<p>In Ohio, PT’s must now have a PhD so the program has been changed. Most PT students have to commit, or sign a letter of intent, in their sophomore year. They are formally admitted senior year of UG and they must have a spotless academic record. The program is year round and leads to a PhD.</p>
<p>It is very hard to get admitted due to the limited number of spots and the high academic requirements. There is ahigh demand for the program because PT’s make an excellent salary and are in demand in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, private practices, and more.</p>
<p>Your daughter might want to look into an Occupational Therapy program. It is very similar but may be easier to gain entrance to a program. OT’s work in all the same places as PT’s and do therapy with patients to help them accomplish daily living tasks like cooking, dressing, etc. They do a lot with training the hand and manual skills. They must be creative and very people oriented.</p>
<p>I know this because my sister’s college roommates were an OT student and a PT student!</p>
<p>As a practicing PT, nix the idea of the “massage school/therapist”. It has nothing in common with PT and would get her nowhere</p>
<p>I guess I misunderstand what the PT is then I was assuming it was to help people retain/improve strength and range of motion- that is what a LMT does anyway.</p>
<p>It’s not exactly a PhD – it’s a DPT – doctorate in physical therapy. It takes three years of graduate work to complete.
D is in an accelerated, 6-year BS/DPT program.<br>
She does have to work very hard.</p>
<p>There is certainly some crossover between PT and other disciplines but the background, training and licensure are totally different. It is not to say that a LMT is not a good thing, but it won’t affect admittance into a PT program. The degree being mentioned is not a PhD; it is a DPT which is a professional doctorate. Pharmacists earn a DPh; this is similar. It is not mandated by the state; it is being encouraged by the APTA (professional organization) and is being adopted throughout the country. However, a number of schools still offer masters programs. One good thing about PT — it doesn’t much matter which school you get a degree from. As long as it is accredited by the APTA, you will be competitive for a job. You don’t have to go to the “best” school and load up on mega-debt. If you can get into a state school, it is great. If is the big question. I agree with the comments about OT, another great field.</p>
<p>Yep, it’s been tough to get into P.T. for a long time. When my friend was applying to PT programs her back up plan was to apply for Medical School. It was easier to get into.</p>
<p>Another PT weighing in here to say the field has been difficult to get into for years. Our school also had a tougher admit rate than our med school (years ago…) due to the smaller number slots available.
The APTA has moved toward the DPT degree to facilitate the transition to autonomous practice/direct referral. In addition, back when I was in school the number of credits to complete the curriculum was much higher than other BS degrees even with several courses being “undervalued” credit wise compared to the actual number of hours in class.
I think the OP needs to clarify in what courses the C grades were in order to move forward. A look at the course work for completion of the degree ( anatomy with cadaver dissection, physiology (separate from anatomy), neuroscience, electrophysiology, pathology, pathophysiology and more) should tell you that a C in entry level bio, chem or physics isn’t going to cut it. So if the C was in a science they need to be retaken.
Her options while she retakes the courses are to work with her exercise degree (exercise physiology maybe, phys ed teacher maybe) or in the field as a rehab aide (a PT assistant is also a licensed position I think in every state requiring an Associates degree with specific training on modalities). This would enable her to get more perspective on different aspects of the profession in order to present a well versed applicant.
She should look far afield for programs that may have less applicants (less populated states, worse weather, etc) while she takes steps to bring up those grades and gain real word experience. She should talk to her advisor as I am sure they have experience with redirecting applicants who don’t gain admittance into the school where they did their undergrad.
Lastly, when I was in school the OT department had a significant proportion of students who were denied admittance to the PT program. I wouldn’t advertise that fact if she decides to pursue those options. While they have lots of overlap in the field and populations they deal with, in my experience OT’s (who usually have to take many similar hard sciences) are also more creative and able to think outside the box to come up with solutions. In addition they often work more in pysch/behavioral settings than PT’s. If this could describe your daughter, she should look hard and perhaps volunteer in some OT clinics to gain perspective.</p>
<p>WOW! Thanks to everyone for your opinions and advice, it answers a lot of questions. Just to answer a few questions that were brought up…She does attend an out of state University because she was “wait listed” at the in-state University she wanted to attend and since the tuition was about the same and she wanted to start College right out of high school…away she went. She is very independent (raised by a single mom). She is not strong in the sciences (this was a big concern of mine) but she has wanted to be a PT ever since she injured herself in Gymnastics (she was a gymnast for 8 years). She started working at a local PT office beginning her senior year in high school and to date has over 1400 hours there (she loves PT). Her “C” grades were in Chemistry. Hind-sight now would have been to retake the Chemistry courses in the summers and not come home to visit and work. My question now is can she retake these classes at our local community college?(you can imagine her student loan bill now) or would it “appear” better to retake them at a University/College? And how are the retake courses viewed once she has her degree with the “C” courses?</p>
<p>I don’t think the re-take courses are viewed badly at all, but I would take them at a four year institution (even one near home) rather than at a community college. Some schools don’t accept science credits from junior colleges.</p>
<p>Usually what I have heard retaking classes, is that GPA is recalculated with the higher grade, if courses are retaken at same school, basically replaced by the later course- but if courses are taken at another school, then the GPA is averaged in.</p>
<p>Why I mentioned the LMT, is that I saw a lot of similarities in the work- although I acknowledge that there is a lot of political stuff going on between PTs and LMPs.</p>
