Should I drop out of PT school?

[doyourresearch]

I'm a 2nd year student and am really considering not returning for the fall semester. My grades are fine (3.8 right now), but I don't actually feel like I'm learning anything. I'm not really passionate about PT and I was counting on my first clinical to prove to myself that I would really like/love it but it keeps getting pushed back. Which I understand, I just don't want to keep wasting my time and waiting to be placed somewhere. I'm also growing increasingly frustrated by my program and faculty at the utter lack of organization, communication, and even respect. Even pre-COVID I felt like just another statistic to most of them.

I worked for a few years before starting PT school, so I have a (short) career I could fall back on. As for debt-to-income, that's not something I'm super worried about because I have a scholarship that covers about 75% of my tuition, so I pay a small amount of tuition plus fees, which isn't much. I've been getting involved in APTA and my state chapter, and I guess I'm just realizing that to achieve my career goals (improving healthcare and promoting health equity for underrepresented populations) I don't really need a DPT.

I could finish, but I'm not sure that I want to. Any advice? Is it insane to throw away a year of school and a scholarship?

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[NeuroPT96]

I think dropping out would be a foolish plan. Your ultimate goal is to improve healthcare and help underrepresented populations - gaining a DPT is a great foundation for being someone credible enough to produce change. Even if you finish PT school and you don't like the field, you have little debt to look back on. It sucks to hear your program is is tailored that way, but just keep pushing through and there will always be time recalibrate afterwards.

 

[doyourresearch]

I think dropping out would be a foolish plan. Your ultimate goal is to improve healthcare and help underrepresented populations - gaining a DPT is a great foundation for being someone credible enough to produce change. Even if you finish PT school and you don't like the field, you have little debt to look back on. It sucks to hear your program is is tailored that way, but just keep pushing through and there will always be time recalibrate afterwards.

Thank you. I think this is what I needed to hear. As much as my heart isn't in it, it's probably illogical to not take advantage of the scholarship I have and the connections I'm making outside of my program.

 

[kdubz7w7]

Thank you. I think this is what I needed to hear. As much as my heart isn't in it, it's probably illogical to not take advantage of the scholarship I have and the connections I'm making outside of my program.

Probably every single day for my first year and a half, I wanted to drop out. I reached a point where I really loathed PT and was sort of having an internal crisis. I felt like I was learning things but nothing that was useful at all. My GPA is a 3.6 so it's not like I was academically struggling, it was just a mishmash of nonsense.

I stayed in because I was heavily financially invested in it, and while I did work prior to school, it wasn't something I wanted to fall back on (it was actually why I was in school again to begin with). My thought process was also that there are lots of things you can do with a DPT degree that isn't specifically PT.

When I went to my first clinic (after 1 year 3 months in the program) I absolutely loved it. I loved every minute of it. I cried on my last day. Returned to school rejuvenated and a month later was miserable again until I escaped to my second clinic, which I also absolutely loved. But also, the classes all started to sort of converge. I finally was able to take all the pieces and make them more cohesive, and seemingly useless pieces of information suddenly were relevant. I'm now really excited to return to clinic & finally graduate this December and begin working as a PT.

I finally separated out that while I did not enjoy the didactic portion, I do love PT itself. And I am glad I toughed it out because I would have missed out on an amazing career.

If you can fully commit to your clinicals and take care of your future patients while in clinic to the absolute best of your ability (because it isn't fair to them if your heart isn't in it, you know?), then I would say just stick it out. Your GPA is excellent, so you could hypothetically start allocating time to part time work, or part-time researching other career options/things you enjoy that your DPT degree would help support. This will help keep your head in the game & keep your interest/passion. Who knows, maybe clinic will help you fall in love again the way it did for me. You're so close to the end & it would really suck to one day regret it. There are tons of career options with this degree that isn't specifically physical therapy!

 

[doyourresearch]

If you can fully commit to your clinicals and take care of your future patients while in clinic to the absolute best of your ability (because it isn't fair to them if your heart isn't in it, you know?), then I would say just stick it out. Your GPA is excellent, so you could hypothetically start allocating time to part time work, or part-time researching other career options/things you enjoy that your DPT degree would help support. This will help keep your head in the game & keep your interest/passion. Who knows, maybe clinic will help you fall in love again the way it did for me. You're so close to the end & it would really suck to one day regret it. There are tons of career options with this degree that isn't specifically physical therapy!

I'm really hoping clinic will reignite my interest (not sure if it was ever really passion) and remind me why I even applied to PT school in the first place. Thank you for your perspective and advice!!!

 

[Splenda88]

Why not explore other careers in the medical field such as NP/PA/MD/DO if your end goal is "improving healthcare and promoting health equity for underrepresented populations."

Also, as another poster above said, you should wait until start clinical because you might find clinical PT more enjoyable than the day to day grind of studying for the next exam.

