Suprised by application process: Safety school vs Hail Mary

[Aupa]

I decided to apply to 6 different DPT schools and have been surprised by the results of each. I'm from the west coast so I applied to mostly west coast schools. The one exception was applying to Boston University as my "fun school," not expecting to be accepted based upon it's ranking. To my surprise, my in-state school waitlisted me which was my "safety school" while I was accepted to Boston. I'm either waitlisted or waiting to hear back from the other four schools, but these two surprised me the most and I'm trying to make sense of them. I'm a bit worried more than anything because of the price of Boston.

Have any of you experienced a similar situation? Would you recommend to future applicants to apply in a similar fashion? Any thoughts on the difficulties of getting into your in-state school? You always read, "only apply to schools you would attend" but I can't say I was expecting this situation.

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[nicolej5]

I applied in a similar way. I applied to instate schools, safety schools and fun/dream schools or however you want to phrase it. I ended up being accepted to two instate schools and the safety school and was offered an interview everywhere except for LSU. I can't really say I was expecting things to turn out a certain way, more like hoping to just get in somewhere. I will admit that I applied to a few schools that I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to attend. I was worried at the beginning of the app process and that got the best of me so I applied to ten schools where the criteria matched my stats right on. If I were in your situation, I would take a close look at the cost. I would then say "is it worth this much to go to Boston?" Keep in mind that their cost of living is among the highest in the states. Also, I would ask myself if I had a reasonable chance to get into an in state school next cycle. If that's a yes and you feel confident, take a pass on Boston and go with the cheaper option. If you love Boston and the debt isn't concerning to you, go to Boston. As far as difficulties getting into an instate school, I think that they are the hardest schools to get into. They are often an applicant's first choice due to cost and location, so competition is intense.

 

[GatorGrad87]

I am also a little surprised. I've been wait listed or rejected from most of my safety schools. But I have received interviews at 2 schools ranked in the top10. Not sure how to explain it. I just wish I found this forum earlier because it would've made this process a lot easier.

 

[s402651]

I also have a similar situation. I am from the midwest and applied to all in state schools to avoid moving and heightened cost of living. I was wait listed by two schools I thought were a no brainer. However, I was accepted early on to an in state school, but with private tuition to stack up. In my opinion, you should see what the other 4 schools tell you before you consider Boston. I think that it should be a last resort kind of thing with the high cost of living.

 

[EMU22]

Yeah I've had the same kind of thing happen to me. I'm from the Midwest and applied to several schools in Michigan and am waitlisted at all three. I also decided to apply to USC and somehow got in. Sounds awesome but I don't know if I can go though because it's super pricey.

 

[okramango]

In the PT School world, the most competitive programs are the cheaper state schools, while it seems it is slightly easier to get into the more expensive private programs. The school rankings don't have a lot of real meaning compared to the debt load that PT school requires, so a lot of people apply to the lower cost programs to save money on tuition.