westway50
May 6, 2012
Graduate / 'Rewarding experience' - My dream of Becoming a Physical Therapist [3]
Im applying this year to physical therapy programs too. This is my second time applying and i realize that a lot of the applicants have very similar essays. Last year my essay was very much like yours. I had a family experience that lead me to pursue physical therapy and then talked about my experience.
What i realize with a lot of with these essays we try to write our life story and it ends up being vague at best. Just like any other essays, you should develop points and focus on those. For the first paragraph, i would change it so it states a few points of why you want to pursue physical therapy. the admissions all know that people have an interest in the medical field and it seems pointless to tell them that you like the medical field and that you are fascinated with the area. What i realized is the hardest part is coming up with these points. Try to think to yourself as to what are the main points you want to get across to the admission office and focus your essay more on those.
So you already have a point of past experience with family members and present experience. these serve as very good "motivating factors". Now i would try to incorporate more "personal characteristics". You mentioned people describing your personality and how you would make a good therapist. You should try to acknowledge those characteristics as part of who you are like a self reflection. Make it known that those things the patients say about you are not just your appearance, but who you are.
Also with each example you gave, try giving your thoughts on it now. You have how you felt then when you were experiencing it. At the end, tie it all up with how you look back at it now and how you see it differently with your new experiences. From what people told me about my essay last year, it is a bit of a one note essay just writing how it felt back then. so for example you have the story of your grandma going to therapy and doing exercises to regain the ability to walk. after that story, try to incorporate how now you understand the different modalities they were using to get her to walk. Like say something about how you now understand that they were trying to give strength to her muscles and working on her proprioceptive abilities.
These are a few things that i can see would improve the essay. Just some things to keep in mid while doing your revisions. The admission office knows that people applying are interested in the medical field because otherwise you wouldn't be trying to specialize in a certain area. Also try to tie in your knowledge that you have now about the field into what you experienced. Good luck with your revisions.
Im applying this year to physical therapy programs too. This is my second time applying and i realize that a lot of the applicants have very similar essays. Last year my essay was very much like yours. I had a family experience that lead me to pursue physical therapy and then talked about my experience.
What i realize with a lot of with these essays we try to write our life story and it ends up being vague at best. Just like any other essays, you should develop points and focus on those. For the first paragraph, i would change it so it states a few points of why you want to pursue physical therapy. the admissions all know that people have an interest in the medical field and it seems pointless to tell them that you like the medical field and that you are fascinated with the area. What i realized is the hardest part is coming up with these points. Try to think to yourself as to what are the main points you want to get across to the admission office and focus your essay more on those.
So you already have a point of past experience with family members and present experience. these serve as very good "motivating factors". Now i would try to incorporate more "personal characteristics". You mentioned people describing your personality and how you would make a good therapist. You should try to acknowledge those characteristics as part of who you are like a self reflection. Make it known that those things the patients say about you are not just your appearance, but who you are.
Also with each example you gave, try giving your thoughts on it now. You have how you felt then when you were experiencing it. At the end, tie it all up with how you look back at it now and how you see it differently with your new experiences. From what people told me about my essay last year, it is a bit of a one note essay just writing how it felt back then. so for example you have the story of your grandma going to therapy and doing exercises to regain the ability to walk. after that story, try to incorporate how now you understand the different modalities they were using to get her to walk. Like say something about how you now understand that they were trying to give strength to her muscles and working on her proprioceptive abilities.
These are a few things that i can see would improve the essay. Just some things to keep in mid while doing your revisions. The admission office knows that people applying are interested in the medical field because otherwise you wouldn't be trying to specialize in a certain area. Also try to tie in your knowledge that you have now about the field into what you experienced. Good luck with your revisions.