got into the combined B.S/DPT program

[asian pharm]

hey guys, i got accepted to the B.S/DPT program at fiu. i am kind of thinking about it. looking at the PT salaries, i was scared if i will make not enough even to pay back my loans.( forget helping my family). also, the websites like salary.com and payscale do not accuratley state the salaries. so i really dont know whether i will make even less then what is stated on it.(the starting salaries is listed as 25.18 an hour, for "less then one year experience"). i am interested in working for a hospital or a rehab center, not as a traveling physical therapist. in that case, honestly how much will i start with right after i graduate? any advice will be appreciated

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[Buckeye4life]

Realistically, you're probably looking at $45-55k. You can help to supplement youre salary however if you do some nursing home work prn. You can make $40-60/hour working a few evenings or weekends.

 

[asian pharm]

hey, thanks for answering to my thread. so by "nursing homework" you mena i should go for nursing school insatead of PT,or do you mean that it is a diiferent sub-branch of PT proffesion like travelling PT, or something like that? I am sorry if this is a silly question, but i am totally new to the PT proffesion.

 

[PREMEDWOAHS]

first of all, i highly suggest that you dont get locked into something that you know nothing about. go spend some time around PT's before you go into a combined program or else your wasting time leading up to something your not interested in. second of all, salaries of PT's vary on their location, # of hours, responsibilities, and theres always the all-mighty "starting your own clinic." If your worried about money this early in the game then I think you should look around for other health professions, there are plenty others, like being a PA, nurse, dentist, chiro, optometry. Explore your options, especially if your young. You have plenty of time.

 

[Grue1some]

If money is your end reward and you want the quickest way into the health profession then I say nursing. 2 year associate or 4 year BSN. Lots of opportunity and flexibility. Plus supply and demand. Work anytime you want to~pick your own time day night or graveyard. Then get your masters in nurse anestitist (sp) or nurse practitioner. Check out allnurses.com. The bad and ugly side is you deal with admin, godly doctors, patients, and family but you can avoid that by working graveyard shift.

Chiropractor is another 3 - 4 years with a lot of pre-reqs. Check out life university in Georgia

Pharmacy is another 4 years after your bachelors. I read something about a 1 million doller bonus for working in Alaska. Could you handle the weather and living with 200 males and 1 woman in a village for four years? Reminds me of the smurfs.

PA school is another 2 years after bachelors. I think salary can be around 70-100k~check on that.

Or you just have to be a physical therapist and work at a setting like a nursing home, home health, or bust your butt in setting up your own clinic. Some love it. It is a calling to them. You just have to hustle and have good business skills.

Again like premedwoahs said "Do your research and see what fits you". Dont get stuck with something which you dont feel comfortable.

Good, Bad, Ugly in each profession. There is no best health care job. The best job is what makes you happy and comfortable in doing until you retire.

Supply and Demand......Think about it.

My suggestion is to work as a tech or observe a Physical Therapist over the summer and see if you WANT to do this.

 

[asian pharm]

Hey Grue1some and pre-med, thanks for reppling to me.

as you said, I have actually done lots and lots of research on each medical field. and finally worked at a pharmacy for a year, and selected pharmacy as my proffesion. the only drawback was that patients get a little mad in retail if Rx is not ready by the promised time, but you get used to it after a while. i had actually applied to 7 schools this year for pharm.d got rejected at 5 and on waitlist on 2. next year, I am planning to apply again, but i did not want to take a chance. what if i dont get next year also???? i have had friends who spent 4 years appling and still not got in,so finally ended up with PT. I thought that i would go ahead and pursue my BS while i re-apply to pharm schools. when i applied, the college asked me if i was interested in the combined DPT program(since my gpa was high, they thought i would qualify) so that was just a bonus.
nursing schools I have researched a lot, but people say that it is even harder then pharmacy, so i thought i would definately not make it.
for PA, I have actually volunteered for many hours in a hospital, liked it and am appling next year. by that time i will have a BS also, so it would be a perfect time to start PA school.i had PA in mind as a second choice after pharmacy, but then suddenly PT came up with this college's offer.
also, looked in optometry, did not like it.
i only did not know anything about PT because it just happened this lucky way(i.e the college asked me and i said yes), i never actually thought of it.if it would have been planned, i am sure i would have a single little info about it.
thanks, both of you. you were great help, and i will ask you about any questions that i have further also.

 

[Grue1some]

"nursing schools I have researched a lot, but people say that it is even harder then pharmacy, so i thought i would definately not make it."

Thats crazy. Sure you put up with a lot of bull but the end pays off.. I had a much easier time getting accepted into nursing programs than Physical Therapy. One school in New Jersey didnt even interview me. It just sent out a packet with congradulations you been accepted. I was shocked~lol. Plus it let me not take a class. However, the program was new so I chose another school with a good rep and pass rate.

In nursing you dont have to take Biochem, Organic, and a lot of crazy courses like you do in Pharmacy.

Just go to allnurses.com. There are people who are in their 40's-50's or even 60's who go to nursing and they have been out of school for like 10-20 years. They still do well. I would think pharmacy would be a beast.

 

[PREMEDWOAHS]

i would also recommend to you a good spell checking program.

 

[Grue1some]

My grammar sucks as well.

I found two programs:

http://www.whitesmoke.com/demo.html

http://www.perrla.com/Pages/1/2.aspx

 

[PREMEDWOAHS]

haha nice touch.

 

[asian pharm]

i would also recommend to you a good spell checking program.

lol.....i thought premed was telling me about the spell check program.