You're so cool - DPT personal statement

This is the last scene from True Romance where Alabama thinks "...my thoughts were so clear and true, that three words went through my mind endlessly, repeating themselves like a broken record: you're so cool, you're so cool, you're so cool."

"You're so cool" - here are some tips to help get this message across to admissions in your personal statement.

The personal statement is probably one of the most important components of your application. Its something you can affect. By the time you apply, you can't really change your GPA or your GRE score but you can differentiate yourself through the personal statement.

Do's...

1) Start early.
You want to be able to go through several versions & angles of the same story. Also its a good way to get the anxiety of the application process off your chest. Just do it! I was taking prerequisites for the last 4 months and a classmate who was studying to be PA told me to get started on my personal statement. I started in December and I submitted it in March. I was glad to have all that time to try out different angles and revise.

2) Make sure you are answering the right question.
When you are writing your personal statement, you are not really answering the question, why do I want to be a physical therapist? You are really answering the question, why should I choose you for my program? You are telling the admissions board, why are you so cool? So if it was a person that inspired you or recovery from an injury that inspired you, there has to be some component of the story that explains why this person or event will make you a great PT student. If you read your story and it just tells the story but does not answer the question - why am I so cool, you have to tweak the story. You have to put the words in the admission board's mouth - [Your name] is the perfect candidate for our program because [admission person pulls excerpts from your essay].

3) Have a few people read it.
Have a few people that are strong writers read it.
Have someone that knows your journey read it.

You get so caught up in your story sometimes you don't notice that you used technical PT language and the faculty member reading your essay is not a PT but the the research methods professor. Or your story doesn't make sense because its missing some background information or even worse...the essay is boring.

You are studying to be PT not a novelist so its OK to get someone to give you tips on how to making it interesting or help you edit. I hate writing so I had my best friend and boyfriend help with my essay. They are incredible writers. They helped me through the career switch so they knew what I'm trying to say or it was easy to work out what I was trying to convey. Their help made the process less stressful because I had them to bounce ideas off of.

Don'ts...

1) Don't forget about the little stuff - grammar & spelling. Seriously. Are you really going to write a killer story and screw up the grammar and spelling. Get someone with strong writing skills to review your essay.

2) Don't forget to make sure your story is relevant to the field of PT. Its weird when people write sad stories that have no relevance to PT. Its just a story of how they got through a hard time and they found PT. It keeps the reader wondering why you picked PT. I read a sample online about how Katrina changed this person's life but the author didn't make the connection WHY they chose PT. You can talk about overcoming challenges but it should not take away from "why PT."

3) Don't avoid the question. For the career changers, you probably have to explain why you switched your career if not in your essay, definitely in your interview. I wouldn't keep admissions guessing. I would try to incorporate into your essay. You want admission to feel like you chose PT. You do not want them to get the impression that you are running away from your previous career.

Also, PT schools are looking to diversify their incoming class. 50% of my class come straight from undergrad. I think writing my career switch differentiated mw from the majority of the students that were applying to PT school.

I hope this helps. Here is also a link that provides a structured approach to the personal essay.

Plan accordingly

I'm a big post-apocalyptic movie and book geek. So this was the first image I thought of when I wrote the subject line of this post "plan accordingly."

Because I did NOT plan accordingly, I was only able to apply to two schools - Long Island University and Touro College. By the time I had enough prerequisites, it was Dec 2011 and the application due dates had passed for most of the major schools. If I had just quit my job 6 months earlier and started my prerequisites then, I would have had enough completed to apply in the Fall 2010 for Summer/Fall 2011 admission for several more schools.

Know the timeline for PT applications. Start your personal essay early. Trust that the mail system will let you down and your transcript will get lost in the abyss. Build a lot of cushion into the application process.

Plan accordingly.

Prerequisites & Community College

I love the Fall. This picture has nothing to do with my post except that I started my road to prerequisites about this time last year in the Fall.

