Part 1: Truths Behind Being a PT

In case you are someone coming across this blog for the first time, let me recap that I am almost one year into being a licensed physical therapist and I am retelling my journey and all the best and worst sides of the profession.

I clearly remember filling out my FAFSA form during all my years of undergrad, but nothing could have prepared me for what professional school was going to bring in terms of the big elephant in the room: STUDENT DEBT. The minute I found myself calculating the cost of one year of PT school being equivalent to four years of undergrad, I knew I was in trouble. I faced moments of frustration when trying to decide how much money I wanted to borrow to be able to survive comfortably. The words, “we do not recommend having a job during PT school,” kept replaying in my head as I somehow tried to figure out how it would be possible given all these apparent expenses. It is at this point that I decided to do some research about how this was possible and whether all physical therapists by this point were also having to deal with this.

That is when I stumbled upon the APTA’s Vision 2020 plan which was adopted by the House in the year 2000. There were multiple parts to this project, but the biggest one that was affecting my situation at that moment was their vision that by the year 2020, all physical therapists would be Doctors of Physical Therapy. This, in turn, gradually pushed anyone who was remotely interested in becoming a physical therapist to have to commit to a doctoral level of education to make it happen. While it is phenomenal to see the profession pursue higher levels of education and produce more clinically competent individuals, this now also means that doctoral levels of education would also equal doctoral levels of prices.

Now that I am on the other side of PT school, it has made me realize that although I see where this project is going, I do not think it is more than a way for schools to charge their students higher tuition and fees. Any physical therapist who has had any sort of clinical experience under their belt can tell you that it does not matter what you learn the theory for in the classroom, nothing will ever prepare you to take on the profession quite like the actual clinic will. No patient will ever come to you with a textbook presentation of any condition, even one as simple as any tendinopathy.

I soon realized that I would be running into my next flaw of the profession. If I was going to be owing so much money, surely this meant I was going to be making the big bucks, right? If you thought the answer to that was “yes”, you might want to buckle up. What comes in part 2 will dive into the harsh reality of a physical therapist salary.