<p>I wanna become a physical therapist.
At sdsu, I would most likely be studying kinesiology. And I would probably get a great GPA there.
At UCSB, I would be studying biology or physiology. Even though it's better prestige, I probably wouldn't get as high of a GPA. Help?</p>
<p>Where you go for undergraduate doesn’t have much effect on med school acceptance, so go where you’ll be happier.</p>
<p>But I’m sure grades matter.</p>
<p>if you think you’ll get a higher gpa at SDSU then you should go there. However the contents of the required premed courses is going to be similar no matter where you go, and I expect so is the expectations of the profs with regards to grades. Of course that’s just my opinion, and you don’t want to go to UCSB and later regret it. So I think you know the right decision for you.</p>
<p>It’s not “pre-med” if you want to be a PT. It’s pre-physical therapy. You won’t be going to medical school. You’d get going to grad school in PT. </p>
<p>If you can get the better GPA at SDSU, then go there. </p>
<p>Is there an exam for PT entrance?</p>
<p>If you are a California resident, adn plan on applying instate, just know that they prefer UC undergrads. Thus, a Cal State grad is at a disadvantage, unless you are a hooked candidate. OOS med schools supposedly don’t care (which I find hard to believe since academics tend to be prestige hounds…).</p>
<p>Second, do not major in kinesiology for premed. Med schools much prefer a standard liberal arts major – any liberal arts major – over what they consider a ‘vocational’ major. Vocational majors are also considered a negative.</p>
<p>If you are interested in PT, either of those schools are a good choice. However, Ecavalier is totally wrong. If you are premed- you want to go to med school- undergrad is key. I went to a UC med school and my class was roughly 1/3 ivies, 1/3 UC’s (with UCLA , UCB (my Alma mater) and UCSD dominating.Only a handful - 4-5 were grads of Cal States and the others were from great schools like Emory, Stanford, USC, NYU. So bottom line, for med school, where you do undergrad is key- unless you don’t mind chilling fir a few years in the Carribbean.</p>
<p>And Bluebayou is right on- I majored in Art History and the med schools I applied to loved that. Keep in mind I had a 4.0 science major- so if you choose a non-science major, you still must ace all your science classes</p>
<p>tahoe23, I think you are confusing people by asking about premed when you aren’t planning to go to med school for an M.D., but you’d go to school for a DPT, I believe. So the advice here may be irrelevent.</p>
<p>I don’t get why people would not pick a better school, I guess that’s just me but I’d steer my daughter to UCSB which I think is a very good school and you will have good quality of peers, generally.</p>
<p>You might be better positioned to do bio or phisio in the long run. Check the APTA website. There is a wealth of informtion for students.
[Information</a> for Prospective Students](<a href=“http://www.apta.org/ProspectiveStudents]Information”>Careers in Physical Therapy | APTA)</p>
<p>There is also info about programs where you are guaranteed entry into the Physical Therapy school pending certain requirements, and also 3+3 schools where you go into the program directly after your 3 years of required courses. I’d assume those are competitive, but worth looking into if you are sure about this. It also might be worth looking at one of the accredited schools in CA that DO offer a DPT and consider undergrad there. Neither of your schools are on the list.</p>
<p>Azusa Pacific University (A4, D6, F1, PR)
California State University, Fresno (A4, D5, F1, PU)
California State University, Long Beach (A4, D5, F1, PU)
California State University, Northridge (A4, D5, F1, PU)
California State University, Sacramento (A4, D5, F1, PU)
Chapman University (A4, D6, F1, PR)
Loma Linda University (D6, E5, F1, PR)
Mount St Mary’s College (A4, D6, F1, PR)
Samuel Merritt University (A4, D6, F1, PR)
University of California, San Francisco - San Francisco State University (A4, D6, F1, PU)
University of Southern California (A4, D6, F1, PR)
University of St Augustine for Health Sciences (A1, A4, D6, E2, F1, PR)
University of the Pacific (A4, D6, F1, PR)
Western University of Health Sciences (A4, D6, F1, PR) </p>
<p>There is also admission requirements, exam pass rates and good stuff on that site. Also there’s a ‘chat with a current student’ feature.</p>
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<p>A big part of that is self-selection, however. The average, unhooked premed at a Cal State has zero chance at an allopathic med school. Zero. That is due to their test ability. The mcat score is ~50% of obtaining an interview, and the average Cal State student does not have the testing ability to clear a high enough score, regardless of the amount of prep. OTOH, the top schools (Ivies+plus top UCs) screen out low test scoring types; they only accept high testers.</p>
<p>Well, I think the Cal State issue is more than test taking ability. I took a class at Cal State LA while in HS, and found that some of my classmates weren’t as proficient in English literacy and others did not seem as interested in studying so much. It is the only time that on 2 occasions, students in a class I was taking were caught cheating-off of me! On test days, I arrived early, sat by a wall, and kept my arms folded ip to cover my answers. Didn’t want to get accused of participating in a cheating ring. It was a depressing experience altogether.</p>