Too late? What can I do?

[judabes]

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Hi everyone, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in biology in 2013 at a 4-year institution. I was one of those cases where I wasn't entirely too sure what I wanted to do after graduation. I just knew I wanted to work in the health field. After volunteering in hospitals, I came across the profession of physical therapy and wish I had thought of it sooner.

My gpa was 3.4 (before the anatomy and physiology + statistics classes I've taken for pre-requisites after graduating) and I haven't taken the GRE yet. I have many observation hours along with working as a Rehabilitation Aide. I took Anatomy and Physiology I and II along with statistics at the local community college in 2014/2015 and got an A in all of them. If possible, I would like to apply this summer and hope to get in. However, now I'm worried that the classes I took for my bachelor's might be too old now. The classes I've taken are in pretty standard order, so general biology and chemistry classes would have been completed in 2009/2010. I feel like as every month passes, my goal of becoming a physical therapist is getting farther away, and it is getting pretty discouraging.

What would you guys recommend I do now? Should I retake all of these classes? At a community college?

I would appreciate any advice. Thank you for reading.

 

[Phyline]

I also graduated in 2013, and some of my prerequisites date as far back as 2009. When you're looking at schools, check individually whether they have a limit on how old your classes can be. For example, I wasn't able to apply to Emory, because they impose a 5-year limit on Physics I and II. Sometimes there is no limit, sometimes it's 5 years, sometimes 7..... I would recommend to look into schools NOW so that you have time to retake these classes IF you have to. Which you might not.

 

[starrsgirl]

Agree, with above. Each school has a different policy. You should be able to find some schools that will take your older classes since you aren't that far out. Also, if you have favorite school and it looks like 1-2 classes are out of range (let's say A&P is fine, but chemistry is too old according to their website), call/email the school and ask for clarification. I had a lot of older coursework. I found in many cases schools were willing to waive some of the first level pre reqs time limits (chem/bio) as long as my A&P, physics and such were up to date OR I had a more advanced class in that subject area that was recent.

 

[judabes]

Is it fine to take/re-take the pre-requisites at a community college to either meet the pre-requisites or strengthen my application? Will the grades from the classes taken at community colleges affect my cumulative GPA and science GPA? I really appreciate the feedback by the way. Thank you.

 

[ajc4cz]

Yes, PTCAS doesn't care where the classes were taken so they will affect your cumulative GPA and science GPA. However, they do calculate an undergrad cumulative GPA. On this website you can find all the different GPAs calculated. http://www.ptcas.org/GPA/

 

[Phyline]

Generally speaking, community college is fine. But again, check with individual schools.

CU Denver, for example, does not consider CC anatomy and physiology competitive (literally what they told me) and "strongly suggests" taking them at a 4-year institution.

 

[FruitNinja]

I graduated from undergrad in 1995 (!!) and applied to two DPT programs for the 2015-2016 cycle. Some of my undergrad pre-reqs were from 1991. Neither school I applied to had an expiration date on pre-reqs, but both schools stated that if most of your pre-reqs were more than 5 years old, it was important to take (or retake) several of them recently, so the school could get a good idea of your current academic ability. I took 8 pre-reqs in 2014 and 2015, including A&P, all at a 4-year university. Two were on-line courses. It was expensive, but I enjoyed all of the classes and, as a bonus, they brought up my cumulative GPA. I got interviews at both schools and was just accepted to one of them.

 

[luna88]

Hi!

Your story and mine are very much the same. I started college in 2008 not having a clue on what I wanted to do. My freshman year I was a straight B student and I even dropped out of school for a year my fourth year. Came back a year later and finished by going to night school and completing a liberal arts degree. All in all, it took me 5 years and one semester to complete my BA. Then as if that wasn't enough, I ended up taking another year before applying (Graduated Dec 2013, Applied Summer 2015) During my time off and even during my last year of school I did a ton of observation hours, worked as an aide, and even did a one year term as an AmeriCorps volunteer. I also obviously busted my butt to get my GPA up while in school (ended up with an O of 3.6 and pre requisites GPA to be around the same) and I studied like a mad woman for the GRE (Magoosh.com - this is a GREAT resource and they didn't even pay me to say that, lol)

All that to tell you that I got a seat to start this summer at Thomas Jefferson University. So it is possible! It is also worth mentioning that I got some rejections and waitlists too. But hey, I got a win and you can too.

When I applied I was VERY strategic. First of all, start the process early!!! I applied EA (you don't necessarily have to do this) to a super high reaching school and was rejected. This was probably the best thing I did since (1) it made me hurry up and submit all my documents and (2) it got me an interview and exposed me to a super highly competitive program - I think this was key to my successful interviews down the road.

When I went through PTCAS I looked for schools that emphasized the strengths in MY application. For me, it was community work, volunteers hours, and recommendation letters, not GPA and test scores as much because my stats are average, at best. I was able to get some really strong recommendations from PTs since I worked as an aide and my AmeriCorps supervisor went above and beyond to highlight my strengths as a leader and involvement in the community. I also have ridiculous amounts of observation hours so I wanted institutions that appreciated all that.

I think being open to location was also a huge part of my success. I looked at schools EVERYWHERE! I'm from California where sunny and 75 is the standard. This was a hard pill to swallow but I got over myself VERY quickly once I realized my education was more important over the weather. I can suck it up for 3 years and deal with some cold and snow. Again, this may or may not be a factor for you, but I can tell you that when I started my process I was VERY hesitant about location.

When it comes to pre reqs. I had to be extra careful and so should you. There's school who are okay with 10 year old pre requisites, while other schools like a max of 3 years. There are schools who take community college courses while others do not. Some schools like people retaking pre reqs, others don't. Best advice I can give you here is let PTCAS be your first stop to compare your pre reqs to what the a school wants. You may find out that retaking or taking one course may make you a pretty darn good candidate for 1 or 2 schools you really want to attend. If that's worth it to you, then go for it. Or you may find out that retaking a course where you have a B does little to nothing to improve your GPA in which case you can save yourself the money and time.

There isn't a one way or perfect road to PT school and yours is just as cool as everyone else's. You just need to play to your strengths and highlight the parts of your application that make YOU shine and look for schools that want those shiny individuals like you. That's my two cents, hope that helps and best luck! 🙂