<p>My daughter, who has yet to decide on a major, is really wanting to try the PT rout. I know there isn’t a major for this (kinda like pre-med), but I was wondering if anyone has a kid planning on physical therapy school after grad. Any words of wisdom on choosing a major for PT? </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My kid is pre-med, but I do know that many kids who are interested in PT major in things like Exercise Science, Kinesiology, Bio, Chem…really anything. </p>
<p>[Pre-Physical</a> Therapy at The University of Alabama Health Professions Advising Website](<a href=“http://premed.ua.edu/pre-healthprograms/pre-physical-therapy/]Pre-Physical”>http://premed.ua.edu/pre-healthprograms/pre-physical-therapy/)</p>
<p>**What should I choose for my major?
**</p>
<p>Study what you love. You should choose a major that reflects your interests, your passions, and your strengths, while at the same time providing you with adequate challenges. Many students choose to major in a science, primarily because people interested in physical therapy are typically interested in the human sciences. Other popular majors include kinesiology, athletic training, and psychology. National applicant data show that no one major is given preference over another. Therefore, you should choose a major that fits your individual interests and abilities. Pick a major that you like, one in which you are able to do well, and one that gives you attractive alternatives should your aspirations change.</p>
<p>Thanks M2ck, I am concerned about the Exercise Science or Kinesiology degrees being job friendly degrees in the event that she changes her mind in the end or not getting into PT school.</p>
<p>I guess every parent with a pre med or pre law student has these fears!</p>
<p>I guess every parent with a pre med or pre law student has these fears!</p>
<p>yes…that’s why my son majored in ChemE…just in case.</p>
<p>What are your D’s other career interests or talents?</p>
<p>Does she have any computer interests? I would think that a CS degree or a MIS degree with the pre-PT track would give her options.</p>
<p>The Athletic Training major would be a good choice for a potential pre PT. Supposedly very competitive at UA as well.</p>
<p>On a different note since she is interested in PT would she be interested in Speech Therapy? Job outlooks and avg salary are similar and it could be just as rewarding personally.</p>
<p>What are your D’s other career interests or talents?</p>
<p>Good question! She was considering a business degree and is a people person. Maybe she can find a good combination of the two. She is very social and a talented athlete. She loves her anatomy class and has been advised by her teacher that she would be strong in a science field.</p>
<p>Casino- I will tell her to look at speech therapy too. She is just one of those kids who has NO idea what she wants to major in, although, she has strong opinions on what she doesn’t want to major in (math, engineering, education).</p>
<p>SMBradshaw-
Regarding Athletic Training as a major for pre-PT. Do alot of research before having her decide to do this. On the plus side, once Certified AT’s get into PT school, they are basically able to coast the entire first year of the program, because they have already had most of the classes. As my older D says, who is currently an upperclassman in a top AT program…they are the teachers pets the first year! lol</p>
<p>However, the AT program itself is very tough. It requires 20+ hours per week in the training room working with athletes, cleaning, stocking, taping, supervising work outs and PT, writing case notes, etc. This is in addtion to your classes.</p>
<p>The program is very competitive at UA with about 100 students applying for 20 slots. UA bases their admittance on a few things, but the main consideration is gpa. The average gpa in the program is 3.5. </p>
<p>You start as a general health science major and take very specific classes your first and second semester. You apply to the program your second semester and do 20 clinical hours that are viewed by other certifieds, and program heads. You are graded on these hours and on your skills.</p>
<p>UA has a good AT program. We have spent a lot of time visiting the training facilities and talking to the head of the program. It is very impressive. If you’d like more info, just feel free to PM me. I’d be happy to help.</p>
<p>My daughter is planning on a DPT degree after graduating from Bama. She considered Athletic Training and was very pleased with the department and the internships it offered. She ended up chosing Kinesiology/Exercise Science because of the hours involved with clinical rotations for Athletic Training. She is a triathlete and wanted to continue to train at a high level. She also wanted a double major in Spanish and wanted to study abroad for at least a semester and this wasn’t workable with AT. She also decided that she was more interested in spinal cord injury or adaptive sports than working with injured athletes, so AT wasn’t the best choice. The exercise science major requires you to select tracks to follow – she is in the pre-physical therapy track to ensure she has all the prerequisite classes for admission to DPT school but also is doing the adaptive sports track as a possible back up plan. </p>
<p>I think your concerns about employment with the Exercise Science degree are valid ones. I can tell you when she interned at Shepherd Spinal Center here in Atlanta several of the therapists on the unit where she worked had Exercise Science degrees instead of physical therapy degrees. Someone suggested a speech pathology major, and being one myself I would tell you that it’s a great field but does require a master’s degree to license and practice. I did not have to take as many science prerequisite classes as she is taking (which is why I chose it in the first place). Occupational therapy is another option my daughter is considering and it’s totally wide open as far as jobs go (10 are open in my school system right now). </p>
<p>There is an active pre-health group on campus and I would strongly encourage you to see if Dr. Chris Nutt is still the pre-health advisor. He talked my daughter through this decision making process on her campus visit and I was very impressed with his knowledge base.</p>
<p>Chris Hutt is still the Pre-health director. He’s very easy to talk to and responds to emails. He is also known to send “good luck, thinking of you,” texts to students on the day they are taking the MCAT.</p>
<p>As Malanai coined…Bama is high tech and high touch. </p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>Awesome to hear all of your experiences! I’m going to have my daughter read over these and we will discuss. Thanks for the tip on getting in touch with Chris Hutt, as well!</p>
<p>Hello all!</p>
<p>My D is a rising senior and we are set to begin the application process to Alabama.</p>
<p>She is interested in physical therapy and looking at Kinesiology/Exercise Science with the pre-PT track. Her first love is musical theatre and dance but she’s concerned (as are we) about long-term employment and stability in that field. She recently injured her knee while dancing and has become very interested in PT. While she loves theatre and dance, she is also very good in math and science.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if it is possible to double major in K/ES and say dance or MT? Both Dance and MT are audition based programs and searching the UA website I have come across several people who double majored while in those two majors. I’ve also looked in the College of Ed (which houses K/ES) and don’t see any rules prohibiting.</p>
<p>D is a high stats kid (ACT=35, GPA 4.0 UW, 3 APs this year, 5 or 6 next year), definitely wants to be part of Honors College, possibly CBH and do research about PT and dancers…</p>
<p>So, questions:
a. Is a double major with K/ES and dance or theatre doable?
b. She plans to audition for both dance and theatre and then decide which one of those to be major one. How would she add K/ES as a second major? At Bama Bound?<br>
c. Does the College of Ed play nice with College of Arts & Sciences? And do they both play nice with Honors?</p>
<p>My D also would love to minor in Spanish and study abroad. (Yea, she basically wants to do it all…) Any info on how that could fit in? </p>
<p>We realize she will probably be at UA more than 4 years to do this, but we do hope she has a lot of AP credits when she enters Bama in Fall of 2013.</p>
<p>Any advice would be most appreciated!!</p>