Worried about number of shadowing hours

[RTthefuturePT]

Hi everyone! I am applying to PT schools for the 2020-2021 cycle and I am so excited. After looking through post forum posts, I'm seeing so many people with thousands of hours, and in multiple settings, and I'm a little worried.. I officially decided to pursue becoming a PT last summer, and got 60 hours in an outpatient setting. I was going to shadow in a SNF this spring, but COVID changed that. I am currently getting 20 more hours in the setting I was in last summer, and am about to complete about 10 in home health before I head back to school. It has been really hard (well, impossible) to get any other shadowing experiences in my area due to the pandemic.

I've heard mixed messages about how much it means to have a high number of hours or just exposure to different settings, what do you all think? My GRE is strong (157 V, 158 Q, 5 AW), my GPA is 3.63 and I am getting LORs from the PT I shadowed, 2 profs (one I researched with for 3 semesters) and my coach. Do I stand a chance with under 100 hours of observation? Any schools in the NY/Philly area that I might get in to? I appreciate any thoughts!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[letsdothisptthing]

It really depends on the schools you're applying to! Alot of schools are waiving their observation requirements so that is really helpful. It seems like you got a variety of settings in with the limited hours you have which looks good. You definitely do not need 1000+ hours to be competitive. The rest of your stats looks great! also you can explain this in the covid essay which will be good in letting admissions know why you could not get more hours. However, if a school is still dead set on having you have 100 hours then maybe don't apply or email them to see if there is a way around it.
Best of luck!

 

[ya1]

You do NOT need thousands of hours for shadowing! You got enough in outpatient. It's great that you found an opportunity with homehealth. If you could do 20 instead of 10, it would be great. But 10 is still ok. Schools are aware of COVID situation and you were able to manage experience in 2 settings.
It is important to meet minimum observation requirements. If schols where yu are applying are k qith less than 100h, you are fine. If they do want more than 100h, yu need to get more. It is nice to have extra 50 hours (not necessary though). 1000s of hours are NOT necessary at all. I believe it's the waste of time. Although some people like having those hours and that exposure.

 

[vmish03]

1000s of hours often come from students who worked prior as a PT aide, there is no way I would've been able to get 1000 volunteer hours while also having a job so I wouldn't stress too much about that. COVID has obviously put restrictions on many students in regards to their ability to observe for many hours and in various settings, but the hours you have are good. Combined with your stats and your letters of recommendation, I think you will be just fine
I applied to all Philly area schools, and I believe their requirements were around 40-80 hours. USciences does not require them, Widener requires 40, Drexel requires 50, and Temple recommends 20+ to name a few. Not sure if those requirements have changed due to COVID, but that's what I got from the PTCAS website. Hope this is helpful! Good luck!

 

[DesiPT92]

I don’t know how it works, but my friend just sent me a post from Preptgrind Instagram page talking about virtual observation hours for physical therapy. Check it out if you have time also.