<p>Hello everyone! I'm a current high school junior from VA and all I can think about is college and how in one year I'll be the one receiving those long-awaited letters! I wanted some advice on which school would be best for me:</p>
<p>Reaches: UNC Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt
Good Shots: Wake Forest, JMU, and Elon
Safeties: High Point and Roanoke College</p>
<p>What I'm asking you all for advise on is which of those schools would be best for me based on the following:
I have had all A's in hard classes so far in high school but do not want to spend my entire college career studying 24/7
I want to become a physical therapist in the future
I love the idea of smaller class sizes
I would love to be apart of the cheerleading team
I would like to become a member of a sorority</p>
<p>I'm leaning toward Wake and JMU but I'm afraid I just do not know enough information on all of the colleges to make that sort of a call!</p>
<p>lillion- Here is my advice since you asked for it. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Advice is spelled A-D-V-I-C-E. The word you used (Advise) means to give someone help or counsel. This will be important for you to recognize going forward as you ask people for advice not advise. </p></li>
<li><p>The best thing that you can do for yourself is research, research, research. I have a step-daughter whom wants to be an athletic trainer (somewhat related to your PT field.) Her first step was to look at the National Governing Body of AT programs in college. This is called CAATE. I am sure that the Physical Therapy programs are governed by the same sort of group. Do some internet research and find out which college programs are accredited. If you find out that say, JMU does not have a strong PT program, and that is def. what you want to study, then that would be enough to drop it from your list. </p></li>
<li><p>Make an effort to visit (if feasible) some of the schools on your list, and set up before-hand, a sit-down with a faculty member from the PT program. This takes time and effort. You might have to make multiple calls to the admissions office and send multiple emails. But, your efforts will bear fruit. Not only can you write (in your essays) about your time spent on campus with the PT program people, but they you can also get a really good feel about whether the program is for you or not. Step-daughter and I visited 10 schools this summer, and she had a good idea, due to some of these meetings, whether she could see herself there or not. </p></li>
<li><p>Cheerleading - this is another area that is going to take specific research on your part. Some of the big schools (like Wake and UVA) may even give partial scholarships for cheerleading since it does take up a lot of time and training. These types of schools tend to recruit from Cheerleading programs, etc, so if you are not with a well-known gym at this time, you need to find out what the process is for your prospective presence on the team. This probably entails emailing the Cheerleading coaches, administrators, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Get off of CC (for now.) You have a lot of research and a lot of work to do! Only YOU can determine the best fit for you. CC is valuable for identifying names of schools that you might want to check out, or for help with preparing yourself for standardized testing, etc. But nobody on CC can tell you what the best school for you is going to be. Only with your research and follow up, can YOU determine the answer to your inquiry. </p></li>
<li><p>Good Luck! And…just so you know…Wake Forest and JMU are two entirely different schools. The fact that you are leaning towards one or the other is a bit confusing since they are so dissimilar. Look into both more closely and decide which way you truly want to lean…</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I’ll put it out there…folks MOVE to VA So that their kids can attend one of the MANY fine public universities in your state. Why aren’t you looking at more of those schools?</p>
<p>Do you need any merit or need based financial aid? The costs of attending some of the schools on your list approach $60,000 per year. Can your family pay that?</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice, it means a lot that you took the time out to type all of that out for me! And I did spell it correctly the first time, I am sorry for my spelling error the second time I used the word. It was 12:25 am so I am sure I was careless, however I do know the difference between advice and advise. But why do you say that jmu and wake are so dissimilar?</p>
<p>Thumper1 - because I live in VA I know a lot of the schools inside and out and unfortunately some of the colleges that look great on the outside to some are not so amazing on the inside. For example, tech is a HUGE school and a lot of people I know say that with their sciences they do not get any lab time other than observing and then cleaning up the labs, which is something I am not interested in as I know other schools will give me the opportunity to actually take part in the labs. UVA is full of people who think they are better than you and when I went to visit I knew I would not fit in because of the vibe I felt and the looks I received.</p>
<p>Yes, do look at your VA state schools. From what I’ve heard, physical therapists these days need a lot of training (PhD?). You’ll want to minimize undergrad expenses and debt.</p>
<p>Colorado_mom - you heard right! Physical therapists typically get a degree in exercise sciences or health studies and then go to grad school for 2 additional years! I’m thinking of maybe jmu undergrad and then wake grad because both have great programs with awesome opportunities!</p>
<p>thumper1- I know that Wake’s undergrad has great connections with other universities in NC for grad school.</p>
<p>madaboutx- I based my school choices (reach, good shot, and safety) on my academics and EC’s. Very confident with safeties, pretty confident with good shots, and not so confident with reaches. My ideal college is big school feel with small school classes and wake and JMU seem to fit that characteristic.</p>
<p>By the time you get into a PT program you will need a PhD to get a job. Just something to consider–cost and time. PT, while an OK paid position, really isn’t paid THAT well to cover a lot of grad school+ debt. I would find programs that would allow you to auto-admit or close to it for post-UG PT schools. Admission to PT school is about as hard as it gets. You will need top grades in order to be considered. Just want to make sure you are aware of that.</p>
<p>I would find an UG school that is the most affordable for you and don’t take on any UG debt.</p>
<p>Most grad school programs are 3 years for PT. There are some direct entry programs that range from 5&1/2 to 6&1/2 years. Generally though, it’s an undergrad degree plus 3 more years, so I’ll echo the advice to limit undergrad debt. And it really is difficult to get into PT school, so you might want to search for direct entry/guaranteed progression schools.</p>
<p>Elon has a PT program that is not direct entry, but you might have access to research and internship programs at this school. It is one of the more affordable private colleges, and you could also be eligible for generous merit aid if your grades and scores remain high.
