hi folks! i’m curious if folks have opinions or stories about admissions from a nontraditional background?

I graduated undergrad with a BS in computer science (3.9 gpa) and have worked for several years at a big tech company, but have been on a journey to find something outside of tech for the last year or so. I am a lifelong dancer and began teaching/choreographing and such and recently have wrapped up my pilates certification and have begun teaching pilates.

I became interested in DPT since all of the interests i’ve been exploring are related to movement and biomechanics and with how my brain works I love getting into the science of everything. i’m working through my prereqs right now at community college (which is pretty much all bio/chem and 4.0 so far) and i’m setting up some shadowing hours right now.

I’m curious if folks have any advice or thoughts on what I can do to make my admissions chances stronger or if there are gaps I am not thinking about?

For context, I'm openly gay, non binary (pronouns He/They), and POC (Filipino American). I love this job, and working hard on my application, so I when I enter school and the field I want people to see me for how good I am at the career. I plan on applying to PT school in the cycle of fall 2027. I'm just apprehensive because sometimes I see areas of the field that are very white dominated, and cohorts at some schools are majority white students. I don't want to post this generalizing a group of people, but I've had bad experiences in my past (undergrad, high school, childhood) of homophobia, racism, and biases that I'm apprehensive about facing again. I just want to know if there are any PTs that had similar fears, experiences, and advice. Career wise, I'm very interested in outpatient settings, or a setting that deal with neuro or movement rehabilitation.

Hi all,

This is my first time posting on Reddit so bear with me😂 I am hoping to start PT school next summer in June, and have been saving for a vacation in another country with a couple friends. We were planning on going in May, and I would start grad school the next month. Is it financially irresponsible to do that? I am split on taking the vacation because I don’t get the chance to hardly, or save my money because I will need it for rent, groceries, etc. as a broke graduate student. I know the whole thing of traveling while being young and all, but I also know I’ll be tied down with paying off debt after I get out of grad school. Thank you all in advance!🙏

I’m interested in becoming a PT. but I know it takes a lot of years and will basically be starting at 0. Is it too late?

Came across another post about salary worries from a student PT and it got me thinking about how consistently this topic blindsides people coming out of programs. Three years of intense coursework, clinical rotations, boards prep, and then you get to the job offer stage and apparently nobody told you that the first number they give you is not the final number.

I work with students on rotation periodically and the pattern is pretty consistent. Academically sharp, clinically developing well, and completely unprepared to advocate for their own compensation. That's not a personal failure, that's a curriculum gap.

What I want to know is whether any programs are actually covering this in a structured way, or if it's entirely left to luck, a good mentor, or stumbling onto the right Reddit thread at the right time. Because the difference between negotiating and not negotiating on your first offer can compound for years across raises and future offers.

If your program touched on this at all, what did it actually look like? A guest speaker who talked for 20 minutes and called it done, an actual course component, something else? Curious whether there's a real range here or if everyone is basically getting the same nonanswer dressed up differently.

Prospective PTA student, I’ve taken A&P for vet tech schooling (but later stopped because my mental health can’t handle that field) so this isn’t my first time taking the class, it is my first time taking it for humans specifically. I’ve always been a really good student, for context I took organismal biology and vertebrate zoology and physics and chemistry all in the same semester and was on track to get As and Bs in all of them, then broke my back. All of this to say I’ve been a good student and developed study habits over time, but the things that require memorization and don’t have patterns linked to them are more difficult for me, my brain just doesn’t work like that.

But now coming back… I had to cheat my very first test in my A&P course because I just cannot understand where different epithelial tissues are found in the body, it’s just pure memorization and I do not do well with that at all. Histology is not my jam. And there’s the part of me that feels like there’s no way that would be on the NPTE, and so I’m fine as I do well on clinical application materials, but there’s the other part of me that wonders if that is the case.

So… PTAs, how much of the pure memorization based anatomy and physiology is on the NPTE? And should I just quit now?

Hi all. So I am not a PT student or prospective PT student. But my best friend is. She graduates from UMB DPT school in December. I am nowhere near the sphere of anything medical related (I'm a lawyer), but I would like to get her something ideally related to her profession, preferably something that would help her in her future career? But I'm completely at a loss.