It was a plenty painful process to get my prerequisites completed. I did my undergraduate degree in apparel and textile management so I had a lot of catching up to do - I had to take 2 A&P, 2 Chemistry, 2 Physics, 2 Psychology classes. I took all these classes at a community college. It was $190/credit. At CUNY's (City University of NY), it was $280/per credit. At private schools, its about $1000/per credit. If you have to take prerequisites, take it at a community college. PT schools put more weight in overall GPA and prerequisites GPA than which school you attended. Unless you attended an ivy league school, they take that into account when looking at your GPA.

Some schools won't accept prerequisites that were taken more than 10 years ago. If you took it say 11 years ago (I would even push this if you took it 12 years ago), I would ask one of the counselors if they would accept it (bring your transcript and be prepared with your overall GPA). If you were generally a good student 3.0 and above, some schools will let it slide - make sure you get it in writing if they approve the use of a course. Never hurts to ask. I took a biology class just over 11 years ago. The director at one of the PT programs approved it as one of my prerequisites. Saved me $720 at community college and a semester's worth of work! Please note that I have more than a 3.5 GPA and went to an ivy league so this might have helped.... but boyyyy was I happy that I asked. Then I went to other schools with this information and generally they accepted it as well. I'm not guaranteeing anything but give it a whirl. You never know!

Bye Bye Summer

I completed my first semester of PT school about a month ago. It was a summer session so the course work was intense and quick. I had a quiz, test or midterm every other week. It was a heck of a lot harder than all the science classes I took at community college... combined. For the first time in a long time, I was scared to fail and be kicked out of a program. At the same time, I realized how much I enjoy a good challenge. I passed with my scholarship intact. Hopefully, I'll do better next semester.

Here are some sites that got me through the semester.

This was a HUGE help with anatomy.

I really struggle with visualizing exercises and the muscles that are being activated. It was good to watch these exercises online so I don't stare too long at people in the gym, trying to figure out what they are working out. Exercise Directory

Great for origins and insertions

Shoulder Couples!

Cadaver Dissections!

Anatomy games when you can't study anymore.

Summer is gone with the wind. Hello Fall!

What to ask at the schools' info sessions?

I tried finding a picture of a cute nerdy girl in a thinking pose but thought this pics was much cuter.... on to the subject matter.

It was really important to me to grill the faculty at the schools that I'm going to commit all this tuition money to and find out if I am going to enjoy learning with them and in their environment for the next 3 years. Below is a list of questions I came up with based on reading a bunch of forums from students that have gone through the process.

1. How long has the program been around? How long has it been graduating students with a DPT?

Its good to know how long the school has been developing their DPT program.

2. How many clinical affiliations? What is the total amount of hours?

Some schools boast to have 350+ affiliations. Some schools can actually give you a list like on Hunter's website. You can gauge how organized the faculty is by how they answer how many clinical affiliations. As for hours, most programs are all pretty similar around 35-40 weeks. You just want to know if there are any programs that deviate from this and why.

3. Do you get to pick your affiliation? How do they get selected? What is your process in selecting locations for affiliations and assessing clinical instructors?

This helped me understand how much control that you have in picking your affiliations. At some schools, you get the feeling that you get whatever they hand to. Other schools will actively help you get an affiliation in your hometown (say if you moved from Cali and wanted to go back home for your affiliations). On the most part, from the programs that I visited, it seemed if you actively seek a certain affiliation, the school will try to accommodate it, esp. if you are persistent. But info session is a good time to ask to see how the faculty responds to needs of their students.

4. How does the program prepare the students for the licensure exam?

This one is a BIGGIE! Your education will mean nothing if you don't pass this exam. You want to see how active the program is in helping you pass this exam. Do they have review classes? Does their testing/curriculum reflect the type of questions on the licensure exam? How do students study for this exam in your school? Before you pick a school, you want to know how much the school will prepare you for this exam.

5. Does the faculty still practice? How much?

I hate the idea of being taught by a person who does not regularly treat patients. Its just not practical to learn from someone that does not have real-life experience with the material that you are learning. That person cannot gauge if the course material is pertinent to the issues of today's patients.

