BECOMING A PHYSICAL THERAPIST - page 2
The following article provides a brief description of what it means to be a physical therapist. It also provides information and advice on how to get accepted into a physical therapy school. The article may be of interest to you if you are thinking of becoming a physical therapist. If you wish to comment on this article , please feel free to do so in the 'Wannabe PT' section of our Physical Therapy Forum. The topic of getting a physical therapy job once you have your degree will be covered in another article.
Tips for the Interview
Once part of the application process that should be found in all situations is the interview process. At some point in your attempts to get accepted into a physical therapy school you should have to go through this.
Many people interested in becoming a physical therapist come from a physical education background. If this is the case for you, do not focus much of your interview on this. There are a great many people with physical education backgrounds that seem to feel that physical therapy is all about treating athletes and working with sports teams. Interviewers tend not to appreciate this narrow view of the profession.
Before going in to your interview you should spend time preparing. Learn as much as you can about the profession. Learn about all the different areas and specialties. You need to be able to show that you have a true understanding of what the profession is all about. Be prepared to talk about the different types of work in the profession and try not to focus on the sports aspect.
Long before the interview you should start getting relevant experience. The experience doesn't necessarily have to be volunteer, though some interviewers will prefer that you have volunteer experience. Go out into your community and experience the things that a therapist might experience on the job. Help out at a hospital, work with people with disabilities, lend a hand at a nursing home. Try to think of an area of physical therapy that you know the least about and go out and get some experience in it.
In the course of your interview you should try to impress upon the interviewers the fact that you have good Interpersonal skills. Interpersonal skills, or 'people skills', are very important to a physical therapist as will be constantly dealing one-on-one with others. The relationships a therapist has with his/her patients can be very important to the entire healing process.
During the interview, the most important thing you can do is be yourself. Be prepared, but be yourself. Interviewers can usually see right through you if you try to be who you think they want to see. If you are prepared you can relax and be yourself, knowing that you are prepared.
Physical Therapy Schools
The list of schools internationally that offer degrees in physical therapy is too large to list here. Please see our Physical Therapy Schools section for our current list of such schools.
Comment
On This Article
