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,...

Have you ever been in a situation where things aren't going as planned but you found somebody that helped you change your mindset for the better? Maybe they were able to redirect your focus and give you perspective. You might have found someone that probably had a much harder situation than yours and was able to explain how what they did or went through was far harder than what you're going through right now and it was helpful. That person was one of two people that hold the key to your acceptance.

In our lives, there are two types of people, the enabler and the motivator. You must choose very carefully who you share your frustrations with and who you're going to with your problems. Enabler means “a person or thing that makes something possible.” The very thing you are trying to make possible, the enabler is going to light that fire and make that “something” possible. For example, if you're going to them with the mindset of “I'm never going to get...

Every part of our journey is preparing us for something. But, are we looking at our current situation in the type of light that would be important to look at it in order to become a successful Pre PT, as we pursue Physical Therapy school? 

Opportunity does not waste its time with people who are not prepared. 

It's going to pass you by and find somebody else who's been working harder than you. Someone who has been prepping more than you because they might have been a little bit more hungry than you are at this time.

You have to be ready for your opportunity.

Depending on where you are in your pre-PT journey, you have to be preparing a little bit different of course. However, you have to see the end goal whether it be your interview day or your acceptance letter day. You have to have that in mind so you are prepared for it when the opportunity comes. You have to prepare for what you're going through now because that next opportunity is focused on today's...

Pre-PTs all have the same fears, some are a little stronger than others because of different things; GRE practices not looking good, freaking out because the test is in two weeks. Then we start panicking and getting in our own head and start thinking, “Shoot there's a lot of other applicants. There's a lot of people in my class applying. I'm seeing people online that are killing it and they have a higher GPA. Maybe they're not struggling with the GRE.” Now we’re putting ourselves in a position where we start saying, “Shoot! maybe it's not meant for me, but I know I love it. I know that I can't really see myself doing something else but should I have a plan B?"

Sometimes I like to ask myself, what's my life? What's my buyout from choosing to do something else other than PT? With that, there are five questions you should ask yourself along this journey.

Question 1: “What will really stop me from getting accepted?” 

• Will the PT program...

There are so many different things that are in the back of your mind when you're applying as a pre-PT that really affect how you do. Let’s talk about identity crisis. 

An identity crisis is in short, when you have this moment where you really don't know who you are anymore. It's tied to something that really doesn't define you, but you lead yourself to believe it.

What does that mean?

We're all human beings, but as a pre-PT applying to PT school you've been gifted with the ability to be you. When we go through certain obstacles many times we associate those obstacles with who we have become. Whether it's the GRE (fourth time taking it or fifth time taking it) or being rejected and looking at that and saying, “that's just who I am.” You might even be thinking, “last year I applied and I felt like I did everything in my power to have the best possible application. But it just didn't work out. So, I'm trying again this year, but I have even more...

So many times throughout our academic career, we've been trained to either ask the teacher, find a video, or get help from the tutor when we’re struggling. Basically, relying on other people to help us become a better student. Asking for help is a good thing, but, immediately running to others at the first sign of struggle may be a detriment to some people who are struggling with certain classes and other things that may not be working at this time. So, another tactic to think about is whether or not you’re an independent student or a dependent student.

Being independent versus dependent is important because this whole journey is an independent project. Meaning PT school, your board exam, the tests that you take in PT school, even the tests that you take now as Pre-PT students, you're taking them by yourself. So, whether you're a Pre-PT, going into PT school, or even started PT school already, a truth about studying that not a lot of people talk about is the importance...

PT schools: “We want someone unique, different. We want someone who stands out."

Every Pre-PT:  “How should I stand out?”

PT schools: “Oh, just get your GRE up. Get a higher GPA and more observation hours” (the same advice cycle after cycle)

Your professors, your advisors, and the PT schools are saying, “be different" or "be unique.” But then they're giving you the same advice, cycle after cycle, but expect something different. I liken this to the parable that says, basically, “If you're given a fish eat for a day if you're taught how to fish, eat for a lifetime.” They're not really teaching you how to fish. They're just giving you food, they're not teaching you how to hunt. They're just giving you surface-level answers. But not really teaching you anything of substance, then they get frustrated because they're not getting unique, different applicants, then you get frustrated because you listen to them, then you apply with...

I want you to think about this: you have something you're excited about doing like going to a party or a concert or maybe on a date. You start getting ready hours ahead of time. You're so excited to go so you're not procrastinating for that. Why? Because it's fun. Your expectations are so high for this experience that you do not want to procrastinate. There’s no reason to. You're so excited for that opportunity that your actions to get that opportunity follows. And what are those actions? Everything but procrastination.

Now, let's think about it from the PTCAS perspective or from the perspective of studying for the GRE. We've been taught to have our expectations and standards so low for stuff and the mindset that “we don't want to do it” for so long that our actions follow. And what are those actions? Procrastination!

A lot of you are thinking, “well, I took this class before and I failed.” “I took the GRE before and I got a low...