<p>Hi HookemHorns
My DD is a soph in the AT program at Iowa State. First thing that you need to be aware of is that Texas is the only state that certify’s their AT’s with their own State test. In order to work outside of Texas you must be certfied thru the BOC test. My DD was set on UT until we found this out. UT teaches to the State test and not the BOC…big difference.</p>
<p>AT can be either a 3 year or a 2 year program. The first year of school as a freshman is almost always centered on gen ed’s and basic AT classes, along w/ A&P, and bio. Second semester freshman year, if the program is a 3 year program, you do observation hours. At Iowa State you rotate every 2 weeks from sport to sport and from training facility to maybe a school to PT clinic. 75 hours total must be done from mid-Feb to end of April.</p>
<p>At Alabama you only observe for 2 weeks, and rotate every other day, I think. You really have to make good impressions.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that every program that we looked at used a percentage based matrix to evaluate potential AT students. Matrix is based on grades, essay, letters of rec, test (both oral and written). Every college lists the percentage that each item is counted as. You also want to look at the average gpa of students who are admitted. At U of Alabama it is a 3.5…at Iowa it is a little lower.</p>
<p>St. Louis University has a 3 year program, but you don’t start until your Junior year and when you are done in 5 years, you walkout with a Masters in AT. Nice program, and we considered, but DD was not happy with the level of their athletics. Very expensive.</p>
<p>Larger University’s tend to have more contacts in the field. Iowa States facilities are amazing and actually more impressive than what we saw at Alabama. However, Alabama has an amazing athletics program and the opportunity to work with top elite athletes is compelling.</p>
<p>Loras College has a very strong AT program if you are looking for a smaller school. Lots of hands on opportunity and very very good financial aid. D3 school and small, but very well respected in the AT industry. Marquette University in Wisconsin is one of the only direct admit schools that I know of. They accept 14 freshmen into the program a year. DD was accepted, but chose to not attend.</p>
<p>As far as financial aid…Iowa State was VERY generous to my older DD, however, right now it seems that Alabama, which we are strongly considering, has amazing merit aid for high achieving students. You might want to look at both. Alabama has a large out of state population and is very OOS friendly.</p>
<p>As far as being competitive, most programs are very competitive especially at larger schools. Iowa State started w/ 60 kids at the beginning of second sememster. 40 applied and 20 were accepted. Alabama has similiar numbers.</p>
<p>Another school that had amazing facilities, and I do mean amazing, was Nebraska. Unbelieveable. But it is not on younger daughters top of list. Vibe of school was just a little off for her, she did not like the location. But we are still going to apply.</p>
<p>A helpful hint: I strongly recommend visiting some of these campuses if you can and asking the head of the AT department to give you a tour. We did it in advance for every college visit and we saw every facility. Training rooms have different vibes and my DD took one college right off her list after visiting the training room. Staff seemed unfriendly and cold. </p>
<p>If you have spent as much time in a training room as it sounds like you have in HS, you know that you want that family feel. You spend a lot of hours there, you need to make sure that it is a good match for you.</p>
<p>Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions. DD and I visited 12 schools, and I am now going thru the same process with my younger daughter who is a rising senior in HS. As a mom I am pretty much an expert in this one small area. LOL ‘hook em’ horns!</p>