic Exercise
- Biomechanics (this will give you a solid foundation of understanding Arthrokinematics) - if there is a senior level course for this, make sure to take it!
- Introduction to Athletic Training: will provide you some basic insight on some fundamental concepts of therapeutic exercise
- Medical Terminology: will give you good insight into how to break up some of those longer med terms you may not be familiar with, and you can use this to provide you some assistance in your Pathophysiology class
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I would definitely take Exercise Physiology, Abnormal Psychology, and Medical Terminology. They aren't prerequisites at all schools, but I definitely ran across a few that required them. I also think they would be beneficial to an aspiring PT.
Pathophysiology, Pharmacology.
Even though I would never want to be a Psychologist, I found many of my Psyc classes to be very interesting. I think many of the things I learned will be helpful and carry over to PT. I took Psyc of Learning, Sensation and Perception, Intro to Neuroscience, Physiological Psyc, Research Methods, and a few others.
In general, if you want to be a PT, try to take classes that interest you and might also help you become a better PT.
Pathophysiology, Pharmacology.
Even though I would never want to be a Psychologist, I found many of my Psyc classes to be very interesting. I think many of the things I learned will be helpful and carry over to PT. I took Psyc of Learning, Sensation and Perception, Intro to Neuroscience, Physiological Psyc, Research Methods, and a few others.
In general, if you want to be a PT, try to take classes that interest you and might also help you become a better PT.
I'm a Health & Exercise Science Major w/ a Psych minor so I've been able to take a lot of the classes that everyone's been suggesting as parts of my graduation requirements so that's good to see at least.
Thanks for the input everyone! I just want to make sure that I'm preparing myself as much as possible for when I (hopefully) get to attend PT school.
