Declining and Reapplying to UBC PT

[p12345c]

Hey all!

I am super grateful to have gotten a spot in at UBC for PT for this Fall. Due to some personal reasons I am not 100% sure about entering the program this year. I already accepted the position as the acceptance date was coming up. I have been doing some thinking about my career choice and my personal life and I am thinking it could be best to wait a year before entering the program as I don't want to take a spot away from other people who are 100% certain this is what they want to do! I know it's an awesome program and I'm super luck to have this spot, but I don't want to regret anything. 

I have two reasons for making this post: 

1) Does anyone have insight into the program? What are your opinions on PT vs OT vs Medicine? What is the program itself like and the career options? I have obviously researched this a lot but I am having second thoughts and any other opinions would be really appreciated. 

2) If I were to contact the school and decline this offer would I ever have a chance at getting in again? I may want to reapply in 1-2 years after I have gotten some more in person experience and am certain this is the path for me. I would obviously ask for a deferral first but I'm not sure that's an option as I already accepted and don't have a completely valid reason for deferring I would assume. 

 

Thank you so much for any advice on this! If I decide in the next month or so that PT is for me I am super excited to meet some of you in the Fall (in person I hope!).

[HK2018]

Hi, I can hopefully help to answer some of your Qs (mind you I go to PT school in Ontario so might not totally relate to BC) 

- I will say that PT school in general no matter the school is an absolute grind, you learn a lot of material in 2 years and I would caution you entering the program if you're not certain that you want do dedicated the next 2 years to intense school work. Now if you always had an interest in PT and are just now having second thoughts/ are nervous thats a different story I felt the same way I was terrified to enter year 1 as I knew how much of a grind it is but now in year 2 I am loving it ! Also consider the many different avenues you can take after school, research and academia and the public health sector (primary care is increasing a lot !) is one area I often find people overlook when they think about "what is PT"

- You can 100% re apply in another cycle and the school will not hold that against you, I personally know friends who have dropped out taken a few years to re group and re applied. 

- I can't comment on the job prospects in BC but a crossed Canada the unemployment rate for PT is next to nothing, many of my classmates including myself have received job offers already and we arnt event done school! 

I wish you the best of luck with your decision, feel free to PM me any other questions you may have ! (that goes to everyone else as well!)

[p12345c]

Thank you so much @HK2018 for your advice! I'm definitely interested in the other avenues that can lead from PT and I think I'm just looking for some reassurance

[Rajalgool]

I'm on the same page as HK2018. Currently in the UBC program and it is a lot of hard work, it's an awesome time, but if you weren't fully invested it would be super tough to actually achieve success in the program. 

PT is going to differ drastically from med in that you are training to become a movement specialist, with a keen eye on utilizing exercise as medicine, whereas med is going to be a lot more focused on disease and utilizing pharmaceuticals to treat patients (Very generalized). I can't say this with 100% certainty, but I have heard that students attending med school at UBC only take one course on exercise as a method of medicine - whereas it's the focus of our program. OT will be more similar to PT - with less hard focus on anatomy and exercise and more focused on functional adaptations in the home, at work and looking at finding ways to enable greater function in activities of daily living.

Obviously, the earning potential is much higher in medicine, with the negative being a lot stricter commitment to work hours and also likely working with a much "sicker" population. PT is going to have a lot more job freedom and if you want you can work privately with the population of your choice. For me I'm not concerned about money, I would rather have a great work life balance and help people - so PT is the right fit for me.

Best of luck finding your way - remember that it's important to enjoy the journey and it's OK to not take a 100% linear path on your way