Physiotherapy for Year 2014

[Rottweiler]

I feel it's going to hit 3.8 minimum next year. Maybe plateau very quickly after that. Western will be 3.9 though knowing them...

 

Very discouraging hahaha... I'm 22 and just graduating next year. Family situations have prevented me from applying the past couple of years and I plan to apply for the first time next January. I'm able to achieve the A's in the 20 courses being counted but I have two B+'s already within them. It also sucks that my A+'s hardly help to boost the damage done by the 3.3's, I wonder why the system's done it this way. I'm losing hair over this.... I have no plan B and have no other interests. No way in hell I want to be a fitness trainer for the rest of my life (no offense to y'all who's chosen that path for your future)

 

Other than my rambling, I've found your posts on other threads, Pink Tulip, and saw that you applied this year. how's the application process going for you this year?

[SheepE]

I'm going to predict a cutoff of... 3.77 for next year... xD

 

We should have a prize for whoever that guesses the exact number =P

[Pink Tulip]

Very discouraging hahaha... I'm 22 and just graduating next year. Family situations have prevented me from applying the past couple of years and I plan to apply for the first time next January. I'm able to achieve the A's in the 20 courses being counted but I have two B+'s already within them. It also sucks that my A+'s hardly help to boost the damage done by the 3.3's, I wonder why the system's done it this way. I'm losing hair over this.... I have no plan B and have no other interests. No way in hell I want to be a fitness trainer for the rest of my life (no offense to y'all who's chosen that path for your future)

 

Other than my rambling, I've found your posts on other threads, Pink Tulip, and saw that you applied this year. how's the application process going for you this year?

 

Well like many other people, didn't except the GPA to jump up so freakishly high in one year. But alas, not the end of the world for me. I had a feeling this might happen but as I was unsure if I REALLY wanted to do PT (I just can't make up my mind in general), I didn't apply for a whole wad of backup schools that would've taken my GPA. For those who can't reach it, there's McGill, Ottawa, and Queen's that will still take reasonable GPAs and actually care about experience. I'm waiting on two of those now.

 

Regardless of their outcome, I've kind of decided I'm more fit for OT and would enjoy it much more (the artsy side of me just won't be quiet!) so I'm putting all my work into interviews there.

[Rottweiler]

Well like many other people, didn't except the GPA to jump up so freakishly high in one year. But alas, not the end of the world for me. I had a feeling this might happen but as I was unsure if I REALLY wanted to do PT (I just can't make up my mind in general), I didn't apply for a whole wad of backup schools that would've taken my GPA. For those who can't reach it, there's McGill, Ottawa, and Queen's that will still take reasonable GPAs and actually care about experience. I'm waiting on two of those now.

 

Regardless of their outcome, I've kind of decided I'm more fit for OT and would enjoy it much more (the artsy side of me just won't be quiet!) so I'm putting all my work into interviews there.

 

I'm sure it'll all work out for you in the end I appreciate the responses you're putting in various threads. It bugs me hearing about people with 3.75~3.77 being rejected (despite that they were over the cutoffs?), while the previous year, literally, there's a friend who were able to enter UT with a 3.71. It's so confusing I really can't figure out how they sort their picks. Just worried sick!!

[OT16]

I think physioprospect makes a great point... I would gladly take an entrance examination to show my aptitude with ethical decision-making, knowledge of the field, and show how passionate I am about getting into PT!

 

I was literally a couple spots away from getting into McMaster last year (they inform you of where you are in the waiting list). This year, I wasn't invited for an interview. As you can imagine, I was extremely upset to hear the news. I was looking forward to interviewing again, now that I'm much more confident with the MMI process. For those that have an interview, congratulations, do not take it for granted... the applicant pool changes from year to year.... prepare and practice now, bc you may not get another chance next year! Good luck! Crossing my fingers for Queen's & McGill!

 

I somewhat agree; an entrance exam becomes like the MCAT which everybody know is a lousy indicator of aptitude as well. It's been proven to be, even the people that administer the exam have said they will ne'er get rid of it because it generates so much money with approximately 100,000 people annually at$700

Writing it, do the math. I think at the very least, you shouldn't be able to apply without 100 minimum clinic experience. It would be easily attained "if" you could get a placement. Then an interview process to weed out the socially inept. People Who really want it will make the sacrifice instead of taking basket weaving 101 and applying to schools like western who could care less who you are, what your aptitude is, or if you are there as a backup for med and you're just going to bolt if you get med acceptance the following Year. For now GPA is the easiest way to get through the piles of apps. Before it became a masters degree, there wasn't this many people goin after it.

