West Coast University

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Thank you! I have a couple more questions:

So was it a group interview or one on one?

If it was a group interview how many applicants were part of your group?

How long did the whole interview last?

It was a group interview and there was just one other person being interviewed at the same time.

It lasted about 30 min or so. Depends on how many questions you have for them, I had several and so did the person I interviewed with.

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How did your interview go? I interviewed Monday morning and felt good about it. The facilities are nice and new but still have that feeling that it is too new and possibly risky to go to a school that doesn't have any stats yet. Their second years were going on their first 6 week clinicals (they have a total of 51 weeks of clinicals).

I asked about the possibility of not receiving accreditation in November 2017 and they stated they feel confident it will go through, but nothing is 100%. Worst case scenario they have agreements with 5 schools that would take their students should the school close.
I interviewed on the 8th as well. I thought it went well. Felt pretty comfortable in there. I'm also worried about them not getting accredited but they seem pretty adamant about getting it done. I guess I just want to get accepted somewhere. Btw I was the guy who didn't have anything interesting to say about himself.
 
I interviewed on the 8th as well. I thought it went well. Felt pretty comfortable in there. I'm also worried about them not getting accredited but they seem pretty adamant about getting it done. I guess I just want to get accepted somewhere. Btw I was the guy who didn't have anything interesting to say about himself.
8th or 7th??
 
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Hello,

I am just joining this network. I have an interview on Monday at West Coast. I see that some people have already had interviews - were there two groups of interviews (one in the morning and one in the evening?) also, how many people were there all together the day of the interview?

Thank you :)
 
Hey, does anyone know when West Coast is going to make an official decision about the new dpt class? I forgot to ask during my interview
 
Hello,

I am just joining this network. I have an interview on Monday at West Coast. I see that some people have already had interviews - were there two groups of interviews (one in the morning and one in the evening?) also, how many people were there all together the day of the interview?

Thank you :)

There were 44 people in my interview group so I'm assuming 88 per day if the afternoon group is similar
 
Hey, does anyone know when West Coast is going to make an official decision about the new dpt class? I forgot to ask during my interview
They said early April
 
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Hi guys!

During your interview was any part of your application brought up (e.g. gpa, gre, extracurricular activities)?
 
Hi guys!

During your interview was any part of your application brought up (e.g. gpa, gre, extracurricular activities)?
Not at all! In fact the professor said they didn't know our record at all!
 
Does anyone know how West Coast University determines who will be accepted? Does it all depend on the interview? Or is there a formula they use that includes GPA, GRE and interview performance?
 
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Of all your PT interviews, what was the most difficult question you were asked?
 
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Of all your PT interviews, what was the most difficult question you were asked?
At the west coast interview I was asked, "if a patient thinks you are incompetent how would you overcome that barrier?" Only hard question they asked though!
 
At the west coast interview I was asked, "if a patient thinks you are incompetent how would you overcome that barrier?" Only hard question they asked though!

Was your interview on March 28? They never asked me that question. I guess the questions varied depending what group you were in.

If a patient told me that I would continue being sincere, accommodating and respect the patient's wishes. Then I would apologize to the patient if I had offended him/her in any way. Lastly, I would say "if there is anything I can do differently to help please let me know because I only want the best for you."

Of course this is my answer after thinking about it for 3 minutes. Who know's what I would have said spur the moment, but I'm sure it would have been along those lines.
 
Was your interview on March 28? They never asked me that question. I guess the questions varied depending what group you were in.

If a patient told me that I would continue being sincere, accommodating and respect the patient's wishes. Then I would apologize to the patient if I had offended him/her in any way. Lastly, I would say "if there is anything I can do differently to help please let me know because I only want the best for you."

Of course this is my answer after thinking about it for 3 minutes. Who know's what I would have said spur the moment, but I'm sure it would have been along those lines.
Yeah I said that I would educate the patient of my plan and knowledge on their recovery process but ultimately my goal is for the patient to trust their therapist. So if they still did not think I was an competent physical therapist I would consult with someone that they did trust
 
Alright guys! Competition is over since all interviews are finished for West Coast University. Did you think they asked any unexpected questions?

