Fun fact: If you didn’t get accepted into PT school this year, you still have two more years to try before you tie my record of unsuccessful attempts. And if you only applied to one PT school, you have 18 more PT school rejections to go before you also tie my record.

I say that all tongue-in-cheek to gently remind you that this unfortunate circumstance happens to so many applicants and SO MANY of them will make great PT’s if they stick with it and try again next year. I still believe that the hardest part about PT school is simply getting into the program. It ain’t so bad after that. It took me three years and nineteen rejections before my first (and only acceptance).

Make note of this: Getting rejected from a school has absolutely no bearing on how successful you will be once you get into PT school or enter professional, clinical practice.

The quick answer for what to do if you didn’t get into PT school this year

Plenty of applicants don’t get into PT school on their first attempt. If you still have the desire to keep pursuing PT school, start by taking a little bit of time off to just let your mind and spirits recharge a bit. Thereafter, begin to analyze which areas of your application can be strengthened and then develop a specific plan on how you willgo about doing this.

Realize that this all involves a deep level of commitment, but this is the point in which you will renew yourself from all other applicants who gave up at this point. You can do this if you truly still want it.

A quick overview of the steps to take for when you want to apply to PT school again

Step 1: Take some time and just step away from all PT-related attempts
Step 2: Make sure that you TRULY know that you are committed to the process of trying again before doing so
Step 3: Begin to examine areas in which you need to strengthen your application
Step 4: Take specific action on how exactly you will go about strengthening your application
Step 5: Seek out the appropriate help, such as resources and personnel that you may need for these actions
Step 6: Do absolutely everything that you can for strengthening your application, but once you submit it, leave the rest up to God

This article is predicated on the assumption that you still want to get into PT school next year

If you know for a fact that you won’t be pursuing further application attempts for PT school, then there’s nothing wrong with that. No one has the right to judge you on that. My hope is that you will find the calling you truly feel within you as you look towards new pursuits. Just to save you some time however, I will let you know that everything that follows within the rest of this article is written for the individual who is looking to try again next year in regards to their application(s).

Step 1: Take some time and just step away from all PT-related attempts

Getting rejected can be a rough feeling, especially if this has happened with more than one school. I know this all too well. If you didn’t make it into a PT program this year, it may be a wise move on your part to just step back from things for a bit.

One of the biggest reasons for this is simply to ensure that you don’t make any rash decisions in the heat of the moment. Emotions can run high during this time (believe me, I got rejected nineteen times…I get it), so giving yourself time to just step back from everything for a while can be a very wise move.

Remember that the deadline for next year’s applications are approximately three-quarters of an entire year away at this point, so you’ve got time to just step away for a short period before proceeding to the next step. There may be a fair bit of work ahead, so this isn’t to say that you can take a solid six-months off (assuming you’ll need to take time to strengthen your application), but you can easily give yourself a month or so, at which point you’ll likely feel like you’re ready to get on with things and move to the next step.

If you want to get back on the horse quicker than this, then by all means do so. Just know that it’s easier to attack all of this again when you’ve rested mind and re-grouped your spirits after taking some time off and just stepping away from things.

Step 2: Make sure that you TRULY know that you are committed to the process of trying again before doing so

After realizing that you won’t be getting into PT school for the upcoming year, there can be a gut-check moment that follows shortly after. You may likely find yourself wondering if trying this all over again will even be worth it. This is a large reason as to why I’d recommend taking some time off from things, as mentioned in step 1.

I can’t give you the answer as to whether or not this will be worth it for you to go through again. But I can assure you that to ask yourself if it will be worth it; to ask yourself if you still feel deep down within you that this is worth pursuing, is in fact quite a normal process to go through.

The bottom line is that if you’re going to give this another shot, you want to know without a doubt that it’s totally worth it and that you can commit yourself to it fully. Holding onto and experiencing any ambivalence will only make any further attempts from here on out much more difficult, much more frightening and much less effective.

Before you proceed to the next step, make sure that you truly know that you want another shot at all of this. If the fire is gone, then considering a different program or different next steps for your future just might be the way to go. But, If you feel the fire is still burning within you, then rest-assured that you have what it takes to commit to the process of strengthening your application and trying again.

Step 3: Begin to examine areas in which you need to strengthen your application

The short answer for as to why students don’t get into PT school (assuming they took all the other required steps with their application) is theoretically because the other schools filled up all available seats with applicants who were deemed stronger than them.

Now that you’ve looked within yourself and determined that you still want to give PT school a shot, the next step to take is to therefore ask yourself if there are any ways that you can strengthen your application for next year’s cycle. This can take a bit of time since there’s a lot to examine and consider, but start by looking over every aspect of your application and find the weakest points.

Begin by making an ordered list of your weakest application areas

I would suggest to perhaps make an ordered list from weakest to strongest regarding all aspects of your application. Once you’ve identified the weakest areas, ask yourself if there’s anything you can do to improve that particular area.

This will look different for every applicant. For me, after my first year of failing to get into PT school, I re-took my GRE exam to improve my scores, which I wound up doing much better on the second time around. I also continued to re-take some additional undergraduate courses part-time to help get my GPA to climb up a bit higher. Re-taking some courses in which I originally got “B” letter grades and now walking away with an “A” or “A-“ really helped out.

I also took a bit of extra time to really write out a stronger PTCAS essay and had multiple eyes to pour over it just to make sure it really stood out. This particular step was of course nowhere near as beneficial as re-taking my GRE or re-taking more undergraduate courses, but I knew that I needed to maximize my chances for success in every way possible.

You may very well not need to take steps as drastic as mine. The point is simply that I felt these were the weakest areas (and the ones thus likely holding me back) and so I then began to attack them as best I could.