[Guest Physioprospect]

I somewhat agree; an entrance exam becomes like the MCAT which everybody know is a lousy indicator of aptitude as well. It's been proven to be, even the people that administer the exam have said they will ne'er get rid of it because it generates so much money with approximately 100,000 people annually at$700

Writing it, do the math. I think at the very least, you shouldn't be able to apply without 100 minimum clinic experience. It would be easily attained "if" you could get a placement. Then an interview process to weed out the socially inept. People Who really want it will make the sacrifice instead of taking basket weaving 101 and applying to schools like western who could care less who you are, what your aptitude is, or if you are there as a backup for med and you're just going to bolt if you get med acceptance the following Year. For now GPA is the easiest way to get through the piles of apps. Before it became a masters degree, there wasn't this many people goin after it.

 

I love how everyone thinkgs western is a "backup school". It actually gets fewer applicants then the others and my friend that goes there said everyone in the class but a couple applied to Med as well. Also the 2 year students are all still there and havent bolted for med school. My friend said theres 2 people in the class that shouldnt be there but the rest all really wanted to be physios, are extremely dedicated and had amazing marks, so there process might actually work... and save them a lot of money by not doing interviews.

[Legion]

Physiotherapy is not the only professional degree that doesn't require you to have any experience in the field (at least for schools like UT, Mac, Western) although you need to know a bit for interview purposes. Medicine and dentistry are like that too. They know how to teach you to become a competent health care provider regardless of you having any background in the field.

 

Some schools care about ECs and work experience and some don't. Great mix if you ask me.

[OT16]

I love how everyone thinkgs western is a "backup school". It actually gets fewer applicants then the others and my friend that goes there said everyone in the class but a couple applied to Med as well. Also the 2 year students are all still there and havent bolted for med school. My friend said theres 2 people in the class that shouldnt be there but the rest all really wanted to be physios, are extremely dedicated and had amazing marks, so there process might actually work... and save them a lot of money by not doing interviews.

 

I didn't say it was a back up school, I said if you are using it as a backup for med because there are no pre requisites or interviews. If all but 2 applied to med but "really wanted " to be physios kind of proves that it could be a back up choice no? There have been many people in this forum who admitted that they apply to or as a backup to med. the GPA Method is merely to streamline the process. The school doesn't care if you are good or not. I have worked closely with enough physios over the last 11 years to know, directly from mostly Western grads, that you learn to be good doing post grad CEU's. It's not mandatory and surprising that a lot of PT's never or rarely take post graduate courses. It has the least amount of applicants now but not for long in my opinion. When they dropped the volunteer requirement the apps jumped 40% in the first year. It will be interesting to see how many apps try got this year. Keep in mind that majority of the population of Ontario is in the GTA, it makes sense that UofT and Mac would have greater number of apps compared to western and queens which are far west and east in the province. If western was in or near Toronto they would have more apps as well

[Pink Tulip]

Medicine and dentistry are hard to have experience because you can't shadow, and what you would get from volunteering is very minimal and not a good judgement of character. The less requirements a school has, the more of a backup it becomes. Since Western has nothing, all of the students with high GPAs and enough spare money will put in their apps in case they don't feel confident to get into Med school or the likes. It doesn't mean they will accept it, and they could in fact end up preferring PT over Medicine. The fact is, applications will rise substantially when requirements are taken out and the school WILL be used as a backup for many students (hence higher GPA cut-offs). I guarantee you if Toronto had no requirements they would have twice the amount of applicants. As said above, it's all about location and proximity. Western is far, so they have fewer applicants. Not everyone wants to leave their cozy GTA area for something they might not even like, so why waste money and apply?

[OT16]

Medicine and dentistry are hard to have experience because you can't shadow, and what you would get from volunteering is very minimal and not a good judgement of character. The less requirements a school has, the more of a backup it becomes. Since Western has nothing, all of the students with high GPAs and enough spare money will put in their apps in case they don't feel confident to get into Med school or the likes. It doesn't mean they will accept it, and they could in fact end up preferring PT over Medicine. The fact is, applications will rise substantially when requirements are taken out and the school WILL be used as a backup for many students (hence higher GPA cut-offs). I guarantee you if Toronto had no requirements they would have twice the amount of applicants. As said above, it's all about location and proximity. Western is far, so they have fewer applicants. Not everyone wants to leave their cozy GTA area for something they might not even like, so why waste money and apply?