And what did you guys think of the program?
 
Alright guys! Competition is over since all interviews are finished for West Coast University. Did you think they asked any unexpected questions?

And what did you guys think of the program?
Did you hear back?
 
Did you hear back?

No I don't expect a response until around1 April 20 maybe even May. Someone said on this forum they would get back to us by early April but things like this usually take longer than expected.
 
No I don't expect a response until around1 April 20 maybe even May. Someone said on this forum they would get back to us by early April but things like this usually take longer than expected.
They told me mid April
 
What do you guys think about the program? Do you feel safe Attending the program?
I just hear crazy bad and good things about going to this program. If i do get accepted, i really don't know what to do
 
What do you guys think about the program? Do you feel safe Attending the program?
I just hear crazy bad and good things about going to this program. If i do get accepted, i really don't know what to do


I'm curious, what negative things have you heard about this DPT program?
 
I'm curious, what negative things have you heard about this DPT program?
Many schools that are in accrediation process they will have this teach out agreement option, but that does not mean anything. If they don't get accredited, they will put students on hold and try every 6 months again with CAPTE until they get accrediation. So they really don't send any student to other school.
More negative things:
1. They were saying " schools that will go to final accrediation process, always get accrediation". That is not true, i called APTA and asked them about that and they said it depend on progremm prograss and they gave me many example that schools did not recieve accrediation.
2. Tach out agreement does not mean anything and they really won't use it.

I really liked the school and some staff had a knowledge about the field. But these things make me think over different stuff and make the decision super hard if i get accepted
 
Many schools that are in accrediation process they will have this teach out agreement option, but that does not mean anything. If they don't get accredited, they will put students on hold and try every 6 months again with CAPTE until they get accrediation. So they really don't send any student to other school.
More negative things:
1. They were saying " schools that will go to final accrediation process, always get accrediation". That is not true, i called APTA and asked them about that and they said it depend on progremm prograss and they gave me many example that schools did not recieve accrediation.
2. Tach out agreement does not mean anything and they really won't use it.

I really liked the school and some staff had a knowledge about the field. But these things make me think over different stuff and make the decision super hard if i get accepted


Which schools did APTA say did not receiveaccreditation on time? Because I am applying to another non accredited school. I have heard of PT programs outside of the U.S. not getting accredited on time, but never have I heard and researched of a DPTprogram in the U.S not getting accredited on time.


APTA said they don't honor teachout agreements? Then whats the point ofhaving them to begin with?
 
What do you guys think about the program?

If you are considering WCU, read this thread carefully, esp. from post #46 on. The comments are from nursing students, but I imagine it'd be pretty much the same for the PT side.
http://allnurses.com/california-nursing/straight-bsn-at-338925-page4.html

Be very, very, very careful. "Private, for-profit institutions" are often the caliber of the Univ of Phoenix, or Corinthian Colleges (which was recently in the news, for the wrong reasons).
 
Which schools did APTA say did not receiveaccreditation on time? Because I am applying to another non accredited school. I have heard of PT programs outside of the U.S. not getting accredited on time, but never have I heard and researched of a DPTprogram in the U.S not getting accredited on time.


APTA said they don't honor teachout agreements? Then whats the point ofhaving them to begin with?
I asked them the same question and they said they are not allow to give that information away.
I am kind of loss on your point on teach out agreement!?
Are you against it and don't think teach out agreement exist?
 
If you are considering WCU, read this thread carefully, esp. from post #46 on. The comments are from nursing students, but I imagine it'd be pretty much the same for the PT side.
http://allnurses.com/california-nursing/straight-bsn-at-338925-page4.html

Be very, very, very careful. "Private, for-profit institutions" are often the caliber of the Univ of Phoenix, or Corinthian Colleges (which was recently in the news, for the wrong reasons).
Can you plz explain more about your point? I am kind of loss with your point also
 
If you are considering WCU, read this thread carefully, esp. from post #46 on. The comments are from nursing students, but I imagine it'd be pretty much the same for the PT side.
http://allnurses.com/california-nursing/straight-bsn-at-338925-page4.html

Be very, very, very careful. "Private, for-profit institutions" are often the caliber of the Univ of Phoenix, or Corinthian Colleges (which was recently in the news, for the wrong reasons).


