1st year Queen's PT student here to help

[Rehab4Life]

Hey all,

I know it's that time of year where the application deadline is nearing, and how stressful the process can be. I'm a 1st year Queen's PT student that has been through that process more than once, and this forum was really helpful when I was applying. If you have any questions regarding the application/admissions process, the Queen's PT program, Queen's university or just Kingston in general, I'll do my best to help! I also applied abroad last year, so I have some experience with that process too. Feel free to ask here or via PM; I'm more than happy to help.

A 2nd year student here has also started a page with "day in the life as a PT student" videos, and helpful tips for applying to Canadian PT schools (GPA calculations, references, etc). You can check those out at "The Canadian Physio Student" on youtube or @cdnphysiostudent on instagram.

Cheers.

[Conham]

I will piggyback off of this and can offer my experience at Western's PT. 

[Ptstudent2]

Those YouTube videos are great!

[PThopeful23]

I can also help with anyone applying to UBC Physiotherapy :)!

[frenchPT]

I can help with anyone who's an anglophone thinking of attending a French school! I'm up at the McGill satellite program at UQAC. 

[Rajalgool]

Hey Crew of magnificent helpers,

I have some questions about the written components now for UBC, Queens and Western. I'm a mature student at 30 and have a variety of life experience I feel applicable, I just am uncertain about the best ways of communicating them in the short written components. Here are my questions to you great humans:

UBC: Do you believe that there is any competitive advantage to applying to the northern rural cohort, does anybody have any experience with the GPA around this? Also, what did you write about for your learning experience? what was your entry competitive GPA?

Western: How much time did you dedicate to each component of the question. What do you believe to be the most important components and what did you find was the best way of attacking it? What was your entrance GPA?

1. Explain why you have chosen Physical Therapy as a career demonstrating your knowledge of the profession and its scope of practice.

2. Explain why you have chosen the Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) Program at Western University.

3. Describe particular strengths, experiences, attributes, leadership skills and/or abilities that you will bring to the profession.

Queens: A similar question.What do you believe to be the most important things to address in each question and what was your entrance gpa?

1. Explain your reasons for choosing physiotherapy as a career by demonstrating your knowledge of the profession and scope of practice.

2. Discuss any activities that are directly related to physical therapy. 
Clearly outline your patient experiences, job shadowing and volunteer opportunities, as well as research, co-op placements and employment. 
Include the duration (number of hours), facility names and locations, and the populations you interacted with 

3. Briefly describe other relevant activities that provide evidence of your involvement and leadership in increasing the well-being of individuals, groups or society in general. Include any awards for community service.

Thank you so much!

[PTHopeful2019]

Hi, 

I'm applying to PT at UofT, Queens and Western I was wondering how you guys planned out your personal statements. I'm in the process of writing them now, and I don't know if I should be professional or add a lot of personal pronouns and personal experiences. If anyone has tips on how to write the personal essays, that would be great! 

Thank you so much!!!

Sidenote: You may not be able to fully answer this question, but I just wanted to ask how my GPA would be affected since I took 4 courses this semester (Fall 2018) but I also took one course in the summer. I was thinking they would just count that summer course with my Fall courses but I'm not 100% sure anymore. 

 

[PPTTT]

On 12/13/2018 at 1:22 AM, PThopeful23 said:

I can also help with anyone applying to UBC Physiotherapy :)!

I applied to UBC last year and was unsuccessful. Fortunately, I saved my written submissions but I am concerned that they will double check if I simply copy-pasted my previous years responses. What are your thoughts on rewriting the submissions so they aren't self-plagiarized? Or do you think they won't bother?

[Conham]

14 hours ago, PTHopeful2019 said:

Hi, 

I'm applying to PT at UofT, Queens and Western I was wondering how you guys planned out your personal statements. I'm in the process of writing them now, and I don't know if I should be professional or add a lot of personal pronouns and personal experiences. If anyone has tips on how to write the personal essays, that would be great! 

Thank you so much!!!

Sidenote: You may not be able to fully answer this question, but I just wanted to ask how my GPA would be affected since I took 4 courses this semester (Fall 2018) but I also took one course in the summer. I was thinking they would just count that summer course with my Fall courses but I'm not 100% sure anymore. 

 

It all depends how you come off as a person. If you write a super formal essay, maybe you sound unrelatable. One of my classmates told me how she literally wrote a story about her experience with a patient. It's entirely up to you how you want to be perceived. They are not going to reject your application if you use personal pronouns. 