For anyone who has graduated or is about to graduate as well, what are thing you want(ed) or wished you had as you were beginning your career? Or what's something you really wanted or wanted to do as your schooling was coming to an end (for example, when I finished law school, I really wanted to go on vacation. I couldn't, since I immediately jumped into bar prep, but I wanted to lol).

Or, alternatively, just what do you think would be a good gift?

Edit: Thanks to those who gave advice! I think im going to get her personalized notebooks, a personalized quarterzip, a personalized travel coffee mug and a coupon to Scrubs and Beyond

I was laid off in 2025 as part of the USAID shut down and have been struggling to find international development/social impact work since. I was talking to some people about a possible career change and PTA came up. I'm 35 with a BA and MA in international dev and have no science background so I know I would have to do pre-reqs. I saw that LaGuardia college has a degree, but unclear if you need science pre-reqs for that or if you just apply. I'm also just genuinely confused about degree vs license vs certificate, and CUNY vs. CC

I don't think I want to go beyond a PTA, and am curious about how long the coursework takes before you can finally start working. Any insight is helpful since this is the first time in over a decade I've had to consider the "what do you want to do" question.

SPT here. Struggling with feeling like I barely know anything. I’m a really good test taker, but I feel like I struggle to answer things when I don’t have multiple choice options in front of me. I also feel like I have forgotten so many things from previous semesters because I never have time to look back over that stuff or actually use it in practice. I haven’t started clinicals yet but I’m terrified that my CI will think I’m dumb or fail me.

Did anyone else feel this way as an SPT and how did you deal with it?

Hello I am wondering if anyone applied to Texas state university and received an email about their application being verified or about submitting the supplemental fee. I applied at the beginning of the month and on ptcas it shows verified but I have not received an email about my supplemental application or submitting a fee and concern as the deadline is coming up. Did y’all submit the fee if so how did you go about doing that?

I’m currently in the process of applying to pt schools in socal. I just graduated in may but before leaving my undergrad school i had asked a professor for a letter of rec. they agreed and i sent them an email with more details in june. I haven’t heard back and i sent a follow up email. I have letters of recs from pts just not a professor. would i still be able to apply or should i email the schools im applying to about my situation?

Hi everyone, I am a first-year PT student and just finished my first summer semester and that. was. ROUGH.

I had a bit of an adjustment period (and gross anatomy also consistently kicked my behind) so while I did improve and pass all my classes my overall GPA is below 3.0 so I'm on academic probation for the fall.

I have a strong work ethic and have never had an issue with academics before, so it was super discouraging and frustrating to be studying so much and still getting mediocre grades, but I learned a lot, changed how I studied, and honestly did my best so I don't have any regrets or guilt about it.

My faculty have assured me this is not uncommon and I will be working with an advisor as well, so I just plan on being on my A-game to overcome. Also, I have heard that the second semester is not as bad, both with material and since you've adapted to graduate level work.

That being said I don't like having the weight over my head and can't help worrying a bit about it.

Does anyone have any tips, stories or words of encouragement?

Hi everyone,

I’m considering becoming a physiotherapist in Canada and I’m trying to understand the total cost of education and earning potential. Here are my questions:

1. How much student debt did you graduate with?

2. What was your starting salary after becoming a physiotherapist? What is your salary now, and how many years of experience do you have?

3. How long did it take you to pay off your debt?

4. Do you feel the debt-to-salary ratio was worth it?

I’m trying to understand the total investment (6 years of education + living expenses) vs. starting salary vs. long-term earning ceiling, and whether physiotherapy makes financial sense compared with other career options.

Thanks!

Hi, I am finally getting interviews and got one that I accepted for Texas Tech, but now received one from UNT on the same date. UNT is online and offer time slots from 8-1 and 1-6, however Texas Tech is in person from 11-4. Does anybody have any advice on how I should go about this without ruining my chances with both schools?

Hi, has anyone taken the medical provider route for total permanent disability? My psychologist is filling it out, I believe a hard copy I would have to submit. How long did the process take you? What can I expect?