I understand your concern, but it is unfair to compare one "bad" program to the rest of the programs within the school. You are making the assumption that one bad program means all bad programs. I understand WCU is a private for profit institution and the comments left by several nursing students are negative on the website you provided, however, you cannot take away the years of experience the faculty has at WCU's DPT program. Many of the faculty at WCU have been practicing physical therapy for years! And on top of that many of them specialize in their respective fields. You can tell the faculty loves what they do, otherwise why else would they decide to teach? And they obviously aren't there to selfishly work on their research because they don't have the resources yet to conduct any research, which is fine with me because my goal is not to go into research. In addition, there were several West Coast University DPT students present at the interview with whom you could speak to. There were several opportunities to ask them how their experiences were within the program. The 5 students that I spoke with had nothing but positive experiences up to date.

I have read everywhere about the negative nursing program at WCU. Several of those comments were written by students who did not pass their class, hoping to retake it the following semester. In a graduate program (highest level) you better be going ALL IN every semester to learn and get the grade you want. Professors are their to facilitate your learning, however, at the same time what you put into your education is what you get out! The DPT students have had several opportunities to complain or vent online, but NEVER have I read a single negative comment about their DPT program. All current DPT students have also said that no one has dropped out of their program and that they are still 40 strong unlike some of the other programs at WCU. Also, I can't imagine professors only displaying power points during lecture and expect students to learn in that fashion. PT, being the field that it is, is heavily hands on. The faculty knows they need to incorporate hands on learning into their program, how else would we be able to practice manual therapy?

Also keep in mind PT's typically are very approachable, they have to be because they are interacting with patients everyday and establishing that PT-patient relationship. During the introduction at the interview you could tell Dr. Newstead is a very personable woman due to her jokes and welcoming attitude. I believe she is a reflection of what the rest of the faculty represents and I'm sure it was a highly selective process to hire professors who could help set the educational foundation to enable students to practice in the PT profession.
 
I asked them the same question and they said they are not allow to give that information away.
I am kind of loss on your point on teach out agreement!?
Are you against it and don't think teach out agreement exist?


From my understanding a teach out agreement is a back up plan in which the school has essentially contracts with other DPT programs in case they dont get accredited on time. But, you stated above, "Tach out agreement does not mean anything and they really won't use it." So are you stating if West Coast doesn't get accredited on time we are sitting ducks?
 
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From my understanding a teach out agreement is a back up plan in which the school has essentially contracts with other DPT programs in case they dont get accredited on time. But, you stated above, "Tach out agreement does not mean anything and they really won't use it." So are you stating if West Coast doesn't get accredited on time we are sitting ducks?
If they won't get accrediation, they will try every 6 months so we as students have to wait until the result come.
Even APTA told me" there is no guarantee and we have to deal with the university"
So we will be end up with 110000 loan and just waiting. Teach out agreement should be included in accrediation process, but there is no guarantee of using it.
I am really not against you, we are kind of in the same shoes, so i am just asking for opinion of other people.
 
I was nervous about their retention rate when I went to an open house several months ago. They'd already lost 4 of their 40 in the first class. They seemed pretty nonchalant about it, which made me even more nervous.


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I thought my point was clear: choose your school carefully, because you could be paying very high tuition for a sub-par education.

South College is another private, for-profit institution offering a DPT degree:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/south-college-dpt.1191147/

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I don't think they will listen. For many of these PT-hopefuls, WCU will be the only program that accepts them. Private for-profits will contribute to the over saturation issue projected, not to mention the high loan defaults stemming from those who attend these institutions.
 
