Hey I recently got accepted EA to Northeastern 2021 as a mech. engineer but I’m having second thoughts about that. I kinda want to do physical therapy at Bouve but I dont know much about the PT major at Northeastern is worth it/if a PT degree is worth it at all at any school
PT major @ Bouve right here!
I absolutely love the program. However, I am biased in that I knew I wanted to do physical therapy and only applied as a PT major to schools. To practice PT, you need a doctorate now and what’s great about the program at Northeastern is its accelerated and early assurance so once accepted, you’re in it for the duration of the program as long as you meet a 3.5 gpa. Since this includes 2 coops and a year of clinicals, that includes every summer besides the one after your freshman year. If you have AP credits though you can move stuff around and avoid half (2 months) of the summer after second year too. However, a lot people choose to study abroad during at least of this time and do a Dialogue.
Now, is a PT degree “worth it?” If you’re in it for the money, absolutely not; that’s not why any PT major chooses PT. I am a PT major because I love medicine and helping others and specifically like the day to day patient interactions of PT and completely facilitating the rehab process to get others back to what they love to do. My advice would be to reach out to an outpatient clinic in your hometown and ask if you can volunteer; most people in the major here do have volunteer hours as they can really help you to see if it’s something you’d want to do yourself. Before I volunteered at a clinic, I didn’t want to be a PT myself so I’m obviously very glad I did. If PT is something you want to do, switch your major sooner than later as after a certain point I know they don’t accept transfers due to the intensity of the program.
I hope this helped a little, feel free to reach out with any questions!
^ forgot to mention it’s a 6 year program, kind of important information haha
Although Northeastern is very flexible about majors and schools - you can even switch on-line using the portal after acceptance and before you actually start next September, I don’t think you can do this for a special program like the 6 year PT program. This program is very selective, if you are really serious about PT and this program then you contact the school to discuss this possibility.