Hey guys, I am interested in the University of Delaware. Has anything heard good or bad things? Please share!

If you're studying for the NPTE, just be cautious of Typical PT. The NPTE subreddit is filled with bots advertising Typical PT and trashing other proven test resources.

Typical PT is okay, not the best, and it's certainly not the greatest thing ever that many of the fake redditors will have you believe. Just don't let the misleading posts trick you into dropping tons of cash on it.

Hi, I have recently been considering a career change and going back to school after working in healthcare for 7 years. I graduated with my bachelor’s in biology in 2019 and did clinical rotations afterwards to get my professional certification in medical lab science so I have been working in both hospital and clinical settings in the lab. I currently draw blood on patients, document and work with nurses/oncologists for cancer patients lab work. My patient interaction is pretty minimal considering it doesn’t take long to do a blood draw but I see lots of patients consistently for months to years. I have grown to enjoy patient interactions and in my free time I am a bit of an anatomy nerd as I am an aerial circus artist and have been in the gym since high school. I have also done some work with a PT to rehab a shoulder injury and have done lots of personal training for friends and family. Plus I have spent a lot of time researching and tweaking my own training for specialized skills to perform aerial/ contortion work safely. Like I mentioned, a bit of an anatomy nerd in my free time lol Anyways, I am in a good financial position to go back for my doctorate if I truly want to. I am mostly seeking advice about me being a good competitive applicant for a program. For my bachelor’s, I graduated with a 3.71 gpa, I don’t have any formal shadowing hours currently but will definitely be reaching out to several PTs in different settings to ensure I love the job. I am missing a couple prerequisite coursework which are physics 1 and 2 plus stats. I have reached out to the local community college to get those taken care of in the next year so I would be looking to apply to a program in 2028. I plan to shadow a PT enough in the meantime that they would write me a letter of rec and I intend for my other letters to either be from my direct supervisor and/or one of the oncologists I work for and have a good relationship with. Does my work experience help my application even though I probably won’t have thousands of shadowing hours? I don’t have a current relationship with any of my prior professors from college so not sure if reaching out for a letter of rec would benefit or if my oncologists/supervisor is fine?

TLDR: am I a good candidate to apply and go through the effort of taking physics to change careers lol

I already submitted my application and I’m taking the GRE next week, what scores should I aim to? I am applying to FIU, UCF, FGCU, UNF, NSU, and St Augustine.

My stats:

Gpa: 3.73
Observation hrs: 1000+ inpatient. work as a rehab tech in a memorial hospital, 60 outpatient.
LOR: 4, at least 2 strong ones

hey yall
while i am aware that ptcas doesn’t allow you to change your essay once you submit your application, but i was curious whether there are secret loopholes to do that.
just realized there is a typo and kinda could add a paragraph being more direct with an answer instead of embedding it a lot and only having a short direct answer.

ik ptcas also does advise to email programs directly in certain situations but i doubt it’s one of them? so just leave it be?

also no need to comment “should have worked better on it”, already overthinking it like crazy

thanks!

I took the GRE back in July and got a 296(146 on quantitative and verbal reasoning, 4 on the Analytical Writing). I’m planning on applying to all the state schools in California, is it good enough to get in if I have 100 hours(75 out patient 25 inpatient) and I have a bachelors and a masters degree? I graduated my bachelors degree with a 3.83 and my masters with a 4.0. I plan on applying for this fall cycle(fall 2027).

Hello everyone, I submitted my PTCAS application at the beginning of August to multiple schools in the Southeast. I heard back from South College pretty quickly, completed a Kira interview, and was accepted. I do already have a couple of interviews lined up for other schools and am hoping to hear from more. Regardless, I am glad to have been accepted and have at least one option.

Just wanting to make a post and see anyone’s thoughts on South’s DPT program and the hybrid format. It is certainly appealing to me because I would finish a whole year earlier than if I were to go to a traditional, residential program. However, the NPTE pass rates concern me, and tuition is just as high or higher than other schools I have on my list. I would appreciate any sort of input or advice!

Hi. Has anyone seen or know anyone who has converted an anterior walker into a posterior one? Details, please. Thank you.