<p>They do have req cadaver anatomy courses in local massage schools, although that does vary by state and school, it isn’t a requirement for liscensing. I do know however, others who had received recreation therapy degrees as well as other medical type training ( but generally more " alternative" like an acupuncturist or naturopath), who have also gotten background in massage therapy.</p>
<p>With medical care extending life, we are going to see the need for more rehabilitation and long time assistance with mobility, so it is interesting that while PT has been difficult for the last 30 years to find a slot, that, that need hasn’t been addressed, as has the nursing profession where you see two year RN programs at many community colleges.</p>
<p>My SIL got her degree at University of Puget Sound. Their website might be a good place to get some information. From my brief look it appears they have a good FAQ section with one question regarding retaking courses. Also another about reapplying. It also looks like many programs use a common application just for PT schools.</p>
<p>The C in chem needs to be addressed, I would also recommend a university rather than a CC. Were her other science courses A or B’s?? </p>
<p>Also I used to do some student/peer advising and one thing the department drilled into us was that they looked at the transcript as a “whole” i.e. the ability to maintain the higher GPA while taking two sciences was a definite plus as opposed to spreading the science prerequisites out over several years. This was because the program is very intense and requires the ability to handle a schedule with more than one science most semesters.</p>
<p>My sister was going to be a PT - got one C in a required course her junior year and would have had to repeat it the following spring, and couldn’t advance until she did. She used the summer/fall to work as an EMT and ended up applying and getting accepted to PA school. She’s been a certified PA for over 20 years and still loves it (and the salary’s are decent too). I know many ortho docs employ PA’s - that might be an alternate career path for your D as well.</p>
<p>Another PT here. I agree that PT has been competitive since I went to school in the early 80’s ( the 2 state/city college programs I applied to accepted 30 or less students a year). I think there were less programs then today although that gain has been offset but the ever escalating addition of degree requirements from BS to MS now to DPT. I find it unfortunate that despite the increasing demand for PT’s the profession has continued to make it unreachable for many qualified candidates. Where does the end come in how much entry level education a profession needs to require for good practice. It is ridiculous that PT programs are more difficult then Med school to get into as well as having to spend at min 6 years ( assuming you get into a program at 1st attempt) before you can practice( and no significant increase in pay for DPT vs BS PT). Given the aging population and need other health providers will fill in the unmet need. I second the idea of checking out Speech, OT, PA, RN/NP, Paramedic, Chiropractic, Athletic trainer, Exercise Physiologist(MS) programs if getting into a PT program continues to elude the OP.</p>
<p>When I went to school in the 90s, admissions were so competitive in California that one of my friends ended up at Columbia. It sounds nuts, but she could not get in here. I did go to school in California, but didn’t get in the first time I applied. Neither did one of my co-workers who already had a PhD in Bio! </p>
<p>Here’s what I would recommend:</p>
<p>1). Make sure she has met ALL the requirements. If you are missing a class, you are automatically out. Likewise, need to have met all other stated requirements for admission. Those missing a little something here or there are the first to go.</p>
<p>2). Make an appt to talk with someone at the school with the goal of getting specifics on how to improve the application for next round.</p>
<p>3) If the GPA was a problem, then boost the GPA as able. Likewise, get better experience if that is the weak area in the application. ( They want well-rounded folks who can handle people who are medically compromised…not someone who might just as well be an athletic trainer). The more experience, the better.</p>
<p>Did she get an interview? If so, I really think that process is can be a deal-maker or deal-breaker. Maturity or immaturity can really become obvious in an interview. It helps to practice aloud with someone who can act the the part of an admissions panel. ( The panel interview turned out to be kind-of fun, but pretty scary).</p>
<p>Definitely, if this is what she really wants to do with her life, then she should just take some time to improve her candidacy and try again.</p>
<p>This DTP program requires a minimum 3.0 in the math/science courses, but will allow one C. It also encourages students to take further coursework if needed to boost their GPA. </p>
<p>D is a 1st year DPT student in a top 10 program. She tells me that her school received ALMOST DOUBLE the applications this year over last year! (They will have 75 students in the Fall 2009 class.) DPT programs, already very competitive, saw jumps in applications fueled by the new central application process started just this year (PTCAS) as well as the economy.</p>
<p>When D originally looked into applying, she was told by her advisor how terribly competitive DPT programs are and she was scared silly she wouldn’t get in anywhere. She had nearly a 3.9 gpa and although she applied to 6 schools, worried it still wasn’t enough. </p>
<p>And given the number of applicants this year, it might NOT have been enough. She is sure that having As in all her science classes made a big difference.</p>
<p>You’ve been given great advice regarding retaking the “C” classes. My advice would be to begin now to carefully review the prerequisites and as someone mentioned, make sure that each and every “i is dotted, t is crossed”. Clearly your D’s love for PT & her huge amount of volunteer hours will be important for her to gain admission–these will shine through. But she’s wading through a very competitive field of all these kids with top statistics (gpa and GRE scores).</p>
<p>I’d suggest she thoroughly research 10 schools she’s interested in and become intimately acquainted with their prerequisites, look at admitted student data, and pick reaches, matches, and safeties, just as a high-schooler should when choosing a college. Choosing just 2 schools to apply to in such a competitive environment was probably too risky a strategy, this year in particular.</p>
<p>It’s crazy, but this strategy will insure she’ll get in somewhere–it’s just got to be the right list for her.</p>
<p>As mentioned in my earlier post, you do have to meet all the requirements to be considered. However, as with undergrad admissions, the ‘requirements’ are the bare minimum and typically you have to have significantly exceeded them to be at all competitive.</p>
<p>When I went, they had more than 700 applicants for 30 spaces…about a 4% chance of getting in! </p>