The topic today is; it's common sense. Have any of you ever heard those three words? Maybe when you have been preparing for the GRE or PT cast and someone says, "it's common sense." If it was common sense, well, the truth is every single one of you would already be in PT school. Some of you may not have heard those three words. The truth is what holds people back with that statement is that it discredits the detail of what has to take place for you to set yourself up for your PT application. These details can be holding you back, whether it's a low GPA or GRE but, to say it's common sense means one of two things either we have forgotten what we went through, or we are saying it was much easier than it was. We remember memories that showed it was not a straightforward journey, but we will remember it as being much lighter than it was. These actions can throw people off because we're like, "don't worry about the GRE and don't worry about focusing on the program that you're going...

Hi, my name is Briana Lievanos, I wanted to share my story of how I got accepted into PT school because it is not a traditional path. During this journey, I have learned so much about myself and about the physical therapy career and in retrospect, I realized my adventure was right for me. I also wanted to do this blog because now being part of the accepted system family; I know that I am not the only one overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, and balancing life while applying to different PT schools.

So my journey start back in 2015 when I had applied to two PT schools, I had graduated with my undergrad from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and moved back home to El Paso, Texas to finish up some prerequisites classes and also get a job as a PT technician at an outpatient clinic.  To my great devastation, I did not get accepted into PT school at this time. This led me to do some reflection on myself and my PT career. What was my next step? What do I need to change to get...

Everything we talk about is based on setting yourself up to be the student that no one can forget. During a group interview, we also want to stand out as an applicant. A group interview is just an interview where other people just happen to be in the room. A lot of the stress and anxiety comes from not being used to interviewing with multiple people. Understanding why may ease some of the stress and anxiety. The reason why the school does a group interview can be as simple as saving time. The school may not have the time or the faculty to interview everyone individually. Another reason why may be to see how you interact with the other students, faculty, and PT profession. They might be trying to see if you are a team player or just trying to sabotage everyone else.

A tip is to realize that everyone is just as nervous as you. Every applicant most likely has the same fears as you. Everybody is thinking the same, wondering rather to outdo or sizing each other up. Use that to your...

What should I do after being waitlisted? 

1. Cross my fingers and wait to see what happens 
2. Lose hope
3. Keep messaging the schools asking where I am on the list
4. None of the above

   First, being waitlisted does not mean that you've been rejected. It's not the same thing. Being waitlisted is like being in the “friend zone”. Being in the friend zone does not mean that you cannot get in. But, you won't get in if you stop trying or you do the wrong things that can ultimately cut that connection. 

   Many times there's so much anxiety about and around being waitlisted because there's a huge lack of understanding and communication between the Pre-PTs and the schools. So all Pre-PTs are doing is messaging and saying, “Hey, I've applied,” and asking for updates. And it's not to blame you as a Pre-PT. You’ve been told to keep in contact, but incorrectly. “Well, what are things that I should be looking at,...

Check out some wise words from one of our mentors, Greg Todd!

"The reason why I can train students however I want is because I get the people.  I do the marketing and the advertising, not having to rely on anybody to get them for me. Therefore, nobody can tell me that I cannot play music at my conferences because I'm in charge of marketing and advertising. If we want to be able to help people, we can do it in a way that we see fit but we must learn a set of skills.  I have created a program for those that want to learn these skills. Particularly for healthcare professionals, whether you are going to go into PT or other areas. It's proven and tested. It is called the 2021 healthcare challenge.

You can impact so many people through pushing forward with your dreams of becoming a physical therapist but just adding one more thing to it. Just add this one more thing and you can make it sound so good for yourself, your patients, and your community. The program will teach you...

Listen to what Greg Todd, one of our mentors, had to say during one of our livestreams:

Marketing and advertising must happen for a patient to come into your world. Once you have marketed and advertised to someone, you are starting to talk to people about a problem that they didn't know that they had. When they show interest, they realize that you might have a solution for them. That then moves them into the sales cycle. Which means that they know that there's a problem that they have. The solution to the problem is physical therapy. Once they are sold on doing a treatment, this is where most physical therapists only work. Physical therapist fulfills and treats clients. Once you finish fulfilling and treating, the patient cycle starts over.

In order to be in the top 1%, you must know how to do it all. The problem is that the doctor has marketed and advertised to the client. The doctor brought the client in and provided the script. The doctor did all the selling for you. So, all you...

A lot of students don't know they're in the rejection loop until after they apply and don't get into any programs. The rejection loop is something we recreate for ourselves. It is created from the fear of being rejected. We do things out of fear of getting rejected. Let’s say that I apply to as many schools as possible, any school that I know of, hoping that at least one of those programs will accept me. What happens is I might have applied to programs that are not a match for me. Then when I get rejected, I get a false result. A false result means that you were told that you were not a good applicant..even if we both know you ARE a good applicant. So now you believe it and take it personally.

Out of fear, we do things that give us a false result. In this case, the fear led to apply to as many schools as possible. The false result was there are schools that rejected us, but those schools were not a good match to begin with. We start to falsely believe that we are not good...

I went to Clearwater beach and came across a lot of street performers, but there were two that caught my attention. These two had the same gifts, but they had different results from the audience. One of them drew the crowd and the other did not. The reason why this happened involves you as an applicant. 

The first performer was good, but the crowd was not feeling it. There was another performer about 100 yards away and the crowd was locked in on what she was doing. She appeared just as gifted as the first performer, so the difference was not the skill level. As a Pre-PT, we put all our efforts towards our skills. You might feel like you're a solid applicant.. but students with a high GPA have been rejected before. 

The first person that was not drawing in the crowds was very gifted, but was self-promoting. She spent more time talking about her success and her accolades. She was saying how she was a professional street performer, spent many years doing this and her message...

You need to become the applicant that you would accept. Consider what kind of person you would accept, ask yourself if you are that applicant and work towards becoming that applicant. The type of applicant you become is a choice.

Why does Physical Therapy interest you? 

This is a common question, whether for an interview or an essay but often when answered there is a sense of struggle of trying to pull from something that's not there. The applicant recites things they've heard from other people because they are not that applicant that they would accept. There is something missing, that it factor is not there. They haven't become that person yet, they’re still faking it. 

There are five tips on how to become that applicant.

First, get to know the profession outside of your clinic or one person's perspective. Get to know physical therapy on a deeper level.  Get the perspective from a someone in home health and outpatient. Gain a big picture of what physical...

It is usually a series of actions that lead to you becoming a dominant applicant. As I was running today, I learned five key things that can be applied as a pre-PT.

The first point is that experience always beats ability. When you have experience or done something before, you naturally have confidence in yourself that you don't have when you haven't done it before. As a pre-PT, you must understand that experience is going to be your advantage.

A personal experience, whether good or bad, is still an experience. This experience developed you into a certain type of applicant, whether that's rejection or grades that you struggled with. You can also leverage other peoples’ experiences. You can leverage other Pre-PT’s experiences, whether they are applying to the schools you've applied to, whether they're a year ahead of you, whether it's mentors or whether it’s other physical therapists. There is so much wisdom and experience that allows you to pace yourself properly,...