I understand your concern, but it is unfair to compare one "bad" program to the rest of the programs within the school. You are making the assumption that one bad program means all bad programs. I understand WCU is a private for profit institution and the comments left by several nursing students are negative on the website you provided, however, you cannot take away the years of experience the faculty has at WCU's DPT program. Many of the faculty at WCU have been practicing physical therapy for years! And on top of that many of them specialize in their respective fields. You can tell the faculty loves what they do, otherwise why else would they decide to teach? And they obviously aren't there to selfishly work on their research because they don't have the resources yet to conduct any research, which is fine with me because my goal is not to go into research. In addition, there were several West Coast University DPT students present at the interview with whom you could speak to. There were several opportunities to ask them how their experiences were within the program. The 5 students that I spoke with had nothing but positive experiences up to date.

I have read everywhere about the negative nursing program at WCU. Several of those comments were written by students who did not pass their class, hoping to retake it the following semester. In a graduate program (highest level) you better be going ALL IN every semester to learn and get the grade you want. Professors are their to facilitate your learning, however, at the same time what you put into your education is what you get out! The DPT students have had several opportunities to complain or vent online, but NEVER have I read a single negative comment about their DPT program. All current DPT students have also said that no one has dropped out of their program and that they are still 40 strong unlike some of the other programs at WCU. Also, I can't imagine professors only displaying power points during lecture and expect students to learn in that fashion. PT, being the field that it is, is heavily hands on. The faculty knows they need to incorporate hands on learning into their program, how else would we be able to practice manual therapy?

Also keep in mind PT's typically are very approachable, they have to be because they are interacting with patients everyday and establishing that PT-patient relationship. During the introduction at the interview you could tell Dr. Newstead is a very personable woman due to her jokes and welcoming attitude. I believe she is a reflection of what the rest of the faculty represents and I'm sure it was a highly selective process to hire professors who could help set the educational foundation to enable students to practice in the PT profession.

I think the comparison is quite fair, though I may look at things differently than jblil. Like all rating sites, there are two primary components to assess. The institution and the rater (student). First, let's look at the institution who governs the faculty. One, the board of directors are solely responsible for shareholders and investors. They do not have to allocate a certain percentage of profit back to the community nor have an established subcommittee to oversee such operations. The faculty may be good, but they will be leaned out, i.e., the least amount of experienced PhDs possible in lieu of specialists. I'm not discounting the clinical expertise of a specialist, but if all is equal, they do not replace a PhD who is also board certified. This would tell me that they practice and can translate their research to current clinical practice/relevance. Friendly, personable, or not. You do not need much $ to perform research on a learning basis, this tells me that they just don't have much experience teaching in that area. Students who volunteer their time to speak with applicants won't have anything negative to say 99% of the time. They're usually the top performers and it's academic suicide to do so.

This alludes me to the second component, the student. Most of these for-profits are "last chance" schools for most students due to low past academics, high acceptance rates comparatively, and locality. Cost does not seem to affect decisions for these students due to the applicants' yearning to join our profession (I don't blame them, we're currently the cool kids). Unfortunately, many of these students are academically unprepared for any healthcare profession and provide negative reviews when they do not succeed. Being a for-profit institution, faculty will be pushed to keep lowering their standards so that the loan $ keeps coming in. If not, they will find someone else who will. I see that in many of the nursing programs. PT will be no different in this business model.
 
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I think the comparison is quite fair, though I may look at things differently than jblil. Like all rating sites, there are two primary components to assess. The institution and the rater (student). First, let's look at the institution who governs the faculty. One, the board of directors are solely responsible for shareholders and investors. They do not have to allocate a certain percentage of profit back to the community nor have an established subcommittee to oversee such operations. The faculty may be good, but they will be leaned out, i.e., the least amount of experienced PhDs possible in lieu of specialists. I'm not discounting the clinical expertise of a specialist, but if all is equal, they do not replace a PhD who is also board certified. This would tell me that they practice and can translate their research to current clinical practice/relevance. Friendly, personable, or not. You do not need much $ to perform research on a learning basis, this tells me that they just don't have much experience teaching in that area. Students who volunteer their time to speak with applicants won't have anything negative to say 99% of the time. They're usually the top performers and it's academic suicide to do so.

