Seeing as Baylor University has one of the most coveted programs in the study of physical therapy, it is not surprising how heavily impacted it is. Thousands apply each year, with similar applications, in hope of being one of the select few to be chosen. When I applied to Baylor University’s Physical Therapy Program last year, I was lacking confidence in my application. The reasons being were the GPA score from my undergraduate school, the absence of experience in acute care, and the drive to succeed. Since then, I have been able to strengthen my application by improving my GPA, involving myself in a volunteer opportunity at hospital care, and discovering a new aspect of practice in physical therapy. I aimed to set myself apart from the applicants through many points in my application, particularly my GPA score. During the time of my previous application process, I had a GPA at about …show more content…
3.76. When I was not selected, I sought to improve my application through my last semester of college. With one more semester left before graduation, I had a chance to finish my college career with a 3.80. However, to accomplish my goal I needed to score straight A’s while working extra hours to pay for rent, and taking care of my family. Through hard work and strong will, I not only achieved my goal, but also gained a new self-confidence in my abilities. Last year, I made it pass the initial screening of the applicants and made it to a phone interview.
During that interview I was asked if I had any experience at a hospital, and unfortunately, I did not. Although I believe I did well with the rest of the interview, because of my inexperience at a hospital, the odds were not in my favor. To enhance my chances of being chosen, I have started to work as a volunteer research assistant in the physical therapy department at Naval Medical Center San Diego. I have earned over 100+ hours and observed the difference in physical therapy in a clinic compared to acute care. The difference between a clinic and a hospital is the type of patients that are cared for. Typically at a clinic, physical therapist works with solely musculoskeletal injuries. What makes acute physical therapy unique is the rehabilitation of a patient’s mobility, in addition to treating a suffering disease. Through my experience, I have learned that the extra variable to the treatment requires the physical therapist to have an extensive knowledge beyond physical
therapy. Aside from exceptional GPA’s, ample of observation hours, strong and recommendation letters, I believe an applicant needs to have an extra skill set needed to administer and improve physical therapy. As a volunteer research assistant, I have been exposed to a new perspective of treating patients. There are unexplored ideas to rehabilitate decreased mobility, and research scientists are constantly discovering efficient and effective methods to improve physical therapy. I consider my research experience to be the strongest change in my application because I seek to use my knowledge of the human movement system not only to aid muscular disabilities, but also ascertain innovative techniques to transform society as a research physical therapist. When I submitted my application last year, I didn’t feel like I provided Baylor University everything I had to offer. However, I feel certain that I have given my absolute best GPA, acquired a sufficient amount of experience in acute care, and learned more about what I want to provide to the physical therapy community. With these new improvements I am confident in setting myself apart from the other candidates, and showcasing the best I have to present.
Ever since I was little I have alway been very intrigued about physical therapy. Just the aspect of working with other people, and knowing I’m doing something to help them, interests me. This year on November 21st, I job shadowed with Rotert Physical Therapy, and it turned out to be everything I expected. Working with the children was the highlight of my shadow; it was everything I expected and more.
During the interview, the Physical Therapist I conferred with was very thorough and straightforward in his responses to the questions that were given. I decided to interview another one of my mother’s fellow co-workers, Mr. Stephen Chan, considering his new experiences in the Physical Therapy field. I met with Mr. Stephen Chan at the Kaiser Permanente Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic that is located in Union City. The essential subject matters that we discussed consisted of his Major and Minor in college, the Residency Program that he takes part in, variations of attitudes, and advantages in the workforce.
I’m actually kind of shocked I could write about recovery because it is a topic with a special meaning to myself. But, I found it easier to write about my own experience with a negative event this time, and I believe it is because I grew as a writer. I saw the value the personal testimony adds to a piece, and thus I could add my own story.
This weekend I was paired up with a nurse from the floating pull. It was a very interesting experience. For the first time since the beginning of the semester I can say that I was faced with a lot of critical thinking situations. I spend the day running around reminding my nurse of things he forgot or task we had to finish. It was already 2:00 pm and I still hadn’t performed an assessment on a patient, at this point I remember what Mrs. McAdams had said before “ we are in the hospital to help but our main priority is to learn and practice our skills” so I made the critical-thinking decision to tell my nurse that I needed to at least complete an assessment and since we were about to discharged a patient I could performed a final assessment on him before going home. I performed my assessment, had time to document and helped my nurse with the discharged. This weekend was a very challenging clinical for me but I also learned a lot. I learned to managed my time better, be proactive in my clinical experience and I also found my voice.
Entering my first year of college I didn’t have any idea of what I wanted to do. I still didn’t choose a major let alone a career. I was stuck in between wanting to make enough money that my family would be taken care of financially and choosing a career that I wouldn’t mind going in to work every day. The one thing that I was certain of was that I wanted to be able to help people in whatever I chose to do. After careful consideration and exploring the options available to me, I have come to the conclusion that I want to have a career in physical therapy. Physical therapy is the treatment of disease, injury or deformity through physical methods rather than through drugs or surgery.