So, consider how you might want to identify and then begin working on improving the weakest areas of your application. Maybe you can rack up more observation hours, or maybe you can gain some new experiences so that you can write them down on your school essays or resume. Whatever it may be, just know that it’s wisest to start with the weakest or most deficient areas and then move on from there.

Step 4: Take specific action on how exactly you will go about strengthening your application

It’s important to understand that what was just outlined and discussed in step number three is no small task. Having to re-write examinations or take more undergraduate courses and so on is a big, time-consuming and expensive commitment.

In addition to this, there will be more expenses you’ll need to cover for your application(s) next year. So, since you’re going to be putting in much more time and effort through all of this, you want to make sure you get the most out of it.

Getting the most out of this entire process begins by being very specific and intentional as to the steps you will take to see this all through. What this means is that it may be wise for you to write out what this entire process is going to look like – start dates, end dates and everything else in between, such as days and hours in which you’ll be devoting to focusing on these tasks, blocking off time to make sure you make the progress you need to, and so on.

By getting very intentional and specific with how this whole process will unfold, you will have not only a greater sense of control over the process, but you’ll begin to build psychological confidence since you’re retaining a laser-focus when it comes to being deliberate and specific with every action rather than leaving things to chance.

Step 5: Seek out the appropriate help, such as resources and personnel you may need for these actions

Now that you’ve got a solid understanding of what this whole process will look like and the steps you’re going to need to take in order to see it all through, you now want to gather up or locate all the helpful people and resources you’re going to need.

Get the right people in your life who can help you however need be

Helpful people can be those who are going to support you and cheer you on when needed, those who have the ability to help you with areas of your application, such as those who may write reference letters on your behalf, tutors, professors, therapists who will let you shadow extra hours in their clinic and so on.

I had a number of people that I continually gathered up within my network over my three years of applying. Some played bigger roles than others, some were an absolute lifeline when I was sinking in despair of never getting into PT school, and many others helped in unique, yet very benificial ways.

Gathering up helpful resources

In addition to getting the right people involved with your journey, you’ll likely need to gather up other critical resources. These can be online resources, books, or anything else of the matter. This will all depend on your needs, but you should be able to find at least a few things for any particular areas you’re trying to work on.

I had numerous websites that helped with learning the academic material I was taking when re-doing my courses. I had online subscriptions to test-prep companies and academic tutors as well. If I found a helpful blog or PDF document, I’d make sure to save it.

Step 6: Do absolutely everything that you can for strengthening your application, but once you submit it, leave the rest up to God

Leave no stone unturned when it comes to doing everything you can to strengthen your application(s). Adopt a scorched-earth mentality when it comes to making sure you’ve done all that you can. But when it comes time to then submit your application(s), know that it’s out of your hands.

I’m not attempting to get preachy with everyone here. I’m just trying to remind you that once you submit your application, don’t play the whole “did I do enough? Could I have done better?” Game in your head.

When you pursue your guts out on something and fully commit to it in all ways, especially for months and months on end, you can easily find yourself going down the mental rabbit hole of wondering if you made all the right moves and conjuring up scenarios in your head that make you feel like you could have done better, and so on. You want to get accepted so badly, I get it. It’s hard to shut your mind off when this is the case.

I made this mistake every year that I submitted my applications and couldn’t let my mind break free of this type of thinking. I always want to be in control of things and the second that I’m not is the second I begin to have all sorts of thoughts run around in my head.

The fact is, however, that once you submit your application(s) everything else is completely out of your hands. You have now surrendered all control. Whether you want to leave the rest up to God, the universe, fate, or however you perceive it to be, just remember that you’ve done all that you can and its now no longer up for you to have any say.

Thankfully, since you’ve pushed so hard in your attempts to create a stronger application, it’ll be pretty easy to rest assured that you’ve done all that you can. But even then, all sorts of thoughts can creep into your head. So, keep reminding yourself that you’ve done all that you can and that there will always be an element of this entire process that is out of your control and in the hands of something much greater.

Concluding remarks

Many successful physical therapists and physical therapy students began their PT pursuits with letters of rejection from various schools.
It’s worth stating again thatgetting rejected from a school has absolutely no bearing on how successful you will be once you get into PT school and professional, clinical practice.

It took me three years and nineteen rejections before my first (and only acceptance). But I graduated with a near 4.0 GPA, a post-masters certificate in orthopedics in conjunction to my DPT and wrote and passed my NPTE three months prior to the standard exam date for the rest of my class.

This is not me trying to brag in any sort of manner, this is me trying to show you that passion trumps all and that the hardest part about PT school is sometimes just trying to get in.

If you didn’t make it into PT school this year, take some time to just step away and re-group. Don’t make any emotionally-based decisions as to whether or not you’ll try again next year.

Once you’ve taken some time off, ask yourself if you still feel it within you to try again next year. You want to be certain that you’re committed to the process of trying again since strengthening your application for the upcoming round of applications can take a lot of work.

As you begin to identify the areas of your application that need to be strengthened, get very intentional as to what the required process will look like and have a clear understanding of what it will take. Then, make sure you get the right people and resources in place within your life in order to help you as much as possible throughout the process.

Lastly, remember that there will always be a part of the application process that is completely out of your hands. This can be an uncomfortable feeling, but it’s part of life. Do all that you can to strengthen your application, but then remind yourself that once you submit everything, it’s time to let go.
My hope is that this article has helped you in some way or another in regards to helping shed some light on what to do if you didn’t get into PT school this year but still feel that it’s worth another shot.

I know what it feels like to not make the cut. But, if you still feel it within you, press onwards knowing that it will make your acceptance even sweeter now and your story even that much more powerful.

Grind hard. You got this.