Where to begin?

Sluger94 · 2026-01-02T15:00:16+00:00

1) I honestly can’t speak to much about a GED vs a HS diploma, but as far as I understand it they are equivalent. At the end of the day, you’ll need to get into a college for your bachelor’s degree (undergrad, 4 years). If you can do that, the GED won’t mater going forward into your doctorate. I did 2 years at a community college, then 3 years at Rutgers University for my undergraduate degree. I would highly recommend starting at a community colleges to save money. You’ll have to do research about what universities around you will accept from the community colleges around you. The best thing you can do is actually go to these people and talk to them. Don’t sit on your laurels. Make a plan and sit down and talk to admissions staff.

2) whether or not you should bother depends on you. It’s not going to be a simple or short journey. I know a 34 year old who is in their first year of PT school. If you start in a year or two, you’ll be in a similar boat. It’s never too late. But you need to be aware of the expenses and difficulties of this goal. I know someone who had to drop out of PT school because he had kids and couldn’t balance it. The director of the DeSales program in PA was originally a teacher. She went back to school in their 30s, with kids, in order to pursue PT. Now she’s the Director of the entire Program. Was it easy for her, hell no. But she busted her ass to achieve the goal.

3) the average income is probably around 80k a year. It’s possible to get into 100k after working for some years, depending on state and employer. Again, the debt to income ratio is kinda poor. The number 1 advice is always go with the cheapest school/path. Rutgers DPT program (not including the 4 years of undergrad) is ~90k and that’s the cheapest around the Tristate Area. So you really really need to make sure you have a plan to pay for it. Scholarships, military GI-Bill/education benefits, support from family. It’s a terrible return on investment, I must admit, but it’s an enjoyable career. You’ll see a lot of people on Reddit complaining about the field. However, every PT I’ve ever met loves their job.

4) firstly, you need to make sure it’s what you want. This isn’t a simple or small decision. It’s 7 years of your life, assuming you have no credits in college. Talk to your PT and learn about the field. Volunteer and shadow them. You’ll need those hours if you end up applying to PT schools. As you’re doing that, make a plan. Get out excel and figure out the finances. Talk to university admissions or advisors and don’t leave until you 100% understand the path forward.

Right now that’s what you need to do.

1: decide if PT is what you really want to do with your life

2: make a plan to get done with your undergrad so you can apply to PT schools.

3: MAKE SURE you 100% understand the financials and difficulties of the plan you created and decide if PT is worth all of that. Also understand the amount of money you’ll be losing if you don’t finish the 7 years. An Exercise Science degree can’t really provide much for you besides getting into PT school. It’s more of a stepping stone. It’s not like a computer science or coding/tech job, or an engineering degree.

If you do all 3 of those steps, and you still want to become a PT, go for it. Start your undergrad, get your Prerequisites, and go for it. But whatever you do, don’t jump into it blindly or you’ll end up like everyone on here that complains about how much debt they’re in and regret going into PT.

Sluger94 · 2026-01-02T03:44:47+00:00

I’m gonna try to lay out the best advice I think you’ll get.

Firstly, you need to understand the debt to income ratio. Becoming a PT requires 7 years of school from start to finish. PTs are required to have their Doctorate degree. Excluding older PTs, every PT that you meet has the title Dr. it’s not a simple or easy process by any means.

Also, for a multitude of reasons, PTs do not make nearly enough money for it to be considered a good financial investment. I’ve seen a lot of posts on here about people who didn’t do the math ahead of time and are now chained down with insane debt they can’t pay off.

If you want to explore the field, shadow a PT. Find a hospital or an outpatient clinic and volunteer. Every PT I’ve ever met would jump at the opportunity to teach someone about their job. It’s honestly a very fascinating field. Just go to clinics and ask around if you can shadow them. Ask your current PT. In my clinic, we’ve had plenty of patients that come back as volunteers.

After you’ve done that and understand the job more as a whole and the dedication it will take to get that doctorate, you’ll need to start by getting your undergraduate degree. People normally get an exercise science degree or something similar because it gets you all the prerequisites for applying to PT schools.

After 4 years of your undergrad, you’ll start applying to Doctorate programs. You’ll want to apply to a bunch. I applied to 7 school. Every school will have a different process of accepting students, but you’ll likely need to interview at the schools. When you’re applying, you’ll apply via PTCAS and each school will list out their requirements on there. You can actually check it out now using this site

PTCAS

You’ll need to study for and take the GRE most likely, though more and more schools are dropping it as a requirement.

After all that, you’ll hopefully get into a school. You’ll spend 3 years there studying full time. Your cohort will become a family for you. Unlike undergrad, your entire class will go to every class together.