 

Pretty much sums it up

[Mhunte03]

I think it's safe to say we see the same thing happen within the field of OT and PT. How many Occupational therapy spots are taken by someone who applied as their back up to PT even though it may not be what they are really passionate about? All we can do is make our GPA's as competitive as we can and fit in EC's where we can. If you're passionate the rest will come with time I should think.

[OT16]

I think it's safe to say we see the same thing happen within the field of OT and PT. How many Occupational therapy spots are taken by someone who applied as their back up to PT even though it may not be what they are really passionate about? All we can do is make our GPA's as competitive as we can and fit in EC's where we can. If you're passionate the rest will come with time I should think.

 

I didn't really know much about OT until one came to me for a massage and we were talking about school etc. So even though I am trying to get PT, she gave a good rundown about what she does. There are tremendous opportunities in the US for OT AND PT if you are inclined to move. It is CAPTE approved and is under NAFTA soncanucks can get visas there. That's what I'm trying to do. Even though I want PT it is really saturated at least in Windsor where I am. There are PT's on every corner much like chiros and rmt's. I may consider OT because until I learned more about it I had no clue. Seems like OT Is more variable in what career ops there are.

[Legion]

Medicine and dentistry are hard to have experience because you can't shadow, and what you would get from volunteering is very minimal and not a good judgement of character.

 

lol. you are joking right?

 

Anyways all I've been trying to say is that instead of nagging about the admission process, you should play by the rules just like everybody else. Make yourself competitive so that you fit in with the schools' requirements and not the other way around. Is it fair that people who have little desire for PT get accepted and those with a genuine interest do not? probably not. The admission process always has its flaws. So you can either complain about the admission process and request new things to be done or you can make yourself more competitive and play by the current rules. This goes for any professional degree admission process, not just PT/OT.

[OT16]

lol. you are joking right?

 

Anyways all I've been trying to say is that instead of nagging about the admission process, you should play by the rules just like everybody else. Make yourself competitive so that you fit in with the schools' requirements and not the other way around. Is it fair that people who have little desire for PT get accepted and those with a genuine interest do not? probably not. The admission process always has its flaws. So you can either complain about the admission process and request new things to be done or you can make yourself more competitive and play by the current rules. This goes for any professional degree admission process, not just PT/OT.

 

Oh, I thought they were goin to change the admission process just for me. This is a forum and I think people are well aware that they have to get the highest GPA possible unless there is a way to not play by the rules that I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the tip though.

[Pink Tulip]

lol. you are joking right?

 

Anyways all I've been trying to say is that instead of nagging about the admission process, you should play by the rules just like everybody else. Make yourself competitive so that you fit in with the schools' requirements and not the other way around. Is it fair that people who have little desire for PT get accepted and those with a genuine interest do not? probably not. The admission process always has its flaws. So you can either complain about the admission process and request new things to be done or you can make yourself more competitive and play by the current rules. This goes for any professional degree admission process, not just PT/OT.

 

I'm sorry but when I tried to shadow they said I couldn't because I have no liability insurance. You can't shadow an MD. You can't shadow a nurse. Not in Canada. In the States sure, but here you can't. What sort of experience are you supposed to get that's actually useful if you can't shadow? (and interviewing is not experience considering you don't put it on your profile)

[Legion]

Oh, I thought they were goin to change the admission process just for me. This is a forum and I think people are well aware that they have to get the highest GPA possible unless there is a way to not play by the rules that I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the tip though.

 

I misunderstood your b!tching then. My apologies.

 

I'm sorry but when I tried to shadow they said I couldn't because I have no liability insurance. You can't shadow an MD. You can't shadow a nurse. Not in Canada. In the States sure, but here you can't. What sort of experience are you supposed to get that's actually useful if you can't shadow? (and interviewing is not experience considering you don't put it on your profile)

 

You CAN. Were you trying to shadow at a hospital? Hospital policy may have prevented you from shadowing that physician. And if you REALLY want to shadow a physician, you need to be persistent and ask around. I've actually seen volunteer postings online for shadowing a physician believe it or not. Same thing goes for dentistry, although it would be easier to shadow a dentist than a physician.

[Pink Tulip]

It was a hospital, and everywhere else I tried kept saying no. The only thing they let me do was volunteer, which is OK but cleaning up stuff and being in an office wasn't really interesting to me. The only physician I knew left their practice by the time I wanted to see what it was like. None of my friends applying to Med school have been able to shadow either.

