What can I do with the 90 credits I earned in DPT school?

[Michael Brown]

Hi all,

I'm trying to be discrete with all of this.

My situation is that I completed 90 credits in a DPT program with a total of 99 credits and failed out in my second to last trimester.

I've come to terms with the situation which may be a very unique one as I don't think there are many people that fail out after getting this far in to the program (9 credits away from graduating).

I'm not in the worst position because prior to DPT school I have earned and been working as a licenced PTA. So I have that to fall back on.

I love being a PTA and personally do not want to go back to DPT school to start over, especially since there's a chance this could happen again. I'm not willing to risk that.

Thankfully I did not go through student loans to pay for school but my father helped me pay for it by loaning me money for it. I spent about $86,000 total on grad school alone which is what he (my father paid for). Thankfully as a PTA I was able to work and pay for my undergrad schooling and even the first year of my grad school with money I made as a PTA. My father paid for the remaining 2 years.

I don't have an issue with continuing to be a PTA especially since I'm making really good money doing it. I make enough to be able to pay my father back in a couple of years.

But my father is very hurt by my failing out of DPT school and he wants me to go back or at least find a use for the 90 credits I earned. I use it on my PTA resume but he doesn't think it helps my PTA. Honestly I think he really just wants me to be a doctor. It's more about pride than anything and I don't like that. So many people have lost so much on the name of pride. I am not about to take on piles of debt just to prove that I can do something.

My father wants to know if anyone else has been in my situation where they were a few credits from graduating but then failed? And what can be done about it? He is talking about getting lawyers to see if he can get the money back for the credits from the school.

I already know own that my credits can't be transfered to another school from asking in an earlier post. I've chalked this experience up to an investment loss in life (even though I feel the knowledge enhanced me as a PTA, he doesn't). He is sort of confused and distraught because he also makes the argument that PTs and PTAs aren't much different in the work accept for the evaluation and assessment part which I kind of agree. The worst part is that he tells me that thinking about it hurts him, keeps him up at night and brings him to tears. It's ridiculous to me what pride can do. He really just wants me to have that Doctorate degree. We've spoken about it and I concluded that it's not so much his interest in becoming a PT but more so in earning a Doctorate degree which is not why I went to PT school. I once told a fellow students that I am not becoming a PT to be a doctor, I am becoming a doctor to become a PT. If the PT program was still only a bachelor's degree I would still have gone in to it and I bet it wouldn't mean as much to my father because it's only a bachelor's. He kind of looks down at my being a PTA because it's only an associates degree even though it's pretty much the same work. That's how I know it's more about the degree to him than the profession. Especially since with my experience as a PTA I am making close to if not the same what starting PT would make. But he doesn't care about that, he still wants me to go back to PT school even though he's convinced that the reason I failed was a discrimination issue as he talks about how few people of color are in high places in the medical field and in general.

I'm not sure what to do to comfort him. I don't want to go back to school to risk this happening again. I'm hoping time will heal his wounds and he'll forget about this as I become successful as a PTA but he wants to know what can be done with my 90 credits in the position I am in?

Thank you.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tpath11]

wow that's an unfortunate situation first off, but it could be a lot worse, if you just had a bachelors, let's be honest, most of us are bio/ exercise phys majors and the jobs are below avg at best with just a bachelors in the science field, you'd maybe have to get a masters/ phd, and hope you can land a teaching job to make like 65 or 70 k if lucky. Then again you'd have to take more years of your life to complete another degree. So, you are fortunate to have PTA already going for you. As far as the experience, I see no way how it would actually hurt you, if anything it will only benefit you. As far as getting your money back, you honestly have no argument there because the school still provided you the services that they offer, you did not meet the terms, so I don't believe they will be accountable for anything, at least legally, unless you have a case where they were unjust to you, most likely, you would only win that case if you had proof, something in writing like a few emails that go in your favor; but if you just failed it on your own, then you just failed it. If you have the patience, then you can do it again, but I wouldn't do it till you get all your confidence back. You need to go in wholeheartedly. Maybe work a few years as a PTA, save up some money, pay your dad back, and start fresh?


By the way, if you dont mind me asking, how did you fail out? Did your GPA drop below a 3, or was it just one class you failed and they kicked you out?