This alludes me to the second component, the student. Most of these for-profits are "last chance" schools for most students due to low past academics, high acceptance rates comparatively, and locality. Cost does not seem to affect decisions for these students due to the applicants' yearning to join our profession (I don't blame them, we're currently the cool kids). Unfortunately, many of these students are academically unprepared for any healthcare profession and provide negative reviews when they do not succeed. Being a for-profit institution, faculty will be pushed to keep lowering their standards so that the loan $ keeps coming in. If not, they will find someone else who will. I see that in many of the nursing programs. PT will be no different in this business model.

Thank you for sharing your opinion, i think you absolutely make sense and you are 100% right. This was the comment i was waiting for, so i can see full picture, thank you again.

Last years i had to submit my 3 years old GRE score because i did not know that most schools have a deadline for sending the score. I am retaking GRE soon and i will wait one more year and apply again. Thanks again
 
I think the comparison is quite fair, though I may look at things differently than jblil. Like all rating sites, there are two primary components to assess. The institution and the rater (student). First, let's look at the institution who governs the faculty. One, the board of directors are solely responsible for shareholders and investors. They do not have to allocate a certain percentage of profit back to the community nor have an established subcommittee to oversee such operations. The faculty may be good, but they will be leaned out, i.e., the least amount of experienced PhDs possible in lieu of specialists. I'm not discounting the clinical expertise of a specialist, but if all is equal, they do not replace a PhD who is also board certified. This would tell me that they practice and can translate their research to current clinical practice/relevance. Friendly, personable, or not. You do not need much $ to perform research on a learning basis, this tells me that they just don't have much experience teaching in that area. Students who volunteer their time to speak with applicants won't have anything negative to say 99% of the time. They're usually the top performers and it's academic suicide to do so.

This alludes me to the second component, the student. Most of these for-profits are "last chance" schools for most students due to low past academics, high acceptance rates comparatively, and locality. Cost does not seem to affect decisions for these students due to the applicants' yearning to join our profession (I don't blame them, we're currently the cool kids). Unfortunately, many of these students are academically unprepared for any healthcare profession and provide negative reviews when they do not succeed. Being a for-profit institution, faculty will be pushed to keep lowering their standards so that the loan $ keeps coming in. If not, they will find someone else who will. I see that in many of the nursing programs. PT will be no different in this business model.




I appreciate your response since it gives me another perspective. Can you please elaborate when you say (especially the bold parts), “The faculty may be good, but they will be leaned out, i.e., the least amount of experienced PhDs possible in lieu of specialists. I'm not discounting the clinical expertise of a specialist, but if all is equal, they do not replace a PhD who is also board certified. This would tell me that they practice and can translate their research to current clinical practice/relevance.”
 
I appreciate your response since it gives me another perspective. Can you please elaborate when you say (especially the bold parts), “The faculty may be good, but they will be leaned out, i.e., the least amount of experienced PhDs possible in lieu of specialists. I'm not discounting the clinical expertise of a specialist, but if all is equal, they do not replace a PhD who is also board certified. This would tell me that they practice and can translate their research to current clinical practice/relevance.”
It means that most of their PhDs may not be specialists because they are not currently practicing PTs. They may come with a research background, but lack the experience in translating research into actual clinical practice. For example, if a faculty member was an expert on motor learning and plasticity (their research background), I would expect this expert to know various intervention methods that brings out the best outcomes in clinic. This would include environmental setup, intervention type, duration, etc. But if this faculty member has not had any patient contact within the last 10 years...what does that say? I'm not saying that that's necessarily a bad thing thing. We haven't seen the outcome in clinics yet. Most other programs fill in this weakness with adjunct professors that teach part time throughout the year. LEAN is a concept of efficiency and quality by eliminating waste. For-profits like Phoenix and Devry have been known to pay their faculty below competitive rates (most are just part time), thus not attracting the experience and talent necessary to provide leading edge quality education and that's okay to them. They look for "good enough" outcomes. They lean out their financial side at the cost of their quality side, which is poor lean management and vs the spirit of lean. It's a safe bet that WCU does not have many practicing PhDs because they will not pay them accordingly. Hopefully they have good adjuncts to fill that void.
 