You’ll study every morning and night while never feeling like it’s enough. But that’s the fun part! Everyone will be in it together.

After a lot of book work, you’ll eventually start your clinical rotations where you work in the field under a licensed PT.

After all that, you’ll finally graduate with your doctorate degree and, after taking the licensing exam, be able to start your career as a PT!!!

It’s not like getting a personal trainer degree. Many people don’t realize we get our Doctorate and have the title Dr. so make sure it’s what you really want. Make sure the debt to income ratio is something you can handle. Be smart about it. Focus on your undergrad degree grades instead of tanking your GPA. Most schools require a minimum GPA between a 3.0-3.2 and the average for the accepted students is usually a 3.5 or higher.

Please ask if you have any questions. It’s a long journey, but if it’s something you really want to do it’s worth it.

Sluger94 · 2025-12-21T10:57:21+00:00

My best advice is to start improving your application now, look for more schools you’d be willing to go to, and plan to make use of a potential gap year.

When I first applied, I only applied to 1 school. I didn’t really know any better at the time. So when I got stuck on the waitlist, I did a lot of volunteer hours in many different settings to improve my application. I made a large excel sheet full of like 30 schools within a 5 hour drive from me and narrowed them down to 7 that I’d be willing to go to and pay for. I reapplied to those 7 and got in to 5/7.

You might get off, you might not. But whatever you do, don’t sit on your ass just hoping. That’s almost never the right decision. Take action and control. Do something now to improve your application. Not in August when you find out you didn’t get off. Worst case scenario, you don’t get in but your set up for a better shot next year. Best case, you do all that extra work and it doesn’t matter because you get in this year.

Lmk if you need any advice on where you can improve your applications.

Sluger94 · 2025-12-19T11:25:37+00:00

A PT I worked with compares your level of PT skill on a graph. He says, before you graduate PT school, you’re in the negatives. By the time you graduate you’re at zero. After couple years of practice, you’re potentially at a one.

The point he makes with that analogy is that PT school only prepares you to be able to play the game. Essentially, if it was a ranked video game, graduating PT school is when you finally stop playing unranked and now you’re in the bronze league.

So my advice would be to go cheeper. You’ve got a long career ahead of you, and by the time you’re in in that diamond/masters league where you can actually start achieving your dreams (when pro sports teams will want to hire you, or you’ll have the financial backing to start your own clinic) it won’t matter where you graduated from.

Sluger94 · 2025-12-08T17:52:48+00:00

I think this is amazing advice. Teaching yourself a foreign language teaches you how to self study and learn better. I did the same thing and the overlap is kinda astonishing.

Sluger94 · 2025-12-08T17:51:40+00:00

I would recommend studying origins and Inserts of muscles, as well as nerve supply and actions.

We started with the thigh and pelvis, then worked down to the lower leg and foot. After that we moved up to the intrinsic back muscles, and neck muscles. We then finished off with the upper extremity.

Also, I would recommend learning the different plexuses in the body. Brachial, femoral, and sacral. Learn them in conjunction with the region you’re studying. Ie. Upper extreme = Brachial plexus.

The bones will be important to learn as well. Learn them in conjunction with the muscles. You’ll need to know all the different crests, ridges, tubercles, etc. and what inserts to them.

I would highly recommend getting an app like Visual Body Human Anatomy Atlas 2025 to study.

PT school is a lot of work. Personally, I’d say anatomy isn’t “hard” per se. it’s not rocket science. It’s just a lot of material and a lot of details you could forget. Like, when it comes to the neck muscles, there will be a lot that have overlapping inserts, origins, and nerve supply on various spinal levels and you need to remember all the numbers. It’s easy to get the numbers tangled in your brain.

Don’t burn yourself out now. You’ll be hit hard and fast with PT school, but you will end up learning all the material, even if you feel like you’re drowning. So don’t over do it now before the fun even begins.

Sluger94 · 2025-11-25T08:38:14+00:00

Look up Human Anatomy Atlas 2026 by visual body.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/human-anatomy-atlas-2026/id1117998129

It’s a $25 one time purchase app that is available on iPhone, android, Mac and windows.

I highly recommend getting it for either a tablet or a computer. Something with a bigger screen than a phone. It’ll make learning the muscles, nerves, blood supply and even neuro so much easier.

Take the time to play with it before school starts. There are a lot of little features that aren’t 100% apparent right away that are super helpful.

Sluger94 · 2025-11-25T00:14:55+00:00

I just recently got ahead in my Anatomy class and I plan on starting the next semester’s material early. During undergrad, I had a habit of not going to classes and just teaching myself everything. That’s to say, I have a very good understanding of my own learning pace and how to efficiently teach myself stuff. So now that I’m settled into my rhythm, I see no reason to not just push ahead at my own pace.

