<p>I currently go to San Francisco state university, majoring in physiology. And I'm trying to figure out which one would be right now me. I like the idea of both...I was also interested in physical therapy as well.</p>
<p>Is my major good for these schools; what gpa do I need to get into PA and physical therapy school? I know med school is extremely difficult, but hows the other two?
And what type of volunteer experience do I need? I'm currently trying to volunteer for a hospital.</p>
<p>I've always been interested in health and medicine, so I need some assistance.</p>
<p>All 3 professional programs you list require a high GPA and a high sGPA (3.5+)</p>
<p>Nearly every graduate-entry PA program will have a direct patient experience requirement. 1000+ hours is typical.</p>
<p>Direct patient experience would include:
</p>
<p>PT requires a doctoral degree (DPT) for certification in most states. Admission to all programs requires a minimum number of hours of PT observation and hands-on work experience in PT patient care. The exact number of hours will vary by program, but all programs typically require several hundred (200+) hours of each. Additionally these observation/experience hours must be completed at certified PT practices/programs and many schools require specific electronic documentation of your hours.</p>
<p>You can find additional information here about hour requirements here:</p>
<p>The jobs that PAs and PTs do are not remotely alike. Before you start doing any volunteering, you should do some job shadowing first to see which of these career paths suits you better.</p>
<p>Check with your college’s health professions advising office to see if they can recommend some places where you might be able to shadow, then start calling–and keep calling and asking until someone says “yes”.</p>
<p>Thanks @WayOutWestMom
Do you think my major is suitable? I was originally going for microbio, but I felt that my major would cover all 3 health professions in some way or another.</p>
<p>And for the PA hours: are you saying I would have to become a nurse or etc, before becoming a PA? I’m not quite understanding that.</p>
<p>You don’t need to become a nurse to later become a PA. Nursing is just one many possible ways to get the direct patient experience that PA programs require. </p>
<p>Physiology is an obvious choice for PT, not so sure it’s an obvious choice for PA or MD programs. It all depends on coursework the major encompasses. </p>
<p>Does it include: biology, gen chem, Ochem, psychology, sociology, 2 semesters of college math (including Calc I), statistics, physics, biochemistry, genetics?</p>
<p>If the answer is no–then you’ll need to take all those classes in addition to whatever is required for your physiology major.</p>