Applied to 6 DPT programs, Waitlisted at 4: What should I be doing??

[Masagui]

I'm a Pre-PT student who recently graduated in 2020 and took an uneventful gap year due to COVID-19.
Here are my stats:
- a little under 200 observation hours, 50 of which are in the acute care setting. During 3 years of my undergrad, I participated in a sports medicine internship in which I racked up around 2250 hours around athletic trainers, physical therapists, and physicians while working with many different athletes, mainly the university's men's basketball team
- 3.52 cumulative GPA with 2 C's (one in a physiology class and one in a physics class, both of which are part of a series of the quarter system), rebounded and earned nearly all A's for the last 60 units of my undergrad; explained my poor efforts in the PTCAS section that allows you to do so (it would be really difficult to retake these two specific courses so I decided I won't)
- GRE scores 157 Verbal, 159 Quantitative, and 4.5 Analytical Writing
- I have done well in the various writing courses I've taken in undergrad and I shared my personal statements and supplemental essays with others and received positive feedback. From my knowledge, I assumed that I had good letter of recs, but the one school I was rejected from said my essays and LORs "could use some work".

After all these stats, I've been waitlisted at 4 schools, rejected from 1, and still waiting to hear back from the last one. To be fair some of the schools were top programs but some were not. I made sure to turn in my application early too. I'm unsure what the weak part of my application is because I am preparing for the worst-case scenario in which I don't get accepted to any school this cycle. My guess is my observation hours are lacking (I've heard 1000 is ideal) but I know exceptions have been made due to COVID-19. I've made efforts to find employment as a PT aide or tech but unfortunately the availability in my hometown is extremely low. I've considered moving to a bigger city to find opportunities but I've been unemployed since the start of the pandemic looking for PT related work so I don't really have expendable funds. I've also considered giving up completely and pursuing personal training since it'd be a cheaper option. Of course I don't want to give up on my dreams of being a PT but times have been tough lol. Anyways if anyone could offer any insight on what I could do or any opinions on my situation it'd be greatly appreciated

PS I've been following Pre-PT Grind but I feel like I fall into the category of those who would be accepted but haven't so again very lost lol guess this year's applicant pool was crazy competitive. Sorry for the long post!

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[Buster_PT]

Solid stats tbh. I’m not sure why you are not accepted outright at a program but I think the essay and LOR could be a possible explanation. I would recommend to retake both or at least one of the classes you got a C on and continue to look for a rehab aide or pt aide position. Also, did you make your essay extremely personal? Schools like to know who you are and sometimes writing about something other than PT will give you a boost.

 

[JMarcusDPT]

I'm a Pre-PT student who recently graduated in 2020 and took an uneventful gap year due to COVID-19.
Here are my stats:
- a little under 200 observation hours, 50 of which are in the acute care setting. During 3 years of my undergrad, I participated in a sports medicine internship in which I racked up around 2250 hours around athletic trainers, physical therapists, and physicians while working with many different athletes, mainly the university's men's basketball team
- 3.52 cumulative GPA with 2 C's (one in a physiology class and one in a physics class, both of which are part of a series of the quarter system), rebounded and earned nearly all A's for the last 60 units of my undergrad; explained my poor efforts in the PTCAS section that allows you to do so (it would be really difficult to retake these two specific courses so I decided I won't)
- GRE scores 157 Verbal, 159 Quantitative, and 4.5 Analytical Writing
- I have done well in the various writing courses I've taken in undergrad and I shared my personal statements and supplemental essays with others and received positive feedback. From my knowledge, I assumed that I had good letter of recs, but the one school I was rejected from said my essays and LORs "could use some work".

After all these stats, I've been waitlisted at 4 schools, rejected from 1, and still waiting to hear back from the last one. To be fair some of the schools were top programs but some were not. I made sure to turn in my application early too. I'm unsure what the weak part of my application is because I am preparing for the worst-case scenario in which I don't get accepted to any school this cycle. My guess is my observation hours are lacking (I've heard 1000 is ideal) but I know exceptions have been made due to COVID-19. I've made efforts to find employment as a PT aide or tech but unfortunately the availability in my hometown is extremely low. I've considered moving to a bigger city to find opportunities but I've been unemployed since the start of the pandemic looking for PT related work so I don't really have expendable funds. I've also considered giving up completely and pursuing personal training since it'd be a cheaper option. Of course I don't want to give up on my dreams of being a PT but times have been tough lol. Anyways if anyone could offer any insight on what I could do or any opinions on my situation it'd be greatly appreciated

PS I've been following Pre-PT Grind but I feel like I fall into the category of those who would be accepted but haven't so again very lost lol guess this year's applicant pool was crazy competitive. Sorry for the long post!

I've seen applicants get rejected when their essays were well-written, but didn't answer the prompt well enough. Also, did any of these schools have interviews?

 

[Have.A.Gait.Day]

Did those schools do interviews? Maybe you didn't stand out enough or was too stiff/robotic? Came off arrogant? Too pushy? (I'm sure you're probably not). I remember admissions staff always emphasizing that they look at character/personality and want someone that can fit in with the school and cohort.