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Has no one read the faculty page for PT? https://westcoastuniversity.edu/programs/doctor-physical-therapy/meet-the-faculty.html
Maybe this should be done before comparisons are made to other programs or schools. Seems like a lot of clinical experience on there.

Thanks for the link. Their backgrounds are impressive, I won't disagree with anyone there. However, if you bothered to read any of my previous posts, the PhD faculty, other than the director, is the only one with a solid clinical background. All others are specialists. Perhaps someone did look up their backgrounds before making these posts ;-p.
 
Thanks for the link. Their backgrounds are impressive, I won't disagree with anyone there. However, if you bothered to read any of my previous posts, the PhD faculty, other than the director, is the only one with a solid clinical background. All others are specialists. Perhaps someone did look up their backgrounds before making these posts ;-p.


I certainly read into the faculty before applying to West Coast University. I obviously want to get accepted into a PT school like everyone else, but I'm just not going to attend any PT school. My time, effort, and energy in DPT school will greatly determine how good of a PT I will become. In addition, I am not going to spend all that money on just any school to make me a terrible PT. We all know some schools prepare you better than others, however, despite West Coast University being for profit and a new DPT program I feel the WCU faculty has a lot of experience to prepare their students. I worked as a PT aide in a private outpatient clinic and a rehabilitation aide at an inpatient hospital. The PT's I worked with did not have PhD's, but I learned a lot from them. The PT's I looked up to were simply licensed practicing PT's, and none of them were specialists either. If those PT's decided to teach at university, they would be really good teachers.

Despite West Coast University being a for profit university and having a bad nursing program, don't you think it is still possible for West Coast University to prepare students to be good PT's?
 
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I certainly read into the faculty before applying to West Coast University. I obviously want to get accepted into a PT school like everyone else, but I'm just not going to attend any PT school. My time, effort, and energy in DPT school will greatly determine how good of a PT I will become. In addition, I am not going to spend all that money on just any school to make me a terrible PT. We all know some schools prepare you better than others, however, despite West Coast University being for profit and a new DPT program I feel the WCU faculty has a lot of experience to prepare their students. I worked as a PT aide in a private outpatient clinic and a rehabilitation aide at an inpatient hospital. The PT's I worked with did not have PhD's, but I learned a lot from them. The PT's I looked up to were simply licensed practicing PT's, and none of them were specialists either. If those PT's decided to teach at university, they would be really good teachers.

Despite West Coast University being a for profit university and having a bad nursing program, don't you think it is still possible for West Coast University to prepare students to be good PT's?
I wouldn't expect many field PTs to have their PhDs so I don't know what you're alluding to. I do not doubt one bit that you've worked with great general clinicians. However they are not focused on academia and you have not been to PT school to understand the depth of knowledge required of a PT. The clinical experience and knowledge that comes with a specialist should also be highly regarded, thus very advantageous to have a professor who is a PhD and currently practices in some capacity. If you have not been exposed to either in terms of education, I don't know how you can make your comparison.

This is just my opinion but when I hear of a for-profit college, I imagine the University of Pheonix, DeVry, and ITT Tech. Those institutions do not produce quality candidates compared to their peers. The only exception being St. Augustines who became a for-profit by acquisition (we will see in ~5 years when most, if not all of the merger clauses expire). My personal bias of course, but well shared. We will just have to see when the first class start their clinicals. There are a lot of us waiting to see.
 
This is just my opinion but when I hear of a for-profit college, I imagine the University of Pheonix, DeVry, and ITT Tech. Those institutions do not produce quality candidates compared to their peers.

Azi, you forgot South College ;-)
 
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I am in the program already, class of 2018, and am in our 2nd semester, which is almost over. AMA !!
 
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