For all of you SPT's that are about to start PT school this month, this summer, or even this upcoming fall, this blog is for you! As physical therapists, we are the HUMAN BODY MOVEMENT EXPERTS! Therefore, we basically have to know everything about our body and how it moves.

With PT starting around the corner, that means CADAVER LAB! This is an awesome opportunity to learn about the human body and see how special it really is. We want to give you a few tips on how to survive the cadaver lab:

1. You’re not the only one freaked out: Others in your class are just as nervous as you are about the experience. Knowing that you’re not the only one experiencing these emotions should give you some sense of comfort. It's sobering experience, but remember, each person chose to donate their body to science. They want you to learn from them!

2. Watch video dissections: Having an idea of what you will be working with will accustom you to what you will experience come the first day of lab. Watc...

To the girl or guy who feels UNSTOPPABLE.

“...seeing a vision, understanding nothing really worthwhile happens overnight, and just sticking to your script long enough to make something real happen .”-Nipsey Hussle

I didn’t really realize what I had achieved, until now. This past weekend, I travelled over 15 hours and over 800 miles to get to my new home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to attend physical therapy school. That’s right, I packed up my car and smooth sailed with my mother as the passenger, until I reached the home of the eagles. Even now, as I’m writing this blog...everything seems surreal. Like, how did I actually end up here?

It’s the hard work. It’s the dedication. It’s the patience. It’s the consistency. I didn’t arrive at this place overnight. It took getting denied from over 9 physical therapy programs, the first application cycle. Over the past year, my patience was tried and interminable as I had to retake 5 prerequisite courses. I know now that my hard work wasn’t in vain. My life over the past year primed me ...

Productivity. What comes to mind when you see that word? We want to help you make the most out of your time because there’s only a few months left until the new PTCAS cycle opens up. And when that time comes around..our Pre-PT Grind messages ALWAYS tend to blow up saying, “How I’m going to do this? How do I do that?” So, we do have time, but really... we don’t have that much time.

So, how do we make the most out of it? We want to run through some steps of how to be productive and make use out of your time, especially now leading up to when that PTCAS cycle opens. Pretty soon, deadlines for applications will be rolling through and you might start freaking out, not knowing what to do. We want to run through some different tips that will help you be more productive as a pre-PT student.

1. Make a list and just get it done

Write down the things you need to get done and cross them off as you go. Do what you need to do in order to make sure you get as much done off that list as poss...

“Once you chose hope, anything’s possible”. -Christopher Reeve 

You want to know the secret to how I got into physical therapy school?  My hope is what got me into physical therapy school. Trust me, I know applying to PT school is expensive, but the cost of hope was and still remains free. As a matter of fact, it changed my entire perspective on what patience truly meant. Think about this, what is patience, if you do not have the hope for a winning outcome?

I’d be lying if I said that I always remained hopeful, hope wasn’t always on my side, especially when it came to my pre-pt journey. After being rejected the first cycle I applied, I honestly lost all of what was left. My journey became dark, meaningless, and incomprehensible. I became lost and fearful of a future, which at that point wasn’t even promising to me. I felt like the odds were against me and becoming a physical therapist was no longer for me.

"Hope for a better today. Hope for a better tomorrow. Hope for a better...

When we decide to become a doctor of physical therapy, we don’t do it because we “just found the career.” We do it because we have a real reason for why we want to. Sometimes, that reason is because of past injuries. Sometimes, it’s based on a specific scenario that we had or the experiences that we have. But why do you want to become a physical therapist?

Once we decide that physical therapy is a career that we want to 110% invest in, is there really a way to guarantee an acceptance letter? Is it even possible? This is definitely a question that so many pre-PT students have. It’s the elephant in the room because it’s the question that most of us are too scared to asked. We’re too scared to ask it because it’s risky. It becomes scarier the harder your current situation is. It becomes scarier if you have a really low GPA. It becomes scarier when you’ve already applied 2 times. It becomes scarier when you’ve taken the GRE multiple times.

You might have been told that hundreds of ...

Finals week has not eaten all semester and it’s starting to get HUNGRY! Whether you have finals in 4 weeks or 6 weeks, here are 10 ways to study quickly and efficiently in order to survive finals week.

1. Start early: What are you doing?! Run! Don’t be like that person in the horror movies that is a deer in the headlights of their impending doom! If you plan ahead of time you’ll have more time to review difficult material and you’ll never have to cram the night before the test. You’ll almost always perform better when starting early. Use the time you have NOW to start planning!

2. Break it up: Split up your study session into the smallest pieces possible. The study tasks will be far less daunting and you’ll be much more productive if you study 2 pages of notes and take a 5 min break other than studying 15 pages with a 10 min break. However, in order to do this you must follow tip #1 and start early enough.

3. Walk it out: Change your environment and get a work out. Not only are stud...

"If no one has told you lately, I believe in you."

So, the time for applying to physical therapy school is over. This cycle has passed, and you didn’t get in. The resounding question in your mind asks, “Now what?” I mean, you put damn near everything into your preparation for getting into a program. All the prerequisite classes, observation hours, GRE studying, and extracurricular activity led you to this moment. It feels like it was all for no reason doesn’t it? You would have been better off going down an easier career route. This isn’t really for you, and you are not really meant to be a physical therapist. At least, this is what the negative voice in your head is saying. Let’s face the facts, rejection sucks. It can be that guy or girl you had a crush on who put you in the friend zone. It could be the one time you tried to use your debit or credit card, and it was rejected or declined due to insufficient funds. In this situation, it is the fact that you didn’t get into a PT progra...

"Burnout does not discriminate."

Sometimes it feels like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. No one asked me to be the bearer of their burdens. I don’t recall anyone asking me to carry their cross for them. Maybe it felt like some of these things were indirectly asked of me. Truthfully, it could be my anxiety acting up again, or it could be my drive to be the best version of myself possible. I feel like I owe it to my parents to give them the world. We all know no matter what we do, there is no way to return the favor of everything our parents and grandparents have done for us. For some, it may be an aunt, uncle, older sibling, and the list goes on and on.

To be completely transparent with you, you don’t owe anyone a thing. Your responsibility is to yourself because by bettering yourself, it becomes possible to provide more value to those around you. How many times have you tried to put too much on your plate as a means of validating your worth? I know I have been there a...

For those of you who have applied to physical therapy school and been rejected..it’s a crappy feeling. A range of emotions are flying through your brain, sadness, anger, and fear are just to name a few. What do you do next? First, you need to figure out what you can improve on from the last application cycle. After that game plan is created, there are four questions you need to ask yourself before making your next move towards receiving that acceptance letter.

Question #1: “Why am I doing this?”

It’s a very simple question, but very important nonetheless. Our ‘why’ at Pre-PT Grind is to help as many pre-PTs get into PT school even though everything about the system, from faculty members sometimes even family members, set you up to lose. That's our mission, to help those who want to beat the odds and take the next step to the career they envisioned. Why do you want to become a PT? Is it for your family, supporting your kids, proving someone wrong? Whatever it may be, find your why an...