Exercise Physiology student bent between Engineering and Physical Therapy

[Harvey Singh]

My original intent was to go to college for engineering more specifically mechanical or aerospace engineering. I ended up switched majors 3 or 4 times going to business, pre-med, theatre, and finally exercise physiology. By my senior year i was so sick and tired of college that all I wanted to do was graduate. the reason i didn't pursue engineering was because I wanted to run cross country and track in college in hopes of getting some scholarship for sports. I also had a fear that I wasn't going to be able to balance sports and engineering( bad choice on picking priorities in my part). I did well my first two and half years of college maintaining a 3.5 gpa overall with harder science courses, but went through some emotional trauma after a break up. My GPA fell after that and my advisor told me it would impossible for me to get into PT school. After graduating I interned at a cardiac rehab center in hopes of getting a position there but they didn't have any open positions. in fact the exercise physiologist that used to work there was the first to lose his job when the economy went down a few years ago. Its usually the ones with Ph.D's that get the higher paying positions for sports teams. My other plan is going through with physical therapy school. after my internship with cardiac rehab i couldn't find a job in my area around Raleigh North Carolina. I ended working as a gym trainer, another career which doesn't require a degree. I was only in position for short period about 9 months, they terminated me because they felt that I "lost passion for personal training" but I just lost motivation because they we're taking 55% of my income. I knew the pay wouldn't be great in that profession. I made enough to break even most day and the schedules were horrible.

My other plan is to go to Physical Therapy school. I've spent the past year observing at different locations Acute Care, Hospital, Various Outpatients clinics, sports therapy clinic, and a skilled nursing facility. That's totaled over 180+ observation hours. I find it an interesting field that I could see myself working. For some reason I feel like that I won't be satisfied with being a therapist, I feel i might get bored with the profession and there wouldn't be any room for growth like moving up the ladder. The salaries are comfortable 45-60k for new grads. After reading and and asking other therapist's I feel I wouldn't make over 100k as a therapist. I feel like something like engineering is so much more applicable to real life and practical situations. It's exciting to be apart of large team responsible for moving the project in a certain direction. I'm sitting here wishing I would've stuck with engineering instead of flip flopping majors like i did. Either way I'm going back to school for either engineering or physical therapy. It hard for me to pick which one but I keep leaning toward engineering because it just looks way more exciting and allows for creativity. It's also going to be tough to get into Physical therapy school with a 2.85 gpa. On the plus side if i were to go back to school for engineering I have most of the sciences out of the way. I just need to catch up on my math and physics. I feel I'll be more likely to get better grades because I have been through the college process and know that I have much more at stake. currently I don't owe any college loans. Any advice you can offer in career paths?

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[jblil]

I am an ex-engineer and worked for about 16 years in the field, the first half in mechanical engineering and the second half in software. Now I am a 2nd-yr PT student. Both Physical Therapy and Engineering will allow you to have a comfortable lifestyle, although you probably won't get rich; so it all boils down to which kind of job you like better. Or do both (like me). If you do do it, I highly recommend you study engr first, then PT. I think it'd be quite hard to go from PT to engr.

You have worked in rehab centers so you kind of know what a PT does. Have you shadowed engineers? If not, find one and ask if you can tag along him/her for a few days. "Creativity" in engineering is overrated. 99% of engineers deal with routine stuff, and the opportunity to be "creative" in the job is limited to choosing one kind of sheet-metal screw over another for a specific application. Now, if you have the talent of a Kelly Johnson then yes you can be creative all day long (if you're interested in aerospace engr, you should know who he is).

You're still young, so the following piece of advice may not make sense to you but I have to say it anyway: don't pick a career uniquely on its earning potential. That's the best way to become a highly-paid but bitter engineer (or PT).

 

[DesertPT]

I have never heard anything but dissatisfaction from personal trainers. I've never heard anything good about having a bachelor's degree in exercise physiology either. So you are definitely not alone.

I don't really understand your statements that engineering is more "applicable to real life and practical situations" than physical therapy, and that engineering "allows for creativity" but physical therapy doesn't (presumably). Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but after having shadowed in PT I don't know how you would think that PT is not very "applicable to real life and practical situations". Having been a PT patient with a lot of pain, I can tell you that when you can't put on a pair of pants or walk up stairs or sometimes even move your leg from the gas to brake pedal quickly, PT is applicable to most "practical situations" you encounter in your life. And as jblil pointed out, almost all jobs consist of mostly routine things. Even jobs that are variable day to day have you spend most of your time doing things you've done hundreds of times. I haven't done it myself, but I'd have to guess that if you spent half your life in PT and the other half in engineering, you would find that the level of creativity required isn't all that different.

Having been through a similar decision process to the one you are trying to make, I think it is important that the ultimate deciding factor is to determine which job, based on all the information you have available to you without actually working in that profession, will make you want to get up and go to work in the morning the most. I and everyone else on this board (and most people who have ever had a job) will tell you that having a job that you hate or even just don't enjoy weighs heavier on your soul than almost anything else in life. Heck, I don't need to tell you that, you said it about your own life already.

What jblil said is right: if your opinion of PT is being formed by observing, you can't make a proper decision without doing the same for engineering, lest your perceptions of engineering end up not panning out.

 

[NewTestament]

For some reason I feel like that I won't be satisfied with being a therapist, I feel i might get bored with the profession and there wouldn't be any room for growth like moving up the ladder...I feel like something like engineering is so much more applicable to real life and practical situations. It's exciting to be apart of large team responsible for moving the project in a certain direction..I keep leaning toward engineering because it just looks way more exciting and allows for creativity. It's also going to be tough to get into Physical therapy school with a 2.85 gpa.

I don't know why you think physical therapist allows less creativity than an engineer. PTs have a lot of routine work, but what professional doesn't? Part of building expertise is doing something repetitively. That's part of any job. It doesn't mean PTs have no creativity. Even PTs in the acute care setting (which might the most monotonous) have to synthesize a lot of information in a short amount of time. Maybe the clinics where you are observing have given you this negative, albeit distorted, impression. Do you think engineers apply all their creativity every day? I doubt they do. Either profession is going to require you to do some mundane tasks.

Do you not see that PTs collaborate with other clinicians and other PTs, especially PTs in the acute care setting? Being a PT is being part of a team.

Why do you say being an engineer is more applicable to "real-life" situations? What is a "real-life" situation to you, and what is not? Do you think helping someone walk is not "real-life?" What have you seen PTs do that is not "real-life?"

There's plenty of room for growth in PT. You can learn as much as you want. Knowledge is power in this field. PT school teaches you what you need to know to get started. PTs who are bored choose to be bored because they don't challenge themselves.

I don't know what you're observing in the clinics but you need to be a more keen observer and inquire the therapists about the profession before you come to these erroneous conclusions.

Kevin