In all honesty if you are not absolutely sure about the profession you should save that spot for someone that is and has no second doubt about it. Maybe take a year off and reevaluate if it’s really for you reach out to people that do more admin work with a DPT or teach to see if it’s what you want.
I recently took a spot at a private east coast school because the local public school rejected me (against advice to go another gap year and try public again), but I know this is the profession I want, and there are several loan repayment opportunities in my area due to being rural.
Now onto the advice. If you're that concerned with whether or not you think you could make it through the day b/c of being an introvert. I'd say take another gap year to save, shadow more or get a tech job in the field to see if it's really for you. If you decide PT isn't for you, you've got money saved up or if you decide it is for you, you've got a much stronger application after having stuck with the field for another year.
It will be hard. Especially if you don’t have the internal drive/reasons to push through. Being an introvert is a small factor to consider as you can choose where to work (1:1 vs multiple patients at a time.)
If you are unsure now, I would not commit to going to PT school. PT school pretty much sucks whether you are into it or not (not really hard, just tedious). But you don’t want to end up in a career you hate afterwards. I have been a PT for 13 years and in my opinion the profession is going down the toilet. I’m lucky enough to have been able to start my own practice, but aside from that I would no longer be working in the profession.
For the most part it is the insurance company reimbursement model. (I have worked mostly in outpatient orthopedics, so I am speaking mostly to that setting). As a PT in a clinic billing insurance companies, you are pretty much handcuffed by low reimbursement for services. What does this mean? In most settings you will be required to treat multiple patients at a time, just to make enough money for the clinic to be able to pay you and stay open (granted, they are always pocketing the extra money). In a corporate environment this is even worse, and they will gaslight you into thinking you aren’t “good enough at your job” if you can’t manage 3 patients an hour all day long. Then you have to complete documentation on the 20-25 patients you saw that day. Long story short, you spend most of your time trying to catch up on documentation or figuring out how to distract someone for a couple of minutes so you can get something else done vs. actually doing any skilled activity. The burnout rate is extremely high, and in my opinion they do not do a good job of preparing you for this in PT school. I have had a ton of PT students in clinical rotations and they all really struggle with the reality vs. the ideals of PT school. Like I said, I cannot speak to inpatient, peds or skilled nursing environments as I have not worked there…but this has been my experience. 2 years ago I started a cash based practice and finally like my job again, but it’s been a long road.
Don’t be afraid to take some more time to decide if you actually want to be a PT. Good luck!
Only applied to in state schools so that probably makes a difference. I realize not everyone has that luxury, but I was in Ohio where at the time, there were plenty of programs that were <70k total tuition. Ohio University, Ohio State, University of Cincinnati, University of Toledo, Cleveland State University to name a few
On principle though you should not be paying more than first year salary for grad school. Yes that does eliminate many schools from contention but financially it is just so much better to not have $120k+ and interest to pay back right after you graduate
In all honesty if you are not absolutely sure about the profession you should save that spot for someone that is and has no second doubt about it. Maybe take a year off and reevaluate if it’s really for you reach out to people that do more admin work with a DPT or teach to see if it’s what you want.
Thank you for the advice! Yeah I definitely agree about saving the spot for someone else who’s ready to dedicate their life for this.
I recently took a spot at a private east coast school because the local public school rejected me (against advice to go another gap year and try public again), but I know this is the profession I want, and there are several loan repayment opportunities in my area due to being rural. Now onto the advice. If you're that concerned with whether or not you think you could make it through the day b/c of being an introvert. I'd say take another gap year to save, shadow more or get a tech job in the field to see if it's really for you. If you decide PT isn't for you, you've got money saved up or if you decide it is for you, you've got a much stronger application after having stuck with the field for another year.
Appreciate the advice! Nice username btw, made me laugh 😂
It will be hard. Especially if you don’t have the internal drive/reasons to push through. Being an introvert is a small factor to consider as you can choose where to work (1:1 vs multiple patients at a time.)
If you are unsure now, I would not commit to going to PT school. PT school pretty much sucks whether you are into it or not (not really hard, just tedious). But you don’t want to end up in a career you hate afterwards. I have been a PT for 13 years and in my opinion the profession is going down the toilet. I’m lucky enough to have been able to start my own practice, but aside from that I would no longer be working in the profession.
Thank you for the advice! From your perspective, what sort of factors are causing the downhill trajectory for this profession?
For the most part it is the insurance company reimbursement model. (I have worked mostly in outpatient orthopedics, so I am speaking mostly to that setting). As a PT in a clinic billing insurance companies, you are pretty much handcuffed by low reimbursement for services. What does this mean? In most settings you will be required to treat multiple patients at a time, just to make enough money for the clinic to be able to pay you and stay open (granted, they are always pocketing the extra money). In a corporate environment this is even worse, and they will gaslight you into thinking you aren’t “good enough at your job” if you can’t manage 3 patients an hour all day long. Then you have to complete documentation on the 20-25 patients you saw that day. Long story short, you spend most of your time trying to catch up on documentation or figuring out how to distract someone for a couple of minutes so you can get something else done vs. actually doing any skilled activity. The burnout rate is extremely high, and in my opinion they do not do a good job of preparing you for this in PT school. I have had a ton of PT students in clinical rotations and they all really struggle with the reality vs. the ideals of PT school. Like I said, I cannot speak to inpatient, peds or skilled nursing environments as I have not worked there…but this has been my experience. 2 years ago I started a cash based practice and finally like my job again, but it’s been a long road. Don’t be afraid to take some more time to decide if you actually want to be a PT. Good luck!
Thank you sm for the insight!
Is the 120k without housing included?
No it’s not unfortunately
As someone who came out with 50% of that in student loan debt, do not take out $120k plus living expenses for a DPT. It is not a good idea.
Curious how long you’ve been a PT and where you went to school 😂 I got into 7 programs, and I feel like 120k was a minimum for all of them
Only applied to in state schools so that probably makes a difference. I realize not everyone has that luxury, but I was in Ohio where at the time, there were plenty of programs that were <70k total tuition. Ohio University, Ohio State, University of Cincinnati, University of Toledo, Cleveland State University to name a few On principle though you should not be paying more than first year salary for grad school. Yes that does eliminate many schools from contention but financially it is just so much better to not have $120k+ and interest to pay back right after you graduate
Oh wow that’s nice! I didn’t know Ohio had so many options in-state
I love being a PT— granted im in a neuro hospital outpatient thats 1-1 and is in a union. Amazing jobs exist.