Do you have any community service or volunteer experiences? Again, just because of the emphasis on schools looking at character.
I volunteer with Crisis Text Line if you want to look into it. It's remote and pretty loose in terms of commitment. Feel free to reach out to me with questions or anything about it.

 

[Masagui]

I've seen applicants get rejected when their essays were well-written, but didn't answer the prompt well enough. Also, did any of these schools have interviews?

Only one school I am waitlisted at had an interview, and I will admit that I wasn't prepared for some of the questions they asked me. With regards to the personal statement, this year's prompt was simply "tell the deeper story of why you chose PT" which seems fairly broad to me. Supplementals, I also felt confident about but the waitlist response has me doubting myself and wondering if I should pay for someone to read my essays... (which I really would prefer to not do given my considerably low funds at the moment)

 

[Masagui]

Did those schools do interviews? Maybe you didn't stand out enough or was too stiff/robotic? Came off arrogant? Too pushy? (I'm sure you're probably not). I remember admissions staff always emphasizing that they look at character/personality and want someone that can fit in with the school and cohort.

Do you have any community service or volunteer experiences? Again, just because of the emphasis on schools looking at character.
I volunteer with Crisis Text Line if you want to look into it. It's remote and pretty loose in terms of commitment. Feel free to reach out to me with questions or anything about it.

I only interviewed with one school that waitlisted me and I was a little thrown off by a couple questions by I tried to be as natural as one can be over Zoom lol

With regards to community service and volunteering, I was part of a club water polo team the volunteered for local events and also a fraternity in which we held philanthropy events raising money for the Feeding America organization. I was also a lifeguard/swim instructor in an underprivleged community and taught kids and adults how to swim and the importance of water safety. Should I look into more options?

 

[JMarcusDPT]

Only one school I am waitlisted at had an interview, and I will admit that I wasn't prepared for some of the questions they asked me. With regards to the personal statement, this year's prompt was simply "tell the deeper story of why you chose PT" which seems fairly broad to me. Supplementals, I also felt confident about but the waitlist response has me doubting myself and wondering if I should pay for someone to read my essays... (which I really would prefer to not do given my considerably low funds at the moment)

I suggested over half of the applicants I worked with this past year rewrite their statements because they weren't answering the question adequately at first. It is broad but that doesn't mean you shouldn't answer the questions asked. Most applicants I worked with thought a lot of their story would be implied, but when I read them as a stranger, there was a lot missing. I have a lot of free content on the prompt (which will most likely be used again next year) on my Instagram and website.

 

[bnq]

It might have something to do with what schools you specifically applied to. Some schools, like state schools, are generally more competitive to get in to due to cheaper cost and smaller cohorts. With that being said, they usually only rank off of GPA and GRE scores so essays or hours won't matter. Some schools are super specific with prereq and their "highly recommended" courses (basically meaning if you don't have those you won't get in). I would look closely at the schools admission factors/requirements and how they rank applicants. If you email an admission advisor they will usually tell you what aspect of the applications they look at and use to rank their applicants. Also some schools only use last 60 credits as your cum GPA, some schools take the better grade of retaken courses while others average the two grades. I just know from personal experience I can look like a TOTALLY different applicant depending on how a school views and weighs different portions of the application.

 

[Masagui]

Solid stats tbh. I’m not sure why you are not accepted outright at a program but I think the essay and LOR could be a possible explanation. I would recommend to retake both or at least one of the classes you got a C on and continue to look for a rehab aide or pt aide position. Also, did you make your essay extremely personal? Schools like to know who you are and sometimes writing about something other than PT will give you a boost.

I'd say my essay was pretty personal. Talked about my early interest in biomechanics from my competitive swimming/coaching background, how I'm a first-gen student to go to a 4-year PLUS grad school, and various relationships/observations I'd made through shadowing. With regards to LOR, I don't know how to reach out to a different professor since it's been about a year or so since I've taken classes or kept contact with any professors... (I was fairly confident I'd be in a school by now lol). Currently still searching for an aide position too, thanks for the feedback!

 

[wiseOldPT]

Who were your letter writers and could you see any concerns with them? LORs matter much more than essays. I wouldn't bother with upping your observation hours, or if you do just try to get a few in various settings to show that diversity. Especially right now, observation hours aren't counting for much. For essay, make sure you link that biomechanics and experiences with shadowing to specifically why PT and why not work as a biomechanics researcher or swim coach or athletic trainer- that is what they are looking for, the specific why PT and not other things. I really dislike the pay to have your essay read/edited field so I'd never recommend that route. Enough free stuff out there, have profs/PTs read it if you want, and then it really just doesn't matter that much. I'd look at how you can foster a relationship to lead to a very strong LOR, whether that is from a supervisor, a professor (even look at taking a class), volunteer in a research lab, etc. And really, if you are on the waitlist, you aren't far off- that means they'll take you, they just need room.