While there were many differences between each setting, there were also several commonalities. In all settings, the physical therapists provided care that was professional and skilled. They worked collaboratively with other healthcare professionals to provide the best care possible for each of their patients. They strived to establish rapport and trust with each patient. Each of the settings I observed provided me with insights to the field of physical therapy and convinced me that this career is the right choice for
Educational requirements, opportunities and general demands of the career are only a few of the areas to inquire about in the field of physical therapy. This career is diverse in nature, in that a therapist sees many different ailments ranging from a sprained ankle to rehabilitating someone who has had an amputation. There is a fair degree of difficulty involved in becoming a physical therapist, and due to the high competition involved in entering the various Master’s degree programs as stated earlier, high grades and a positive attitude are very important for success in an interested student’s career. Volunteering is a great way to find out if a person would or would not be interested in entering the practice of physical therapy. This is an exciting career with many opportunities for advancement. This career is also a nice choice for those who become bored with the tedious monotony of a daily routine, since each day is a new experience.
The medical field is expanding ever so rapidly in today’s society. In the field of Physical Therapy one needs to have the understanding of how the human body works and the injuries one body could sustain. I have chosen a career to help others to battle back from life-changing injuries or surgeries. I will take the first step of joining the medical field by obtaining a physical therapist associates degree. I will become a Physical Therapist Assistant.
I have been exposed to the medical field my whole life. My Mom was a nurse and I would love to listen to the stories she told about her time in the hospital. If anybody asked me at the age of five what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would say “a nurse like my mom.” A few years later I decided I wanted to be a doctor from the few times I got to watch the television show “ER”. The beginning of my interest in physical therapy was when I met my fourth grade pen pal, Elmo, at a nursing home. Elmo had muscular dystrophy and only retained control of his right arm and pinky which allowed him to manouver his wheelchair. During one visit where we got to spend the whole day with our pals, the physical therapist at the nursing home came to see Elmo. I was allowed to stay and I remember thinking it was so cool that there was one person to help Elmo retain the little muscle tone and mobility he had left. In sixth grade, my class went to the hospital to sing Christmas caroles and I remember the coolest place being the physical therapy room. I thought it was amazing how patients were learning to walk again or throw a ball.
My motivations in life have always been centered on my desire to maintain independence and happiness. My passions for physical therapy and health originated from those same motivations. Throughout my childhood, I repeatedly found myself in tough situations that required a level of self -dependency and perseverance that I don’t believe many young minds possess. My parents’ divorce put my life on a trajectory that could have easily been destructive. As a young girl, I realized that despite the lack of control I felt in my hardships growing up, I had control over my academic and future successes. I vowed that I would remember the struggles I faced and concentrate my energy on creating a better life for myself. To this day, it is important to me
I used to hate medical offices. When I was 6 years old, my family was in a car accident that left my 8 year old sister in the hospital for months, and my back so messed up that I was forced to go to the chiropractor twice a week for a few years after it. There were vivid memories of the feeling of my bones cracking and moving around inside of me that floated through my thoughts every time we took that infamous 20 minute drive to the office. When the visits finally ended, I swore to my 8 year old self that I would never set foot in a place even remotely similar to it ever again.
The subject came so naturally to me and I decided to continue my enrollment in sports medicine courses throughout my high school education. As my senior year of high school concluded, I explored the idea of a career in physical therapy by job shadowing at the Idaho Sports Medicine Institute (ISMI). After observing the PTs at ISMI, I was immediately drawn to a career in physical medicine. A few months later, I started my education at Idaho State and felt exactly like I did when I started sports medicine in high school. I was absolutely enthralled with my classes, naturally excelled in all of my coursework, and always had PT school in the back of my mind. I knew I would have to work extremely hard to develop a strong undergraduate transcript and build a competitive application. Throughout my undergraduate career, I have worked relentlessly to maintain academic excellence and currently have a 3.91 GPA. I have also succeeded in making the College of Education’s Dean’s List for five semesters. Unfortunately, I did not receive the honor of making the Dean’s List on one occasion, as I was .02 points below the minimum
Physical therapists play an integral role in health care. The vision statement for the physical therapy career is: “Transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience”. 1 Through my prior volunteer and work experiences, I discovered that physical therapy was the perfect career choice and vision for my future. As a current student and future physical therapist, I will play an important role for society and within the health care profession. The vision statement will serve as my reminder to always strive for more knowledge and feedback as a student, uphold pertinent values that will improve the practice of physical therapy, and to always provide quality care to all patients.
As described by the American Physical Therapy Association, professional physical therapists must possess the following qualities; accountability, altruism, compassion, excellence, integrity, professional duty, and social responsibility. Professionalism in the context of being a student in a doctor of physical therapy degree program should possess similar traits because after all a physical therapy student is a future professional physical therapist. In this essay, I will be telling you three stories; the story of an Asian American daughter, the story of a first-generation college graduate, and the story of a vision therapist. Undergraduate school is a time of growth and exposure to many. People learn to become accountable for their actions and develop skills that they will carry on to their careers.
The internship that I acquired during the summer of 2010 at the Greenwood Sports and Industrial Rehabilitation Center (GSIRC), allowed me to gain an immeasurable amount of experience during my tenure at this facility. Within this period, the exposure to new concepts within the physical therapy industry allowed me to observe and work hands on with patients of all ages and disabilities that exposed me to various treatment plans and programs to restore client’s mobility. The essential Physical Education and Exercise Science (PEES) courses taken at Lander University were beneficial to my academic knowledgebase, which prepared me and developed me for the opportunity within the physical therapy discipline. Working as an intern taught me the responsibility of time management and working within a lean schedule that allow me to further develop my skill set. This reflection paper will illustrate my classroom experience, internship experience, and learning experience.