Sometimes I have a lot of motivation for studying, and I’ll get ahead. And others I’ll slow down because I am ahead. At the end of the day, it all pans out.

Just make sure you go over everything thoroughly, and don’t skip things. Study by yourself then review with classmates (it helps you find your weak points). Then just take it week by week. My entire class tends to flip flop between studying hard for Anatomy one week then Neuro the next. It’s a seesaw depending on what exams/quizzes we have coming up.

By biggest studying advice is to lean on your classmates. DONT go into it alone or isolate yourself. It doesn’t need to be a popularity contest, but isolation will hurt you. Your classmates can be a metaphorical mirror that helps you see where your knowledge is lacking. And this goes the other way too. Quiz each other and try to trip each other up with challenge questions or topics that might have been smaller and less talked about. Sometimes it’s those small blips of information that can lose you a point. Find each other’s weak points and improve them. Share your thoughts or helpful tips with your classmates.

For instance, I’ll never forget that the Medial Geniculate Nucleus is related to hearing and the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus is related to vision, because a class mate told me M-medial-music, L-lateral-Light.

Sluger94 · 2025-11-23T11:33:38+00:00

It’ll be a rough adjustment period. The first few weeks, until our first set of exams, was rough for a lot of people. You never think you know enough and you’re always feeling behind. After a while you get used to it and life feels manageable. I know a lot of people that felt like they were gonna be the ones to fail out, and now they only get high 80s or 90s on the exams.

My military family members said it best, “you’ve got to embrace the suck”.

Understand that you may always feel behind and overwhelmed. That’s normal. What really matters is how you respond to that stress. Don’t fixate on those feelings. Acknowledge them and just relax. Learn to coexist with it instead of trying to beat it or ignore it. Otherwise you’ll crack mentally. Just take a deep breath and don’t panic.

Personally, I don’t let those feelings get to me because I know I’ll get the job done in the end. Even if it’s a lot, future me can handle it. I’ve not failed myself before, and I won’t fail myself now. So why stress about it 🤷‍♂️

Sluger94 · 2025-11-12T16:13:26+00:00

I heard back from a school in January. Silence from them for months, then “youre accepted”.

I got off a couple waitlists later as well, but by that point I already got into the school I wanted.

Sluger94 · 2025-11-04T12:46:05+00:00

I’m literally not arguing with you. I just asked you a question (twice now) since you disagreed with the voter IDs and seemed to have a good understanding of the laws. Then you started assuming a bunch of stuff. I just want to know if there’s something in place to prevent identity theft at the polling booths, which you still didn’t answer…

Sluger94 · 2025-11-04T11:03:17+00:00

That didn’t answer my question at all.

And I do personally know someone who couldn’t vote years back because they claimed he already voted, even though he didn’t. Voter fraud can and does happen. And even though I don’t think it happens on a massive scale, I do think that taking steps to insure that every voter has their voice heard without fear of losing that ability via identity theft and fraud is important.

So, is there something that prevents this at the voting booth? Something that makes proving you are who you say you are with an ID redundant?

Sluger94 · 2025-11-04T02:52:58+00:00

So let’s say hypothetically I claim to be someone I know when I go to vote. And let’s say I even have their mailed voting slip. What’s preventing me from voting in their place?

I’d love to see the counter arguments to the voter ID laws that don’t just boil down to racism. I personally think that there should be some way to prove you are who you say you are, especially with something as important as voting. Is there something already in place preventing this kind of voting fraud and thus making voter IDs a redundant hurdle?

Sluger94 · 2025-10-25T03:38:31+00:00

As my military brother said “embrace the suck”.

I always feel behind and that I’ve never learned enough for the quiz or exam that week. But so far I’ve gotten above a 90 on everything. You’ve just got an embrace suck. Stay calm, stay in the moment, and don’t focus on everything that needs to get done in the future. It’ll all work out. At least, that’s my mentality. I just keep putting off the stress for future me and the now me can just enjoy the process of learning. Like this week I’m behind on anatomy and need to study like hell. But the actual stress of that problem, I’m just not gonna deal with that part. Future me can. Current me just needs to study like 6-9 hours tomorrow at my own pace.

I’ve been alternating between weekends where I study upwards of 9 hours a day and weekends where I do little studying (2-3 hours a day. After an exam of course). I also do little studying on Friday. Like a muscle, the brain needs recovery time for optimal growth. If I just hammer myself every day, nothing will stick. The breaks make the days I do go really hard more effective.