[Conham]

On 12/13/2018 at 2:37 PM, 8yearsofundergrad said:

Hey Crew of magnificent helpers,

I'm applying to physio programs for the second time. I have had a bit of an arduous path to get here! I had no idea that I wanted to be a physio until I was 23 and had been two years removed form my undergrad, where I grossly underachieved. There has been many roadblocks along the way and they continue to pop up, but I have remained determined. I really want to remain at home and am a BC resident so UBC is my first choice, but I will also be applying to Western and Queens, as well so some programs in the UK, Scotland and Ireland. I have taken 19 classes since graduating - all of my science prereqs (including physics 12) and a myriad of classes to make my GPA  competitive for these programs, and I believe my GPA is in the ballpark now (Yay). I would be applying for more schools; however, schools like Mcmaster and U of T, refuse to look at the college classes I took for my pre-requisites + GPA. So I'm left with 3 Canadian options really and I'm looking to make every last inch of my application count. 

I have some questions about the written components now for UBC, Queens and Western. I'm a mature student at 30 and have a variety of life experience I feel applicable, I just am uncertain about the best ways of communicating them in the short written components. Here are my questions to you great humans:

UBC: Do you believe that there is any competitive advantage to applying to the northern rural cohort, does anybody have any experience with the GPA around this? Also, what did you write about for your learning experience? what was your entry competitive GPA?

Western: How much time did you dedicate to each component of the question. What do you believe to be the most important components and what did you find was the best way of attacking it? What was your entrance GPA?

1. Explain why you have chosen Physical Therapy as a career demonstrating your knowledge of the profession and its scope of practice.

2. Explain why you have chosen the Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) Program at Western University.

3. Describe particular strengths, experiences, attributes, leadership skills and/or abilities that you will bring to the profession.

Queens: A similar question.What do you believe to be the most important things to address in each question and what was your entrance gpa?

1. Explain your reasons for choosing physiotherapy as a career by demonstrating your knowledge of the profession and scope of practice.

2. Discuss any activities that are directly related to physical therapy. 
Clearly outline your patient experiences, job shadowing and volunteer opportunities, as well as research, co-op placements and employment. 
Include the duration (number of hours), facility names and locations, and the populations you interacted with 

3. Briefly describe other relevant activities that provide evidence of your involvement and leadership in increasing the well-being of individuals, groups or society in general. Include any awards for community service.

Thank you so much!

You should be answering these application questions the way you feel is best and that best reflects you. There is not much room to talk about yourself but think about what these programs are looking for in a person to become ideal healthcare workers. My GPA was a 3.81 and I got into Western and Queen's 2 years ago.

[PThopeful23]

On 12/13/2018 at 11:37 AM, 8yearsofundergrad said:

Hey Crew of magnificent helpers,

I'm applying to physio programs for the second time. I have had a bit of an arduous path to get here! I had no idea that I wanted to be a physio until I was 23 and had been two years removed form my undergrad, where I grossly underachieved. There has been many roadblocks along the way and they continue to pop up, but I have remained determined. I really want to remain at home and am a BC resident so UBC is my first choice, but I will also be applying to Western and Queens, as well so some programs in the UK, Scotland and Ireland. I have taken 19 classes since graduating - all of my science prereqs (including physics 12) and a myriad of classes to make my GPA  competitive for these programs, and I believe my GPA is in the ballpark now (Yay). I would be applying for more schools; however, schools like Mcmaster and U of T, refuse to look at the college classes I took for my pre-requisites + GPA. So I'm left with 3 Canadian options really and I'm looking to make every last inch of my application count. 

I have some questions about the written components now for UBC, Queens and Western. I'm a mature student at 30 and have a variety of life experience I feel applicable, I just am uncertain about the best ways of communicating them in the short written components. Here are my questions to you great humans:

UBC: Do you believe that there is any competitive advantage to applying to the northern rural cohort, does anybody have any experience with the GPA around this? Also, what did you write about for your learning experience? what was your entry competitive GPA?

Western: How much time did you dedicate to each component of the question. What do you believe to be the most important components and what did you find was the best way of attacking it? What was your entrance GPA?

1. Explain why you have chosen Physical Therapy as a career demonstrating your knowledge of the profession and its scope of practice.

2. Explain why you have chosen the Master of Physical Therapy (MPT) Program at Western University.

3. Describe particular strengths, experiences, attributes, leadership skills and/or abilities that you will bring to the profession.

