Advice To The PT Students
A follower of mine reached out and asked if I could offer insight on how to best navigate physical therapy school.
Rather than giving her a half-assed response, I decided to take my time crafting sound advice that would resonate with both my younger self and others currently enduring the same journey.
Before I delve into it, I think it’s important to note that the brain has an interesting, self-preserving way of extracting the best moments from hard times and offering them up as the most prominent memories when you reflect on years past. While I very well could have been mentally and physically suffering in physical therapy school, I’m aware that five years later, the experience I think I had feels mostly positive and enjoyable.
All of this to say—you might be in the trenches. But you can do anything for three years, and when the fun is over and you’re out working in the real world, you’ll look back and mostly remember friends you made, trips you took, and all the great things you learned along the way.
How to make the most out of it: This one’s easy to answer because I had a little weekly mental mantra to share. If your doctorate program is feeling particularly shitty one week, take a moment of silence and remember how hard you worked to be where you are. Maybe close your eyes, lie down, whatever it takes to quiet your racing, studious mind. Remember the stress of the GRE? The PT school applications, essays, interviews, and anxiety-inducing time spent waiting to hear if you’d been accepted?
Well, you did. You got in!!! You did the hardest part. In a few years, you and all your peers will graduate with the exact same degree no matter what. You literally dreamt about this. So bask in the glory of it and find solace in the fact that you will indeed make it out alive.
Finding the work-life balance: First off, find friends. You might have absolutely nothing in common with any of your classmates (which I seriously doubt), but one thing that is for certain is you’re all toiling through this phase of life together. While all your other friends from undergrad are moving to new cities, getting paid for their big boy + girl jobs, and moving on with life, you and your cohort are stuck in a classroom. Misery loves company, so band together and don’t endure the hard parts alone.
Secondly, reward yourself. This concept will transpire differently for everyone depending on what they love to do, but either way, you need to take a chill pill.
For me, it looked like this: Study my ass off for an exam. Take the test. Immediately go outside for a run or hop in my car and drive to a nearby North Georgia hike. If it was after midterms or finals, I’d plan a weekend in Atlanta visiting family and friends or hitting up the wineries near my campus.
Work hard, play hard. If you only work hard, and then work some more, you’ll despise your very existence and question if this is the right profession for you at all.
Creating your study groove: This will be your saving grace. The presence of a solid, personalized routine that helps you stay on top of studying will be a game changer when prepping for exams. The emphasis here is on what works for you. When I was in school, my group of friends found success in studying as a group. I, on the other hand, aced my exams by holing up in the basement of the house I was staying in and speaking to no one. Burning the midnight oil in solitude was the only way I could ensure academic success.
Maybe you’re a flashcard person. Maybe you read the textbook from start to finish and quiz yourself at the end. Or maybe you’re the student who has to teach their friends in order for the subject to really find purchase in their mind. Whatever is effective, figure it out. And figure it out fast! Procrastination is no option when it comes to how you structure your studies. You’ll save loads of time and anxieties by finding your groovy groove.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to retrospectively offer advice to those who are in a place I once was and sum it up with a “you’ll be fine” in the end. Because while that very well may be true, it still kind of sucks when you’re in the thick of it. And I get that. In closing, to my younger self I think I’d tell her to keep her focus on the immediate task at hand, find her people, and not take any of it too seriously.
You got this :)
In other news, this week’s podcast episode was a FUN one. I get into the details of learning firsthand how to market (and how not to market) my business. It was a blast to record, and I hope you enjoy listening here.
Also, enjoy a 1-month grace period with the Jane App using this link. I use Jane on a daily basis to make sure my clinical practice is running smoothly, and it’s made a world of difference.
Thanks for reading!
<3 Roni