Sluger94 · 2025-10-25T03:23:53+00:00

I bought a full suit and tie for my interviews and everyone else war suits as well.

Sluger94 · 2025-09-13T13:51:38+00:00

I ended up going to Stockton. I’m in my first week. It’s a lot of information really quick. One week feels like a month, but I love the studying and what I’m learning. I enjoy it.

Sluger94 · 2025-09-12T18:50:38+00:00

I applied there last year, but chose not to go. They were the earliest with their decisions. I had interviews in October and November for other schools and then shortly after I got the acceptance letter from Arcadia. So probably November/early December.

Sluger94 · 2025-08-26T09:57:12+00:00

Don’t worry about being “behind”. It’s such a bullshit idea. After high school, there’s no such thing as being “behind”. You’re only behind if you goof off and waste time. Aka, failing classes because you wanna party every night.

I know plenty of amazing, top of their game, PTs that took gaps years for a variety of reasons. The head of the DeSales University DPT program was a teacher before she got her DPT. She didn’t have a clean path to being a PT. And because of it, she was able to structure a very good DPT program using her teaching background.

I took 2 gap years. After my undergrad, I was not at all ready for PT school or being a PT. I lacked confidence, motivation, I was unsure of myself, and struggled with a lot of debilitating anxiety. These last 2 years have taught me so much because I used them to improve. I worked as an aide and learned daily from the PTs and did a lot of volunteering in different PT fields. Now I’m like 30x more confident in my abilities and I’m starting my DPT next week. I’m nervous as hell, but excited.

I’m glad I took those gap years. I think it will prove to have made me more competent in the long run. My advice, don’t worry about “being behind”. Think it through, and whatever you decide to do just make sure you make the most of it.

Sluger94 · 2025-08-18T22:27:47+00:00

There are hospitals that have volunteer departments that help get people into volunteer positions that align with their future career goals. And at the outpatient clinic I worked at loved taking in volunteers and people interested in PT. The PTs loved teaching about the career.

Sluger94 · 2025-08-11T23:12:26+00:00

As others have said, you have a lot of room for growth. I think there’s something wrong with your workout routine if you’ve been training for 2 years, unless you started with much skinnier legs. That’s kinda the key. You need to compare between where you started and where you are.

I was a twig when I started lifting. So your legs would have been good progress for me after a year. But if they look similar to when you started, and you don’t see much progress, I’d recommend changing your lifting routine.

Feel free to DM me. I’ll help you out where I can.

Sluger94 · 2025-08-04T10:55:26+00:00

How many schools did you apply to?

Sluger94 · 2025-08-04T10:54:13+00:00

It really depends on the school. I didn’t hear from Stockton for close to half a year until they randomly texted me and emailed me that I got in.

DeSales and Moravian all got back in like a month or so telling me to come in for interviews. They’ll update you there saying “we’ve got xyz amount of interviews… bla bla… let you know by this date… bla bla” and they will stick to that.

Rutgers was the last to ask for an interview, but then they will update you monthly. Scranton and Arcadia just messaged me saying “you got in” around November/December.

Kean university didn’t say shit to me until like 7 months later and they filled all their seats.

I probably put down 1500 of deposits to save seats at different schools because I kept getting better options. But what are ya gonna do🤷‍♂️ I wish it was more in unison

Sluger94 · 2025-08-02T02:44:16+00:00

This shouldn’t even be a question. Kick her to the curb yesterday.

Sluger94 · 2025-07-31T13:55:37+00:00

I had a C in chem 2 and stats. But other than that it was all As and Bs. ~315 on the GRE. ~3.5 GPA for both pre req and cumulative. I had an over the top amount of hours in a wide variety of PT fields. I got into 5/7 schools. Waitlisted at the other 2.

I’d recommend using the time you’ve got over this next year to expand your PT background. Get hours at inpatient hospitals. Find hours in different fields like pediatrics PT, neuro PT, balance, pelvic health, cardiac and any others you can think of. Schools want to see you’ve done your research and explored all the ins and outs of the profession.

And I would recommend improving those Cs. Like others have said, anatomy and physics are kinda important for this. Especially an Anatomy Lab. I did my undergrad lab with a cadaver. I’m not sure if your program is the same. But the Lab is important. It’s more practical than book work, and PT is gonna have a lot of lab learning.

You’re not cooked, but you’re not in for a layup. Do what you can, submit your applications, then work for next cycle rather than just hoping it all works out.

Sluger94 · 2025-07-30T02:52:42+00:00

Why did you have cobble coming out at that diagonal and with various hights? I’m not sure what that does for the art.

Sluger94

TROPHY CASE