Successful Applicants - Physical Therapy

Q: What extracurriculars did you participate in?
A: In terms of clinical experience, I worked as a physical therapy aide in both inpatient and outpatient settings: in the hospital, orthopedic clinics, and a multidisciplinary wellness clinic. These experiences gave me insight into what my future career would entail. I truly recommend working or volunteering at a variety of places in order to better learn to interact with diverse patient populations and to experience various business models while working alongside a variety of professionals.

In addition to physical therapy experiences, I investigated other medical and wellness fields. I worked as a personal trainer, I volunteered in an internal medicine clinic, and I attended virtual clinical shadowing events such as ClubMedSHU and WebShadowers.

Working alongside professionals in health-related fields helped to solidify my choice to pursue Physical Therapy.

Finally, I was a member of the Hunter Hillel chapter, and a part of the Jewish Learning Fellowship, which was an opportunity to connect with my peers and discuss culture and religion and its relevance in modern times.

Q: How many hours on average did you spend studying for your courses per week?
A: About 50 hours a week, or 3 hours per credit.

Q: Did you use a test prep course?
A: No. To prepare for the GRE Exam, I used the Kaplan and Princeton Review workbooks and the two official GRE online practice tests. The official GRE website also has additional paid practice materials available.

Q: Did you take a GAP year? If so, why?
A: I took a gap year to gain more physical therapy experience. I knew additional experience would help me stand out as an applicant. Most importantly, my various experiences gave me the inspiration to continue on this path and prepared me as an incoming student.

Q: What do you consider to be your strengths in your application?
A: The strongest parts of my application were my clinical experiences and my essays. By the time I applied, I had over one thousand clinical hours, across three outpatient clinics and a hospital. I recommend prioritizing in-patient hours, as these opportunities are more difficult to find.

Additionally, my essays were all rewritten and revised by others. I recommend utilizing the Writing Center in the Hunter Library and the Pre-Health Office for help with essay writing, and especially what to include in your essays and how to structure them. It is important that your personal statement is well written and that your school specific essays reflect enthusiasm for each school, so be sure to investigate each one in depth.

Finally, a major strength to my application was that I applied fairly early in July. Most schools will accept students on a rolling basis; therefore, applying early will increase your chances for acceptance.

Q: Did you apply nationally?
A: No.

Q: How did the Pre-Health Advising Office help you achieve your goals?
A: Kemile Jackson guided me throughout the application process and provided me with revisions on my personal statement. I believe my personal statement was a strong aspect of my application and, therefore, the assistance of the Pre-Health Office was critical to my success as an applicant to DPT programs.

Q: What advice do you have for others?
A: Pursuing any Pre-Health track at Hunter is difficult and stressful, so I recommend that you remind yourself why you’re following this path, and how rewarding it will be to finally practice your desired career. Furthermore, ask for help from others. Don’t be afraid to reach out to current graduate students for advice. There is also a Rehabilitation Therapy Club at Hunter College for pre-OT and pre-PT students so get involved and connect with other students who have similar professional interests. Finally, utilize the services and resources provided by the Pre-Health Advising Office for application help and the Writing center for help on your essays.

In terms of applications, most PT schools give priority to early applications, as there are more seats available. In order to apply earlier, start your application before your current cycle opens. Reach out ahead of time so that your letters of recommendation can be submitted right when the application opens. Set a GRE (or other standardized test) date for at least a month before applications open so that there will be enough time to submit them to the DPT programs you are interested in. Finally, look at last year's personal statement and school specific essay questions, (available either on PTCAS or on Reddit), and draft out your responses, as they will likely be similar to last year’s questions.

Investigate the DPT programs that you plan to apply to, and think about what they can offer you and why you are a good fit there. In your applications, show your passion and excitement about the PT field and about the programs you are applying to. Additionally, add any nonclinical experiences that will demonstrate who you are as a person. For example, on my application I included that I have a passion for gardening because I like to nurture and work with my hands, skills that translate to my desired profession in physical therapy. Finally, as a pre-PT student, prioritize attaining your inpatient hours because these opportunities are more difficult to obtain than outpatient hours. If there aren’t any technician positions available, call up your local hospitals with a physical therapy department and ask them if you can volunteer.

Good luck!!!

Q: What extracurriculars did you participate in?
A: I participated in biomolecular research at Hunter, as well as clinical research at Mount Sinai. I was a Pre-Health Mentor to two pre-med students, and an Anthropology tutor at the Skirball Science Learning Center at Hunter. I was also blessed with an opportunity to volunteer and shadow surgeons at NYU, and during my last year of college, I received a job as a PT Technician at SPEAR PT, and earned my ACSM CPT as well, allowing me to train my own clients. In the little free time I did have, I enjoyed going for bike rides, working-out (taking dance or Zumba classes), going to the movies, and exploring the city.

Q: How many hours on average did you spend studying for your courses per week?
A: On average, I spent about 20-30 hours a week studying for my courses.

Q: Did you use a test prep course?
A: I did not take any Test Prep courses.

Q: Did you take a GAP year? If so, why?
A: I did not take a gap year.

Q: What do you consider to be your strengths in your application?
A: My strengths in my application were my letters of recommendation, GPA, extracurricular activities, jobs, internships, volunteering, and research experiences, and my passion for and knowledge of the field of the field of physical therapy based on my personal experiences as a ballet dancer.

Q: Did you apply nationally?
A: I did not apply nationally. I only applied to Hunter College, as that was my primary choice. I was fortunate to receive an early acceptance into the Hunter DPT Program.

Q: How did the Pre-Health Advising Office help you achieve your goals?
A: The Pre-Health Advising Office provided workshops that helped me tremendously with receiving internships, research, and volunteering opportunities. The Office also provided me with a mock interview session with one of the advisors, which bettered my chances of acceptance into PT school. The Office further kept a record of my letters of recommendation throughout my four years at Hunter after opening a Pre-Health file, which provided efficiency when applying to PT school.

Q: What advice do you have for others?
A: Have a strong resume, make connections and build relationships by knowing how to network with people, and self-reflect to discover what makes you special and different from every other applicant out there. Find out what you can bring to the table that no one else can, as a competitive GPA is only one aspect of the what you need to be accepted into DPT school.