6. What is the pass rate of the licensure exam of the last class? (Average in 2009 is 87% of First-Time Candidates – Graduates of US Accredited Programs)

This is obvious. Again, you cannot practice until you pass the licensure exam. You want to know how good the program is in preparing their students for the exam. By knowing the pass rate, you can tell if the program produces

7. What is the graduation rate of the past few classes? (Average in 2009 is 88% of First-Time Candidates – Graduates of US Accredited Programs)

You want to see how much many people cross the finish line.

8. What is the class size? How many apply?

Then you can see how much attention you will get.

Which school?

I know I wanted to stay in NYC. I used the American Physical Therapy Association website to give me a rundown of all the schools - location, tuition, accreditation, pass rates, amount of clinical weeks, application dates and class size. The site lists all the schools that have PT programs under prospective students tab.

I took all the info, included the schools prerequisites and dropped it in a excel spreadsheet. I started to edit out the schools that I wasn't really interested in. This is the original list of schools that I could take public transportation to from NYC: Columbia, Hunter, LIU, Mercy, NYIT, NY Medical College, NYU, Stony brook, Downstate and Touro.

I removed Columbia and NYU from my list based on tuition. It was my impression that they don't give much aid and more than $100K in loans is hard for me to justify. Columbia was eliminated because I graduated from an ivy league for my bachelors so there is no allure to go to a top notch school for PT. After talking with my two supervisors from my volunteer experiences and reading blogs, the school you attend does not matter as much when getting a full time job. School matters because you get the opportunity to have clinical internships with the hospitals that these schools are affiliated with. Looking at the less expensive schools, I am fine with their affiliations if it means less loans. It is also more important how you perform during your affiliations because often it could lead to a full time job when you graduate (if there is slot available.)

I eliminated NYIT and NY Medical College purely because of location. They were more than a 1.5-2 hour commute from NYC.

Mercy was a part-time/weekend school. I didn't want to work and attend school - and I am very fortunate enough to have this option. Physical therapists are autonomous in the work field. Personally, I feel responsible for getting the most out of my education so I can treat to the best of my abilities. I need to commit myself to school. Work on top of school would definitely split my focus.

I kept Stony Brook because I considered begging my aunt to let me sleep in her basement in LI for the next 3 years during the school week and come home to NYC for the weekends. 

My final list was Hunter, LIU, Stony Brook, Downstate and Touro. Next on my list to do is visit the schools and note my impressions of the faculty, pass rates, style of teaching, preparation for licensure exam, clinical affiliations assignments and class size.

Here is my excel spreadsheet. Its a little hard to read but hopefully you can make out the info.

Why the switch to physical therapy?

I worked in specialty retail for 7 years, mainly small shop operations like a museum, a sports organization and then a catalog. I never worked in a large organization like Macy's. I hear its nice place but it was not really an option for me. I liked helping vendors, designers and clients interpret their vision into viable money making ideas, in a sense, my job was creative. However, this was only 5% of my time. The rest of the time I toiled with excel spreadsheets, wrote contracts and dealt with invoices. Unfortunately, this is the part of the job that I was never really good at and didn't particularly like.

After 2 years at every job, I was unhappy. I would work obscene hours for all my employers and they would value my work. On the most part, I worked with good people so my environment was fine. But I didn't like the idea of spending the rest of my life behind my computer for 10-12 hours a day for someone else that was not my family. I started to daydream about what else I could do for work.

It was not a person but a yahoo article that inspired me to look into physical therapy. I think the headline said something about paying careers with a good outlook. It was an article that was sensitive to the hard financial times. Since this is not an interview, I feel the need to be honest that my inspiration came from an online article that I read after I closed my yahoomail. This is not what I say to people when they asked why the big switch because it sounds flaky. But it's the truth. Inspiration comes in weird ways. However, I read this article shortly after and liked what it had to say.

I think this was a good attempt at a first post. Hopefully, I won't wait a year to get to the more helpful info like applying to schools in NYC.