What if I told you that achievement is never the end game?  It almost seems like yesterday when my peers and I gathered for the first time as classmates in our Doctor of Physical Therapy program with many of us having never met before. Each individual came ready to embark on a journey with a common goal to change countless lives for the better. Despite the individual obstacles each one of us had to face just to make it into this particular program, there we were, together in one room, at the starting line of the race to being physical therapists.  It was the beginning of one of the biggest hurdles we would face as students, but it would be faced together. As much as I would like to say that I am close to achieving my goal now and “making it,” it strangely feels like I’m only at the beginning, as if I’m just getting started.

In a recent conversation with my little brother, who is currently in 8^th grade, about his personal...

You’ve made one of the most important decisions of your life: you’re going to PT school. If you’re like me, you just walked across the stage to grab your diploma (classic right hand shake, left hand snag) and are well on you way to a highly anticipated summer break prior to starting your program.

To get to this point, you’ve likely meticulously researched schools and have read countless blogs (like this one! Hey, everyone.) to best prepare for the impending transition. Let me iterate that nothing can really prepare you for the big upheaval that is a doctorate level physical therapy program. That being said, here are a few facts and tips that I wish I had known before starting PT school. 

1. You’re not alone…ever

Reassuring? Maybe. Creepy? Slightly. Baseline message: you will likely be spending a LOT of time with your cohort members. I know that, when it came down to choosing PT schools, I ended up going with my gut as to which program gave...

“I can get into physical therapy school on my own, I’m not investing into some program that can’t even guarantee I will get into school.”

These were my initial thoughts when faced with the decision of buying into a new system or to keep doing what I had been doing to get into a PT program. Ignorance is bliss, but this was the one time I couldn’t ignore what my gut was telling me. We are always so quick to give other people advice, but hypocritically tend to neglect our own intuition. If we listened to ourselves more, and took more chances how much further would we be on the journey to success? Chances are, we would be significantly further. I have always told those close to me if you really want something in life you must have a burning desire for it and be willing to take chances and make sacrifices. I put my pride to the side and I scheduled a call to talk to one of the founders of Pre-PT Grind LLC, Joses Ngugi. I knew that if I wanted to get into...

In one sentence, physical therapists optimize function and movement to its maximum potential, before and or after an injury.

We are a Doctoral profession that undergoes 3 intense years of graduate school, followed by continuing education to understand how to help the body properly heal itself. We do this to become the number 1 doctor patients run to when pain is keeping them from doing what they love to do. Let’s face it: unless it’s a traumatic emergency situation, pain will not drive you to see any doctor. Pain is always present, but when pain becomes a roadblock to your favorite activities, that is when you will seek out help. Physical therapists are the best doctors around for those musculoskeletal problems.

Physical therapy is an extensive field which I like comparing to martial arts. Fighting is fighting, however martial arts is a specific type of combat, and within martial arts there are different subsets and specialties such as karate, jiu...

“A commitment to service, a desire to add value, and a love of teaching” – according to Gary Vaynerchuk, in his new book, Crushing It, these are three characteristics that today’s greatest entrepreneurs and influencers share. However, I believe these traits not only apply to great entrepreneurs but should also be applied to us as future physical therapists, business owners, and healthcare professionals. As Pre-PTs, it is our duty to develop and live out these characteristics on a daily basis, not just for ourselves, but for our future patients. Personally, coaching basketball has allowed me to practice these core values. It gave me the opportunity to practice and enhance many skills necessary as a future physical therapist. 

1. A Commitment to Service

Coach: One of the biggest lessons I learned as a coach is that the most important pre-requisite for leadership is a commitment to serve. As a coach, service boils down to two...

As I look back on my pre-physical therapy journey that began in three years ago, I realized that many big decisions had to occur to get where I am today as a second year PT student. Most those decisions resulted in early action in which a simple thought or an idea lead to a plan of steps that were implemented into some sort of action plan that favored “premature” activity instead of “on-time” activity. As a mentor to Pre-PT students, I have always emphasize the importance of being early in anything they do. An important saying that one of my mentors, Greg, also says is that “speed wins”. No matter what task you have at hand, you are already winning if you have an early head start than your peers.

1. Make the Leap to Apply Early

One major “speed wins” decision that I am glad I took early action on was applying early to physical therapy school, specifically early decision.  During the beginning of my junior year of undergrad, I...

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” The day starts as early as 4:30 in morning. First thing I do is take a sip of coffee and check my agenda to see what I wrote from the night before. I use my agenda as my “playbook” and follow through with the plays to score or defend the best I know how. By holding myself accountable, I am able to finish everything I wrote down. I see that I have my chemistry test at 8:30am, lower extremity assessment quiz at 10am, and from 11:00-11:45am, I will be preparing for a upper extremity assessment practical. I know I’m ready for all of them because I have prepared myself for any and all questions that the professor asks about the covered content. Oh- and I have a therapeutic modality quiz the next day.

Scanning my agenda again, I see I have a meeting for the Kinesiology club at noon. I go over the PowerPoint that will be presented and revise if needed.  I add that I will talk to the club about volunteer opportunities in...

"Who are we to think we deserve something for nothing?"

There are 365 pages in the book of life that we have every year. Every day is a new page and every month is a new chapter for us to read and analyze. It’s both selfish and foolish to think that every day is a guarantee because it’s not. We sometimes go about every day with the same mundane routine and we tend to just go through the motions. We generally want much more from life than we are even willing to invest in it. Who are we to think we deserve something for nothing? Let’s not kid ourselves and let’s not be naïve! We get what we put in, in certain areas such as: relationships, work, fitness, finances. Yet, people often are ignorant to what they have until it’s gone. You never see the opportunities or blessings until doors are closed or blessings are stripped away from you. Hopefully, I haven’t lost you by now with what I’m saying, and if I have, I’ll assume that the...

"It’s all part of the process."

Ah… the rejection letter. Tough luck, right? Welcome to the biggest reality check! This is the toughest real-world experience to go through and perhaps your biggest fear as a Pre-PT student. Kudos to you if you do not have to face this, especially the pile of rejection letters racking up to the point where you need to re-apply during a future application cycle in order to continue the journey. One of the greatest challenges with applying is that you have to believe in yourself to superb levels and put out the best “you” to demonstrate why you are a good fit for the programs you apply to yet… you need to develop the psychological and emotional tenacity in order to allow for the admissions committees to make their decisions even if it does not include you… yet. So… how do you proceed as a naive, young, bright-eyed applicant? How do you avoid doubting yourself so that DPT Programs have the utmost time...