 

[Michael Brown]

wow that's an unfortunate situation first off, but it could be a lot worse, if you just had a bachelors, let's be honest, most of us are bio/ exercise phys majors and the jobs are below avg at best with just a bachelors in the science field, you'd maybe have to get a masters/ phd, and hope you can land a teaching job to make like 65 or 70 k if lucky. Then again you'd have to take more years of your life to complete another degree. So, you are fortunate to have PTA already going for you. As far as the experience, I see no way how it would actually hurt you, if anything it will only benefit you. As far as getting your money back, you honestly have no argument there because the school still provided you the services that they offer, you did not meet the terms, so I don't believe they will be accountable for anything, at least legally, unless you have a case where they were unjust to you, most likely, you would only win that case if you had proof, something in writing like a few emails that go in your favor; but if you just failed it on your own, then you just failed it. If you have the patience, then you can do it again, but I wouldn't do it till you get all your confidence back. You need to go in wholeheartedly. Maybe work a few years as a PTA, save up some money, pay your dad back, and start fresh?


By the way, if you dont mind me asking, how did you fail out? Did your GPA drop below a 3, or was it just one class you failed and they kicked you out?

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah seems my father will just have to get over it. There are people in far worse positions than I am, I don't know why he's so hurt by this. I guess because no one in my immediate family has earned above a bachelor's degree and I was pretty much the only hope and he's old and foreign and holds that at a high value. Not sure why he can't see the value in my PTA career or even how the knowledge from PT school helps it. Pride is blinding him I guess. He considers a person with a Doctorate degree to be more successful than one with an associates degree. It's ridiculous. He'll have to get over it. Nothing can be done.

I failed a clinical affiliation. I always maintained over a 3.0 GPA and was never on probation. I want to keep this discrete so I won't give much more info about it, sorry. But thanks.

 

[tgreek2320]

At the end of the day, you're the one that has to live with your decision, so make sure your decision reflects what you want. If you're happy as a PTA then run with it and forget what anyone else thinks. Your happiness comes first, and if others can't understand then that's their problem.

 

[Michael Brown]

At the end of the day, you're the one that has to live with your decision, so make sure your decision reflects what you want. If you're happy as a PTA then run with it and forget what anyone else thinks. Your happiness comes first, and if others can't understand then that's their problem.

True, thanks.

 

[twotired]

Uh...I think you need a reality check. If I'm understanding this correctly, your father gave you ~$86,000 to pay for PT school. I don't know what the agreement and terms were, but I would assume that he would give his child a good deal (possibly a gift? lower interest rate?).

You need to get over YOURSELF, and see how disappointing it would be for your father to have invested in you only to fail out and give up because of one failed affiliation. Dude, grow up... NINE credits? Close to $90k spent? Are you serious? I think you should be an adult, take responsibility, and figure out how the **** you're going to beg your PT school to let you re-do that affiliation and continue with your degree.

It would be a big mistake to act delusional and simply take on a "no harm, no foul" attitude about this. It is kind of disturbing and I understand why your dad would be stressed out.

 

[CanCrusher]

NINE credits? Close to $90k spent? Are you serious?

It would be a big mistake to act delusional and simply take on a "no harm, no foul" attitude about this

Agreed

What alternatives did your school give you ? Could you simply pay/redo the final year and hop in with the class that started a year after you ? (for example if you started in 2014 could the school let you do the final year of the 2015 starting class in January ?)

 

[Michael Brown]

Uh...I think you need a reality check. If I'm understanding this correctly, your father gave you ~$86,000 to pay for PT school. I don't know what the agreement and terms were, but I would assume that he would give his child a good deal (possibly a gift? lower interest rate?).

You need to get over YOURSELF, and see how disappointing it would be for your father to have invested in you only to fail out and give up because of one failed affiliation. Dude, grow up... NINE credits? Close to $90k spent? Are you serious? I think you should be an adult, take responsibility, and figure out how the **** you're going to beg your PT school to let you re-do that affiliation and continue with your degree.

It would be a big mistake to act delusional and simply take on a "no harm, no foul" attitude about this. It is kind of disturbing and I understand why your dad would be stressed out.

