Second Bachelor's to set myself up for success at PT school?

[Swiftwinger]

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Hello everyone!

The basic question for the forum post is should I go for a second bachelor's or post-baccalaureate?

I graduated from college in 2015 with a BS in Psychology. While my undergraduate degree was more on the science end than most, I did not take classes such as anatomy or physiology. I am currently active duty in the Army, so I do not have time to sit in a traditional class room and will not have time for another 3ish years. At that time, the time limit on the pre-requisites I did complete will be out of tolerance (i.e. chemistry will be 10+ years old). Additionally, my undergrad GPA was not great (2.75), although there was a significant improvement after my freshman year.

I'm strongly considering a second bachelor's degree to refresh my knowledge, but would a post-baccalaureate be a better idea?

*EDIT*
1. After relooking at my transcripts, my GPA was a 2.71. Not a huge difference, but I know some graduate schools had a cutoff of 2.75 and if you were below that you were on academic probation for a semester. My undergrad split our GPAs into three categories- physical, military, and academic- and all three of those made up our cumulative GPA at a varying percentage. I'm guessing that PT schools are going to go with what my transcript says.

2. I am currently in an online grad school for psychology and have a 3.81. I wanted to show that my undergraduate (especially the early years) is not indicative of my academic abilities. Will PTs schools view the fact that it is online negatively and/or discount it completely?

 

[reesetee]

I'm in the same boat... My pre-reqs are at about 7 yrs but i just finished my masters degree and I think that will help with my application in a number of ways - the main one being that I can do well with more advanced courses. Don't waste your time or money if the courses you're looking for aren't pre-req retakes. And in that case you can just take those in your spare time at a community college (non-science courses can be taken online). I hope that helps.

 

[FromtrashytoDPT]

I second the idea of only retaking necessary pre-reqs that will be expiring. I'm currently in my first semester of school and this is what I'll say as far as taking courses just to "refresh your knowledge". My professors have summed it up like this: you and your classmates are all going to come from different educational backgrounds, but the point of your first year is to get everyone on the same page in terms of information. For example, I was an ex-science major so I've had an easier time studying muscle related material than my classmates who were bio majors; and they have had an easier time studying histology related material. However, either way, we're all learning the same info so it doesn't matter how much of it you have experienced beforehand, as long as you can learn it in school.

That brings me to another point. School's look at GPA as a determinant of you're ability to handle high caliber courses. For example, every test in my gross anatomy course this semester has felt about as tough as an undergrad midterm/final exam in terms of the sheer quantity of information I have to learn. Hopefully retaking some of the expiring courses ( and aiming to get all A's) and completing this grad program will boost your GPA up. This could work to your advantage because although your program is online, you can talk about how you're willing to work hard to have high grades while serving in the military ( which is no easy feat I'm sure). Additionally, when you retake your expired pre-reqs and do well in them, schools will be able to look at you and see that you are committed to doing better and are sincere about being a physical therapist