Queens: A similar question.What do you believe to be the most important things to address in each question and what was your entrance gpa?

1. Explain your reasons for choosing physiotherapy as a career by demonstrating your knowledge of the profession and scope of practice.

2. Discuss any activities that are directly related to physical therapy. 
Clearly outline your patient experiences, job shadowing and volunteer opportunities, as well as research, co-op placements and employment. 
Include the duration (number of hours), facility names and locations, and the populations you interacted with 

3. Briefly describe other relevant activities that provide evidence of your involvement and leadership in increasing the well-being of individuals, groups or society in general. Include any awards for community service.

Thank you so much!

I pm'd you!

[Boeing747]

On 12/13/2018 at 8:33 AM, frenchPT said:

I can help with anyone who's an anglophone thinking of attending a French school! I'm up at the McGill satellite program at UQAC. 

Messaged!

[Rehab4Life]

This thread turned out great!

@8yearsofundergrad @PTHopeful2019 I agree with @Conham. You want to personalize your personal statement since it's personal to you, but making sure not to fill it with "fluff" and stories. Like Conham mentioned, you want to think about what qualities are important in becoming a physiotherapist. You can choose how you want to write it to convey your answer. You want to demonstrate your knowledge of the profession and scope of practice, but also go beyond those specifics, and talk about qualities / personal characteristics that you think are essential to becoming a good PT. For the 2nd and 3rd questions regarding experiences, you want to just break each question and experience down in a logical way that flows. Think about relating your experiences to essential physiotherapy competencies and how each experience aided towards your personal growth. Make sure to include all parts of the question for each experience as well: position, hours, facility, location, role, patient population. My sub-GPA was 3.76.

@PTHopeful2019 Did you already graduate and those are supplemental courses? I'd say contact ORPAS or the schools to ask how the summer course fits in.

A 2nd year PT student at Queen's just released a great personal statement tips video. It's really helpful and basically answers your questions!

 

[PT_only]

Hi everyone. I posted a new topic asking whats below, but thought  I'd post it here too since not everyone here probably checks new posts all the time.

For our personal statement..

can we go like "physiotherapy (PT)..." and then only use "PT" after?

also, when we discuss our knowledge of the profession and its scope of practice, do we have to incorporate that into the same sentences when we talk about why we want to become a PT? or can the knowledge/scope of practice be in their own paragraphs? like first talk about why I want to be a PT, and then talk about the profession/scope of practice  in subsequent paragraphs. i find it very hard to combine these into the same paragraphs.

Thanks

[Rehab4Life]

4 hours ago, PT_only said:

Hi everyone. I posted a new topic asking whats below, but thought  I'd post it here too since not everyone here probably checks new posts all the time.

For our personal statement..

can we go like "physiotherapy (PT)..." and then only use "PT" after?

also, when we discuss our knowledge of the profession and its scope of practice, do we have to incorporate that into the same sentences when we talk about why we want to become a PT? or can the knowledge/scope of practice be in their own paragraphs? like first talk about why I want to be a PT, and then talk about the profession/scope of practice  in subsequent paragraphs. i find it very hard to combine these into the same paragraphs.

Thanks

It’s ok to use abbreviations.

It doesn’t have to be in the same sentence(s). There’s no specific way or rules when it comes to talking about that stuff. How you want to organize the question and talk about certain things is up to you!

[PT-applicant]

Any ideas when they announced the torrible Goldman Sachs scholarship last year? Do they tell u after acceptance or alongside ur acceptance letter?

[FuturePT12]

Hi All,

I was looking into Queen's PT program and saw that their accreditation status is probationary. Can anyone clarify what this means and how it will affect newly admitted students this year?

[Rehab4Life]

31 minutes ago, FuturePT12 said:

Hi All,

I was looking into Queen's PT program and saw that their accreditation status is probationary. Can anyone clarify what this means and how it will affect newly admitted students this year?

It means they were audited this past Fall and have to make some adjustments to meet PEAC requirements. I believe U of T and Ottawa are also currently in probationary status and Western was until this past Fall. It seems they are doing fine in reaching their goals and I don’t think it’s much of a concern!

[Pablo12]

Hi there,

Wondering about what clinical rotations are available at Queen's and how they are assigned.  Are they tough to get in Kingston itself?  What are the rotations in Kingston - KGH, I presume, mainly, any at the HDH?  What are the odds that I will need a rotation outside of town, car, apartment, etc.

Thanks in advance