I think you misunderstood. I did not give up I was dismissed from the program. If by "give up" you meant give up on pursuing becoming a PT which would require me to start all over again including being lucky enough to have a school accept me which is very slim from what I read in a previous thread I made because why would a school choose a person who failed out of PT school over a person who did not? They wouldn't but even if I was lucky enough to get readmitted to another school there is still a chance I could fail out and it would be irresponsible of me to take on that investment again without confidence but more importantly how does my feeling unconfident about taking on that investment again disrespect my father? I don't understand what you are talking about. My only choice as far as I see (unless this thread can lead to another solution which was the point of this thread) is to either apply for PT school again, get lucky enough to get accepted in to a school and shell out another $86 to $100 grand depending on the school which there is no gaurantee I won't fail again or just forget the whole thing and stick with being a PTA (which I love). I'm just trying to look at the glass half full because no one else is.

This whole "beg the school to let you redo the affiliation" thing you said is absurd. Do you really think that that is what is going to change things? Me crying and begging the school for another chance after they denied my appeal? The mistake I apologized and asked for forgiveness for the mistake I made when it happened and it was not granted. I went through a remediation process with tests and assignments for several months and still could not get back in. This wasn't a simple failure and me giving up. To say I gave up is disrespectful. I earned 90 credits and have never been on probation, always earned above the required 3.0 GPA, that's not giving up. I understand my father feeling the way he feels, yes it's a lot of money but going back to school could make it a larger loss if I fail again and it's not wise to go in to an investment that you're not confident about.

Regarding the money my father paid, I am paying my father back, luckily I have a good job in which I can do that. Don't go assuming things.

I think you misunderstood me. I understand my father feeling bad about me failing but what I don't understand is my father feeling bad about me not doing the whole thing over again. I'm not even sure he understands it because he recognizes that this kind of program is very risky with the fact that he brought up how with other doctorate majors, you could earn a masters degree at some point but with this PT no so the credits without graduating is totally worthless in his eyes but I try to look at the glass half full and tell myself that the education I gained in PT school has helped me as a PTA. I know it has.

Anyway the point of this thread was to see my options regarding the credits but I actually did a Google search recently and my situation is not unique. There have been people that have failed out of college in their senior year or a semester away from graduation. I didn't get much help from reading that but I do know it's happened before. Just curious what can be done? You are suggesting going to the school after a year of remediation process and begging the school to let me return, that's not only disrespectful to me but also the PT profession. This isn't elementary school. I wasn't dismissed because I wasn't being nice, being nice is not why people graduate. Being nice is not on the curriculum. If begging "please" is the thing that will get me reinstated in to the school disregarding the actual knowledge of the profession then what does that say about the school and ultimately the profession. Believe me begging for the school to reinstate me not a solution and don't tell me that it couldn't hurt. Appealing to a degree is begging so it's been done. I appealed and got rejected. Begging is not a solution.

It's really a damn shame that school's can do this. I'll be honest throughout the program it seemed impossible to fail out (not to make it sound like I was trying to fail, just that I struggled as other student did too in some courses where we were sure to fail but didn't). There were some trimesters I thought I wouldn't pass but I did. It's possible that school's could let students pass through many trimesters just to milk them for their money and then fail them just before the end. Obviously this wouldn't be the majority of the students or otherwise people would catch on but it's possible that it could happen to a few students. I feel it's a possibility I was one of those students.

Ok this has become a tldr. I was just trying to see what my options were. The whole point of this thread which means I haven't given up but begging is not a solution that I believe will work. I'm not even sure how you expect me to beg the school.

 

[Michael Brown]

Agreed

What alternatives did your school give you ? Could you simply pay/redo the final year and hop in with the class that started a year after you ? (for example if you started in 2014 could the school let you do the final year of the 2015 starting class in January ?)

I guess because I was being so discrete it wasn't obvious that I was given a remediation period with tests and assignments and if allowed back I would graduated with the following years class. But first I had to prove that I was ready to return to affiliation, otherwise they wouldn't let me return which is what happened. They did not feel that I was ready to return after the tests and assignments they gave me during the remediation period. So I didn't get a chance to retake the affiliation even after appealing.

 

[soccer1111]

I think you misunderstood. I did not give up I was dismissed from the program. If by "give up" you meant give up on pursuing becoming a PT which would require me to start all over again including being lucky enough to have a school accept me which is very slim from what I read in a previous thread I made because why would a school choose a person who failed out of PT school over a person who did not? They wouldn't but even if I was lucky enough to get readmitted to another school there is still a chance I could fail out and it would be irresponsible of me to take on that investment again without confidence but more importantly how does my feeling unconfident about taking on that investment again disrespect my father? I don't understand what you are talking about. My only choice as far as I see (unless this thread can lead to another solution which was the point of this thread) is to either apply for PT school again, get lucky enough to get accepted in to a school and shell out another $86 to $100 grand depending on the school which there is no gaurantee I won't fail again or just forget the whole thing and stick with being a PTA (which I love). I'm just trying to look at the glass half full because no one else is.

