"Are you just an average PT student? Or will you be an excellent PT student who will then become an excellent PT?"

What would your perfect PT school applicant look like? The most interesting part about it is that many times, it’s pre-PT’s that are saying, “If I were on the other end, what is it that programs are looking for? What would I be looking for if I were a faculty member or as a student that's already in the PT program? What would I’ve been looking for?” Before we get into conversation, this is a question that you should think about as a pre-PT. If you are able to answer it, it will help you so much in terms of putting you in a position where you can now become your own perfect PT school applicant.

So first of all, let’s get the elephant out of the room. Let’s address it. We gotta talk about GPA. We gotta talk about GRE. The admissions crew for the school you are applying to look at those things. They have to pay their bills. They have to pay annual salaries. They have t...

"Based on the compound law of improvement, if everyday we commit to become 2% better than yesterday, our performance will be more than 1,000 times better one year later."

Being a PT is rewarding and promising. We are able to help people get better and return to doing things they enjoy just with our brains and hands, and we don’t rely on medications, expensive machines or scalpels. Our professional knowledge enables us to do amazing things. However, becoming a PT is no doubt a grind. As a PT who just finished school fairly recently, I would like to talk about three attributes that I think are the most important to succeed in school and become an effective therapist.

1. Be Open-minded: Lifelong Learning

We all know that learning continuously is important, and it’s important to establish the
habit of learning inside and out of the classroom. Acquiring PT-related knowledge helps
us treat our patients better. Also, continuing education is always required in every state,
territory and co...

I was in the final months of my internship at Jump Start Physical Therapy in Massachusetts, and I was knee deep in the process of obtaining my PT license back home in New Jersey when my phone buzzed. My brother texted me that one of his friends who coached high school soccer was looking for a JV coach for her program. I thought, ‘Hey, that could be fun while I look for a real PT job back home, sure!' I spoke with the head coach and got the job a few weeks later. Little did I know how much I’d love coaching high schoolers, and that 2 years later, I’d be forging a way to integrate coaching and practicing physical therapy.

In the past 2 years, I’ve worked in an outpatient ortho facility part time, covered various outpatient clinics, and worked in a school district treating pre schoolers, all while locally coaching high school soccer, basketball, and softball. I traveled to Cincinnati and became a certified Sportsmetrics trainer so I could specifically offer ACL injury prevention, and hav...

It has been repeatedly said that there is nothing new under the sun. There are many who desire to do incredible things with their lives, but stop just short of putting that desire into action. Why is that? How can the dream to reach one’s potential, remain just that, a dream? Is it that we become short of steam after enthusiastically chasing that dream, to only realize that we lack the endurance to push through? Could it be that we have actually worked hard and tried everything but fall short? Or maybe we know what we want to achieve, but as we attempt to navigate ourselves to that destination, we soon realize that we might be a little lost, and in need of some guidance. If you can identify with any of the previous 3 groups, this blog is for you. In re-stating that there is nothing new under the sun, I mean to say that there is a great power derived from the influence of someone who has already done it, setting the path for you, while also being willing to guide you through a similar j...

It’s application season and most of you will have your list of schools picked out already. I, however, am indecisive when it comes to choosing schools. I can see the benefit to both sides of everything -- small vs. large cohort sizes, city vs. suburban, lecture vs. team based learning styles, you name it and I’ll say “I can see how that would be great”. I was also a bit attached to the “idea” of a school because I had heard it is great program from one person, or because it has a great reputation, or is located in a wonderful sounding place. Being drawn to the idea of a place is a definite plus, but I realized I should have the evidence to prove to myself that these schools would be a perfect match. These thought patterns resulted in my being rather indecisive about selecting a concrete list. So, I spent A LOT of time researching what I want. What it has come down to is this: although all schools offer many great things, there are ultimately certain characteristics that are more import...