 

[mnvikings5]

I'm a 2nd year student and am really considering not returning for the fall semester. My grades are fine (3.8 right now), but I don't actually feel like I'm learning anything. I'm not really passionate about PT and I was counting on my first clinical to prove to myself that I would really like/love it but it keeps getting pushed back. Which I understand, I just don't want to keep wasting my time and waiting to be placed somewhere. I'm also growing increasingly frustrated by my program and faculty at the utter lack of organization, communication, and even respect. Even pre-COVID I felt like just another statistic to most of them.

I worked for a few years before starting PT school, so I have a (short) career I could fall back on. As for debt-to-income, that's not something I'm super worried about because I have a scholarship that covers about 75% of my tuition, so I pay a small amount of tuition plus fees, which isn't much. I've been getting involved in APTA and my state chapter, and I guess I'm just realizing that to achieve my career goals (improving healthcare and promoting health equity for underrepresented populations) I don't really need a DPT.

I could finish, but I'm not sure that I want to. Any advice? Is it insane to throw away a year of school and a scholarship?

Don’t!!! I’m just about to start clinicals this fall! School is tough because you are just cramming so much knowledge in your brain and you can’t apply it because no patients!! I think a lot of students feel stressed and burnt out before clinicals! But I truly think that will make the difference. Every 3rd year I have talked to in my program said they have already learned way more in clinicals than they did in school. They just needed a foundation of school!

Also there’s a group on Facebook for non-clinic PT jobs!!

Hang in there and good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[kdubz7w7]

Don’t!!! I’m just about to start clinicals this fall! School is tough because you are just cramming so much knowledge in your brain and you can’t apply it because no patients!! I think a lot of students feel stressed and burnt out before clinicals! But I truly think that will make the difference. Every 3rd year I have talked to in my program said they have already learned way more in clinicals than they did in school. They just needed a foundation of school!

Also there’s a group on Facebook for non-clinic PT jobs!!

Hang in there and good luck with whatever you choose!

Really? Do you know the name of the group? I'd love to check that out!

 

[ptmonster]

I honestly feel that i dont learn anything from my PT school as well, I graduated with a decent GPA 3.5 and struggle with NPTE. I even have to take an intensive review class to be able to pass. I also dont have any passion about PT even before i sign up for it and during clinicals, but once start working as a PT it gets better. You dont have to work full time, you can still work as PRN if you’re short on cash and to help out facility that needs PT.

 

[ya1]

Drop out if YOU don't like it and not interested in it. Did you feel like you would like being a part of PT when you were doing your observations though?

"I'm a 2nd year student and am really considering not returning for the fall semester. My grades are fine (3.8 right now), but I don't actually feel like I'm learning anything."
It sounds like you are very smart and PT school is not hard for you, and you have learned a lot already unlike an average student. It may be a benefit since it may be much easier for you to integrate to clinical environment when the time comes. I would again refer to your observation hours and how much interested you were being in PT clinics/environment. If you were indifferent, drop out now since it is not worth paying another year of tuition just to get to clinicals and see if you like that or not. If anything, try to volunteer again for a week or 2 in a PT setting to see how much passionate you are in a clinical setting.

" I'm also growing increasingly frustrated by my program and faculty at the utter lack of organization, communication, and even respect."
Don't make that affect your decision regarding your career!!! Most programs and faculty have flaws and the longer you are in the program, the more of it you see, the more fed up you get with all that. It will be over as soon as you graduate and you will never have to deal with them again.

 

[astarblaze]

So I had a similar experience with my program. Honestly if not for the financial commitment and lack of a good fall-back option I very likely would have dropped out. In my case, however, I enjoyed my clinical rotations and will enjoy the actual work of PT, but the school part was extremely frustrating. Sadly, school is mostly just another hoop to jump through to get the piece of paper that allows you to get a license and practice. The actual learning comes once you start working.

Why did you decide to go down the DPT route in the first place? Why have you now decided that it no longer meets your career goals? If not DPT, then what would better meet your goals? Is this change of heart based on new information that you have gathered since starting school? Or does burn-out/frustration cloud your judgement? I would be asking myself these questions. If you think burn-out or frustration with your program is influencing your thoughts on PT in general, I would definitely suggest trying to get back in a clinic, even if just to observe. If your goals are to improve healthcare and promote health equity for underrepresented populations, having a clinical degree and clinical experience is valuable, even if you are ultimately wanting to do more policy-based work, but certainly there are other, potentially less expensive/time-consuming/frustrating ways to do that kind of work, either without getting a clinical degree at all or getting a different clinical degree (nursing comes to mind) that may be better suited to getting into healthcare administration, for example. I guess it just really depends on what exactly you want to do and how you're looking to promote health equity, etc.

 

[Galain]

I echo the sentiments of the others and would advise you NOT to drop out. I would highly recommend you consider a PhD in Public Health down the road.