[OT16]

The majority are content to let the status quo continue, why not push for change? If its *****ing so be it. I understand it is what it is but why should it stay that way? Nothing will get done about it anyway because people in general don't rock the boat. It is a flawed system but it is the easiest system to implement, so from an economy of time and resource perspective it is ideal.

[Mhunte03]

The majority are content to let the status quo continue, why not push for change? If its *****ing so be it. I understand it is what it is but why should it stay that way? Nothing will get done about it anyway because people in general don't rock the boat. It is a flawed system but it is the easiest system to implement, so from an economy of time and resource perspective it is ideal.

 

 

I agree in terms of it being flawed and schools not getting an understanding of our character and passion. On a personal level I find it's flawed in terms of how GPA's are even calculated while most people only have their last 2 years calculated if you go to a school like Guelph (where I go) our credits are .5's so even though in my last two years I would have a 3.82 when they bring my second year in I have a 3.5.

[NutritionRunner]

I agree in terms of it being flawed and schools not getting an understanding of our character and passion. On a personal level I find it's flawed in terms of how GPA's are even calculated while most people only have their last 2 years calculated if you go to a school like Guelph (where I go) our credits are .5's so even though in my last two years I would have a 3.82 when they bring my second year in I have a 3.5.

 

Did you take a full course load in all of your semesters? I ask because I go to Guelph as well, and even though our one-semester courses are normally only worth 0.5 credits, when you take five courses a semester, that works out to full time studies.

 

When my last two years have been counted (for my studies at Guelph) they only include my last two years of studies, which means 2.5 Guelph credits per semester, or 5.0 credits per year. If you had a full course load, and they calculated your GPA in a different manner, then something must have gone wrong.

[otapply]

I agree in terms of it being flawed and schools not getting an understanding of our character and passion. On a personal level I find it's flawed in terms of how GPA's are even calculated while most people only have their last 2 years calculated if you go to a school like Guelph (where I go) our credits are .5's so even though in my last two years I would have a 3.82 when they bring my second year in I have a 3.5.

 

Wouldn't everyone who is in the 4th year of their degree have ORPAS dip into their second year for their subGPA since to 4th year Winter semester marks aren't available at the time of this calculation?

[Mhunte03]

Did you take a full course load in all of your semesters? I ask because I go to Guelph as well, and even though our one-semester courses are normally only worth 0.5 credits, when you take five courses a semester, that works out to full time studies.

 

When my last two years have been counted (for my studies at Guelph) they only include my last two years of studies, which means 2.5 Guelph credits per semester, or 5.0 credits per year. If you had a full course load, and they calculated your GPA in a different manner, then something must have gone wrong.

 

Yes I did, however I am in Early Childhood Education - and our field practicums although they give us approximately 700 hours of wonderful experience do not count as a numerical grade.

[Mhunte03]

Wouldn't everyone who is in the 4th year of their degree have ORPAS dip into their second year for their subGPA since to 4th year Winter semester marks aren't available at the time of this calculation?

 

Oh you're right - that does make sense. I was thinking in terms of if I had to reapply I guess. But I have a plan to pick up some online courses and get that second year off there if that is the case.

[OT16]

Oh you're right - that does make sense. I was thinking in terms of if I had to reapply I guess. But I have a plan to pick up some online courses and get that second year off there if that is the case.

 

That's what happened to me. Because I overloaded one semester and then took 4 courses the next and summer session, by the time I applied I was 4 credits short of 20 so they averaged my entire 2nd year (3.53 had a B-)and applied that to the 4 courses I am taking now. Going into finals next week my GPA for the 4 courses is actually 3.80, so I got piped by the process. So merely bybkeeping my grades that I have now my GPA will go to 3.80 from 3.73 but probably still won't be good enough next year.

[Mhunte03]

That's what happened to me. Because I overloaded one semester and then took 4 courses the next and summer session, by the time I applied I was 4 credits short of 20 so they averaged my entire 2nd year (3.53 had a B-)and applied that to the 4 courses I am taking now. Going into finals next week my GPA for the 4 courses is actually 3.80, so I got piped by the process. So merely bybkeeping my grades that I have now my GPA will go to 3.80 from 3.73 but probably still won't be good enough next year.

 

Well here's hoping you get in this time around. I'm really glad OT is not quite as competitive as PT - it keeps my hope up there for this year and if not for sure next!