VCU in Richmond has a guaranteed entry PT program. Naturally, a guaranteed program is wonderful thing to have considering the competitiveness of these programs.
Both schools seem to have cheerleading teams as well.
No spell check on CC so please excuse any typos!</p>
<p>For PT you should take a look at VCU. It’s definitely a huge school and in the city, but the PT program is strong, top 10% in the country, and MCV is right there. As you know, there’s little merit money for VA state schools (they’re pretty affordable) but I have a friend with twins who received $2000 each last year. They had GPAs in the 3.6/3.7 range and SATs in the 1250 range (M and CR). They were initially looking at smaller schools, but they love it there. Good luck in your search!</p>
<p>lillion, I have one other suggestion if you are considering PT programs that are direct entry/guaranteed admit. Obtain two or more experiences shadowing a PT, preferably in 2 different settings such as outpatient and acute care. My D, who graduated from a 6 year BS/DPT program, had to interview for the direct admit status as a high school senior. Part of the process was submitting essays discussing experiences shadowing a PT.</p>
<p>“2. The best thing that you can do for yourself is research, research, research. I have a step-daughter whom wants to be an athletic trainer (somewhat related to your PT field.)”</p>
<p>It’s who, not whom, and the period is in the wrong place.</p>
<p>I’ve been away from CC for a long time; ordinarily, I wouldn’t post in such a manner, but your post inspired me.</p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>lillion20, good for you for seeking advice! I don’t have any for you; just want to wish you good luck!</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for the amazing tips and advice. I had no idea there were such programs that combined PT undergrad and PT grad together! And owlice - thank you so much especially for your post. I was so excited this morning to read the responses from everyone and I was very upset to see that the first thing written was a harsh critique of my incorrect spelling. It is great to see that there are nice, caring people in this CC world. Thank you so much :)</p>
<p>lillion - You asked why JMU and Wake Forest are very different? I would encourage more internet research to discover the differences. Make a spread sheet and put the major ‘categories’ down. Then fill in the boxes with WF and JMU info. You should be able to see the differences fairly early on in this process. </p>
<p>Owlice - You are correct. I really wish someone would have pointed this mis-usage out to me 20 years ago. I researched a bit and now realize that I have been using who and whom incorrectly over and over. I was sure I was right, but I was, in fact, wrong. If someone would have pointed this out, the problem could have been easily corrected. Alas, you are the first to do so during all of this embarrassing time. Back to remedial who/whom class for me!</p>
<p>Hoosiermom gave good advice about job shadowing. Several of the schools that my daughters applied to needed proof of job shadowing for applications and for essays. And it also gives you an idea if this is really something you want to do. D2 really thought she wanted to be a Physcian’s Assistant but one day of shadowing changed her mind quickly. Both D2 and D3 shadowed PT’s in different settings and realized that PT was the field they both wanted.</p>
<p>OP, you have not answered any questions about finances that have been brought up on this thread. Do you truly have unlimited funds, or are you just hopeful it will all work out? Because if you don’t, you need to put that at the top of your list, above all those other criteria you listed. If you are not sure, ask your parents to help you run the net price calculator for the schools being discussed. Even if they have committed to pay… parents often are dismayed at what the actual costs are. Far better to figure that out early instead of next fall.</p>
<p>Not sure where the grammar/spelling police came from on this thread… but it is distracting. Like talking to my mom… gets off the subject at hand. Save it for the classroom.</p>