This whole "beg the school to let you redo the affiliation" thing you said is absurd. Do you really think that that is what is going to change things? Me crying and begging the school for another chance after they denied my appeal? The mistake I apologized and asked for forgiveness for the mistake I made when it happened and it was not granted. I went through a remediation process with tests and assignments for several months and still could not get back in. This wasn't a simple failure and me giving up. To say I gave up is disrespectful. I earned 90 credits and have never been on probation, always earned above the required 3.0 GPA, that's not giving up. I understand my father feeling the way he feels, yes it's a lot of money but going back to school could make it a larger loss if I fail again and it's not wise to go in to an investment that you're not confident about.

Regarding the money my father paid, I am paying my father back, luckily I have a good job in which I can do that. Don't go assuming things.

I think you misunderstood me. I understand my father feeling bad about me failing but what I don't understand is my father feeling bad about me not doing the whole thing over again. I'm not even sure he understands it because he recognizes that this kind of program is very risky with the fact that he brought up how with other doctorate majors, you could earn a masters degree at some point but with this PT no so the credits without graduating is totally worthless in his eyes but I try to look at the glass half full and tell myself that the education I gained in PT school has helped me as a PTA. I know it has.

Anyway the point of this thread was to see my options regarding the credits but I actually did a Google search recently and my situation is not unique. There have been people that have failed out of college in their senior year or a semester away from graduation. I didn't get much help from reading that but I do know it's happened before. Just curious what can be done? You are suggesting going to the school after a year of remediation process and begging the school to let me return, that's not only disrespectful to me but also the PT profession. This isn't elementary school. I wasn't dismissed because I wasn't being nice, being nice is not why people graduate. Being nice is not on the curriculum. If begging "please" is the thing that will get me reinstated in to the school disregarding the actual knowledge of the profession then what does that say about the school and ultimately the profession. Believe me begging for the school to reinstate me not a solution and don't tell me that it couldn't hurt. Appealing to a degree is begging so it's been done. I appealed and got rejected. Begging is not a solution.

It's really a damn shame that school's can do this. I'll be honest throughout the program it seemed impossible to fail out (not to make it sound like I was trying to fail, just that I struggled as other student did too in some courses where we were sure to fail but didn't). There were some trimesters I thought I wouldn't pass but I did. It's possible that school's could let students pass through many trimesters just to milk them for their money and then fail them just before the end. Obviously this wouldn't be the majority of the students or otherwise people would catch on but it's possible that it could happen to a few students. I feel it's a possibility I was one of those students.

Ok this has become a tldr. I was just trying to see what my options were. The whole point of this thread which means I haven't given up but begging is not a solution that I believe will work. I'm not even sure how you expect me to beg the school.

If you are contemplating trying again, try St. Augustine they have been known to give people second chances! I actually read in this thread about someone who was given a second chance by them. Does your PTA program accept any of these credits?

 

[twotired]

So clearly “beg” is a trigger word for you so I’m not going to use it anymore. What I meant to say initially was that you should have tried to complete your DPT degree since you were basically already there. I missed the part where you said you already went through remediation and appeal attempts. Seeing as how that bridge has been crossed, I’m not sure what you can do with your 90 credits.

This thread, which you may have already found, goes over a similar situation. Dismissed... what's next?
I think OP in that thread ended up getting accepted into another DPT program but had some issues transferring credits.

IMO, it doesn’t sound like you really wanted to pursue a DPT degree in the first place. You mentioned being happy as a PTA and it seemed like your father pressured you into pursuing PT. It is unfortunate that you’re now $86k in the hole with 90 credits and no degree to show for it.

 

[Michael Brown]

If you are contemplating trying again, try St. Augustine they have been known to give people second chances! I actually read in this thread about someone who was given a second chance by them. Does your PTA program accept any of these credits?

What PTA program? I'm not in school for PTA. I've been a licensed PTA for 10 years. But if you were just asking to know if the school I graduated PTA from accepts PT course credits, I don't know but I think they might. Not sure if PT course credits transfer to PTA programs but they probably should.

