Which College??

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Which College?? - February 4, 2002 6:16:00 AM

Cliff_Mc

Posts: 2
Joined: January 31, 2002
From: Torrington, Ct, USA
Status: offline

My son is trying to finalize his college decision for a career in PT.
His choices are: (in order of preference)
Springfield College, Springfield Ma
Quinnipiac Univ - CT
Ithaca College - Ithaca, NY
Boston Univ
Northeastern Univ - Boston Ma
University of Connecticut

He has been accepted into Springfield's and Quinnipiac's PT program. Still waiting to hear from the other Colleges.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Cliff Mc

Post #: 1

Re: Which College?? - February 4, 2002 7:11:00 AM

Andrew M. Ball MS MBA PT

Posts: 271
Joined: September 30, 2001
From: Chapel Hill
Status: offline

They are all good schools. I'd prioritize on the basis of which will award a DPT. I think that's going to make a difference in future employment in 5 to 10 years.

Although Ithaca is not yet awarding the DPT (though I hear they have plans to move in that direction) As an Ithaca College alum, I'd have to say that the ability to work with people like Deb Nawczenski, Ray Boone, Chuck Ciccone, A.J. Robinson, Karen Nolan, and Kathy Beisner should sell the school to anyone --- over any other school. Deb is a whiz at biomechanics, Chuck literally wrote the book on pharmacology in rehab -- and is a Physical Therapy journal editor to boot, A.J. and Lynn Snyder-Macker (U of Del.) wrote the book on Clinical Electrophys), and Nick Quarrier is the top dog when it comes to physical therapy on musicians with repetitive motion injury. Furthermore, the mission of the school, being a liberal-arts school, is to teach first, research second, so the students are the reason that these professors are there --- not an unfortunate consequence of the job, as is sometimes the implied message in larger research dollar driven institutions.

I'd also plug Boston because of people like Steve Haley and Ken Holt, who are simply amazing in the way they view pediatrics and what they bring to the field in terms of evaluation tools used by clinicians (PEDI), research, and application.

Drew

(in reply to Cliff_Mc)

Post #: 2

Re: Which College?? - February 4, 2002 4:46:00 PM

mcap

Posts: 652
Joined: February 8, 2000
Status: offline

I have heard positive things about several of those schools.

Why don't you see where he gets in and what the financial picture will be like. Getting a DPT may indeed be important. But...you must also factor in how much money is available for his education. If he is borrowing money, then I strongly recommend the state institutions. People who borrow the money for three year of private school tuition will have difficulty paying it back at PT salaries.

Best of luck........

Mcap

(in reply to Cliff_Mc)

Post #: 3

Re: Which College?? - February 6, 2002 4:08:00 AM

Cliff_Mc

Posts: 2
Joined: January 31, 2002
From: Torrington, Ct, USA
Status: offline

Thanks Drew and Mcap for you input, very helpful. In fact it lead me to do a little more research and got some additional information from the APTA web site, and also some other open forum discussions on Rehab Edge.
We are still waiting for financial packages, which will be one of the main determine factors. It appears that B.U. is the only college in this area that is offering a DPT program. (6 years).
Correct me if I am wrong, but a Masters is now the minimum requirement for college accreditation, and those are 5 -5 1/2 year programs.
Despite some of the resistance I see from some the current PT community I feel that the DPT is the new bench mark for Physical Therapist. So to invest another half year doesn't seem to be too big of a deal (especially if the financial package is there).

Anyway thank you again for your input, you have given us a lot of food for thought... which is always good.

Cliff Mc

(in reply to Cliff_Mc)

Post #: 4

Re: Which College?? - February 6, 2002 2:48:00 PM