I wanted my first blog post to help those looking to pursue PT school. First, congrats on either your acceptance or decision to become part of an amazing profession. Here are my top 5 pieces of advice
- 1. Be Prepared & Ready to Work: PT school is hard.🤓PT school is a doctorate program and you have to be prepared to put in the time and effort. It’s a grind💪🏼for sure but believe me, its worth it. At times you may want to give up or question if you can do it. Believe in yourself because you can and you will get through it. I remember looking back on my first semester of anatomy and remember how hard it seemed at the time. But guess what? I got throughs it and so did my classmates: AND so will you.
- 2. Find your Support: Whether this be your family, friends, or even professors. You need to have people in your life that you can lean on when times get hard, help to support you and push you to be your best, and make the three years of school enjoyable. I don’t think I would have made it through school without my family, great group of friends I made at school that helped me study, kept me sane, and made life fun OR my amazing professors. Having relationships with your professors can make such a positive impact on your experiences in school. I was fortunate enough to have professors who were amazing role models and educators but also had fun with us outside of the classroom and who truly cared about us as individuals. Make sure you find your support no matter who/what this looks like or you
- 3. Be A Sponge: One of the best things a professor told me in school was to be a sponge. As students, we’re young and have so much to learn; so take it all in. Drop the ego and be ready to absorb and learn from all different kinds of educators, PTs, and SPTs. Even if you don’t 100% agree with their thoughts, be a sponge and take it in because you have so much to learn and different schools of thought and research will shape you into the clinical you are working towards becoming. This is especially important on your clinical rotation where you will be exposed to different settings and many different clinical styles. Don’t be closed off-just be open to learn, willing to try things and always ask questions. Also, don’t be afraid to reach out to PTs in the area the are woking in the setting/facility that you want to be in one day. Take the opportunity to ask them questions or even shadow them while you’re in school. Just try to take advantage of every opportunity .
- 4. Keep Your Passion: Don’t ever forget why you chose to pursue a career in physical therapy. No matter how hard school may get, or how hard a certain patient case may seem. Don’t let any of the negativity dull your spark and passion for the profession. ✨
- 5. Have fun: Most importantly, don’t forget to have fun and enjoy the 3 years. While it may be hard at time, take the time to enjoy life-Remember it is your last few years before having to adult.(whatever that is🤷🏼♀️) Enjoy the time with friends you make, do things you want to do for your own mental health, and take time to explore the new city that you’re in. I was lucky to be in beautiful Charleston, SC and loved exploring new restaurants, coffee shops, happy hours, and of course going to the beach whenever I could. PT school will be hard, but it should also be some of the greatest years of your life so don’t waste the years in the library-keep experiencing life ❤️
- Alyssa Semones - 