Thanks for the St. Augustine info. Do you know if they'd accept my credits or would I have to start all over? I suspect I'd have to start all over. At this point I'm not ready to do that. But thanks.

 

[Michael Brown]

So clearly “beg” is a trigger word for you so I’m not going to use it anymore. What I meant to say initially was that you should have tried to complete your DPT degree since you were basically already there. I missed the part where you said you already went through remediation and appeal attempts. Seeing as how that bridge has been crossed, I’m not sure what you can do with your 90 credits.

This thread, which you may have already found, goes over a similar situation. Dismissed... what's next?
I think OP in that thread ended up getting accepted into another DPT program but had some issues transferring credits.

IMO, it doesn’t sound like you really wanted to pursue a DPT degree in the first place. You mentioned being happy as a PTA and it seemed like your father pressured you into pursuing PT. It is unfortunate that you’re now $86k in the hole with 90 credits and no degree to show for it.

I'm not sure how you misread my original post as me quitting DPT school especially since I used the words "failed out".

Also, no I was not pressured by my father or anyone to go in to DPT, it was all me. I was able to pay for my first year of DPT school with money I made from working so it's not exactly 86k in the hole now that I think about it but I'm still in the hole for a lot of money but it's not a total loss as I believe the education has benefited me as a PTA.

 

[soccer1111]

What PTA program? I'm not in school for PTA. I've been a licensed PTA for 10 years. But if you were just asking to know if the school I graduated PTA from accepts PT course credits, I don't know but I think they might. Not sure if PT course credits transfer to PTA programs but they probably should.

Thanks for the St. Augustine info. Do you know if they'd accept my credits or would I have to start all over? I suspect I'd have to start all over. At this point I'm not ready to do that. But thanks.

Oops sorry I must have misread that I thought u were currently enrolled in a pta program. But I actually read in the link that someone posted above called "dismissed what's next" that St. Augustine let's you pay $75 per course to have them review it to consider transferring it over however there's a chance it could be denied. Check out the link above maybe it will help!

 

[Michael Brown]

Oops sorry I must have misread that I thought u were currently enrolled in a pta program. But I actually read in the link that someone posted above called "dismissed what's next" that St. Augustine let's you pay $75 per course to have them review it to consider transferring it over however there's a chance it could be denied. Check out the link above maybe it will help!

I've read that thread but I'll read it again thank you. Looks like it's unlikely to transfer credits plus even if they do they only accept 15% of total credits from what I read in the thread.

 

[UpDownPT]

I think you should be an awesome PTA and tell your dad a PT is not really a doctor anyway!

 

[AnnieBeth]

Why did you fail the clinical affiliation?

 

[starrsgirl]

I'm very concerned that this situation even happened to you. I don't know your whole story, but you have experience in the field, your GPA was good and suddenly 1 clinical went bad? I'm worried that IF there were warning signs for you, your school did not adequately address and identify them earlier in school. Practicals, 1 day clinicals, community clinics, class project and labs should all be places where faculty has eyes on you to make sure you are on track to graduate. I'm feeling burned for you.

But on to your original question. If it were me, I would start calling around to the online schools looking at Masters/PhDs in health sciences. You might consider health education, or health management or public health. Number 1, that type of degree could only enhance your work as a PTA. But, many of these schools have the ability to evaluate your work done and can choose to accept them for credits. I would check private universities too. I've found private schools can be more flexible on accepting credits. (Online schools are used to dealing with working adults and military so they often can take prior work or courses from other schools....but I've had luck with brick and mortar schools too).

 

[goldaline.my.dear]

Idk it sounds like you want to be a PTA. If that's what you want that's great.

If not I would try to do a bridge program that turns PTA's into PT's. Or you could look into a school like Baylor that is accelerated and online. Baylor has a 2 year DPT program that is 50% online.

Otherwise own being a PTA.

 

[deleted797640]

There are some schools that take transfer units from other DPT programs there have been forums posts about it. Also, what is the record of P/NP of the clinical site you were at, could it have been a targeted issue specifically with the CI or someone targeting you or did you actually mess up big time. If your decisions and actions caused harm to a patient then the school decided after testing you weren't qualified to continue and re-do the clinical there isn't much you can do unless you have a good relationship with your professors and are able to have another go at it. I wouldn't stop trying after so much has been put into getting you this far. No there isn't much you can do with 90 units of career specific course work.