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Hi PT Pursuit. Good luck on your quest. Your stats are not too far from mine. I think 30+ programs is a bit much. You don't want to do "spray and pray" method. I would recommend doing some research on schools who have gre and gpa stats close to yours and concentrate your efforts to maybe the top 10. Also, you probably don't want to apply to schools you wouldn't see yourself realistically moving to go to. Do you have a list of top schools you'll apply to? I've already spent a ton of money just on the ten I've applied to, it gets pricy really fast what with PTCAS+GRE scores+Supplemental fees.
Hello Shihalud,
Thank you so much for responding back; so nice to have some kind people around. I wish you good luck in your pursuit. I was thinking it was excessive too, but I feel I would have a better shot if I apply to more, perhaps I am wrong. I will definitely do more research. I mostly see myself on the east coast and a reach is california.. seems to far and expensive though. When I narrow my list I will send it to you. Could you share with me what programs you applied to? I am from New Jersey btw. I just e-submitted my app today, only to one program thus far (rutgers-statford). I sent GRE scores to 5 programs and could not believe how much they charge, its a rip-off.
Thank you!
Don't waste your time and money applying to too many schools. Do research and focus on applying to ones that are reasonable with your GPA. Figure $150 per school to apply to.
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Agree, it doesn't help just to apply to a ton of schools. Each school calculates GPA differently, has different preferences factors, different pre-reqs...you need to be the best candidate you can at a select group of schools, not just a random application at every school. You need schools who weigh heavily on the pre-req GPA versus cumulative. (or schools that may do grade replacement or the last 60 credit hours may help you too). You also need to make sure you meet the minimum GRE at every school right now (I don't know if you do or not, just a factor to consider).
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Your stats are pretty good, although I must say when I worked with the academic chair I have seen many people with your stats get rejected the first time, however, would get accepted the second time around. Sometimes it's just a matter of who else applies around you.
As you probably already know you should diversy your shadowing hours, you have too many in outpatient and not as much inpatient. Post-PT school you can do whatever you want, during school you have to look at inpatient and outpatient evenly.
In terms of applying to many schools that is up to you. If you have the available funds then apply to as many as you want. If not just look at the top 10 you prefer.
As you probably already know you should diversy your shadowing hours, you have too many in outpatient and not as much inpatient. Post-PT school you can do whatever you want, during school you have to look at inpatient and outpatient evenly.
In terms of applying to many schools that is up to you. If you have the available funds then apply to as many as you want. If not just look at the top 10 you prefer.
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I'm definitely more inclined to the sniper approach to picking schools to apply to, but then again there is always that 1 person who applies to 30 schools and gets into 1. That being said I can about guarantee you there are some schools on your list that with some research you will realize are bad choices to apply to. While many schools post average scores for accepted cohorts, I would call the schools and get the range of scores to better inform your choices of schools to apply to.
If you have a strong recent coursework grade trend I would recommend looking at schools that take this into account. (This was my saving grace.) And as others have already stated focus on tailoring your app to schools at which you really feel you have a chance.
Look at researching schools as a job. Hypothetically, if it costs 100$ to apply to a school, and your time is worth say 10$hr, and five hours spent researching a school eliminates it, you just saved yourself 50$ plus the time it would have taken to apply. Also, now you have more time to make sure your apps for schools at which you have a legit shot at are perfect.
If you have a strong recent coursework grade trend I would recommend looking at schools that take this into account. (This was my saving grace.) And as others have already stated focus on tailoring your app to schools at which you really feel you have a chance.
Look at researching schools as a job. Hypothetically, if it costs 100$ to apply to a school, and your time is worth say 10$hr, and five hours spent researching a school eliminates it, you just saved yourself 50$ plus the time it would have taken to apply. Also, now you have more time to make sure your apps for schools at which you have a legit shot at are perfect.
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Thank you for your honest input! I will certainly do more research to narrow down my potential schools. Good luck to you as well!
Thank you for a thorough reply! I am making sure the schools I apply to do not have a super high cummGPA average... so Schools where the average is a maximum of 3.5 for average accepted students. I also am researching what schools look at the PrereqGPA more than cummGPA. I am gonna take the GRE one more time in October and hope to improve my math score significantly. I don't meet the minimum for some schools in Quant but I feel confident that I can achieve at least 150 my second time around. Thank you and good luck to you !
Hey Super Kirby,
Thank you for your gracious input, I love that everyone is so willing to give advice around here. Thank you for the compliment on my stats! I feel my cummGPA may cause some trouble but I do have an upward grade trend.
Why is it that they got accepted the second time around? Did they improve their application somehow?
I am gonna try to get more inpatient hours, I worked as an Aide at two different outpatient clinics which explains my high outpatient hours.
I do have the funds, and the reason I would prefer to apply to many is because I don't want to do this whole process over again and wait another year, that would be horrible :/
Off the top of your head, do you know any programs I could potentially have a good shot at?
Thank you for your time & good luck to you!!
Hey there,
Thank you for taking the time to offer me advice, I greatly appreciate it!
Would you mind telling me what programs you were accepted to? Were your stats similar to mine?
I will research more in depth and definitely try calling schools; that's something I didn't even consider, but great idea.
I do have an upward coursework trend so I will look for programs that look at that.
Thank you! that's a great analogy.. I guess I am paranoid because I have friends that had to apply more than once to get in or not at all. I really hope I can get in this cycle.
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What are the deadlines for the schools your are applying too? If they are Oct 1 and you do not meet the minimum GRE requirement on 1 Oct, I wouldn't bother applying to those schools. Your application is essentially "done" at the point of submission. It is very likely you will get automatically rejected (by a computer sorting system) at those schools based on your GRE score. Even if you retake it in October, those schools are unlikely to see it and use it for an admissions factor this year. It all depends on when they make interview decisions (Call the schools directly to speak to someone on this issue and talk about dates....ask specifically if they will accept updated GRE scores even after your PTCAS application is due, if that's the case. Otherwise, it is not worth your time and money to apply to those schools.)
Also, have you looked at this link? Each school has a "last accepted GRE date". Make sure you are meeting that requirement, otherwise, again, they won't care about your retake for this cycle.
http://www.ptcas.org/ptcas/public/gre.aspx?navID=10737426788
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I'll pm you the schools.
Aside from the GRE we have very similar stats. (I also had a 3.9 last 60hrs) My last 60hrs and GRE were the strongest parts of my application. Based on this I specifically targeted schools that placed a heavy emphasis on both. I am also a non-trad vet, but I have no idea what if any effect this had on my app.
I applied to, and was accepted to two public schools. One school had an early admissions cycle. Had I not been accepted to that first school I had another 6-7 schools with later deadlines at which I was ready to apply. After my first acceptance I only needed to apply to my first choice school. I definitely would not recommend applying to only two schools for most people.
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