What to Know About Reapplying to PT School with PTCAS

Reapplying to PT school is very common these days given how hard it is to be accepted into PT school. In the most recent cycle for which PTCAS gives stats, just 59% of applicants were accepted into a PT program. Over the years, I’ve worked with several applicants on their second (and even third) time applying to PT school. If you are a reapplicant, here are some things you should do:

1. Ask for feedback. Be humble and contact the schools that rejected you, and ask for feedback. They will often let you know which areas of your application needed improvement, whether it’s your grades, test scores, essays, experiences, or some combination of those. This will allow you to understand where to focus your energy when reapplying.
2. Deal with PTCAS. PTCAS is annoying – we all know this. Some things from your previous application can be carried over, such as coursework, schools attended, official test scores, attached transcripts, extracurricular activities, honors, and work experiences. Other aspects must be reentered all over again, including your letters of reference, essays, payments, and program-specific information. PTCAS lays some of this out for you, and notes copying from past applications can take a few days.
3. Show what you’ve done. If you’ve retaken classes and added observation hours, it goes without saying that these should be added to your application, but also be sure to mention these experiences in an essay and when you interview.
4. Describe how you’ve changed. Besides the things you’ve done, how have you grown as a person? Are you more efficient at managing your time, more passionate about PT, or more resilient? Speak to these newly honed qualities throughout the application process.
5. Deemphasize your grades. Obviously, if you retook some classes, it was to get better grades. However, the reason you need those higher grades is to show you’ve mastered the material. Focus on that. Saying, “I retook anatomy to gain a great understanding of the body,” is more meaningful that stating, “I retook anatomy to get an ‘A.’” The ‘A’ is meaningless unless you actually have a good understanding of what you’ve learned. After all, in PT school you’ll be studying the material to understand and apply it, not to get good grades.
6. Consider rewriting your essays: I’ve worked with many applicants on their second go-around who were told their first essays didn’t answer the prompts well. Even if this wasn’t the case for you, I’d still consider rewriting them. For the main essay, your “why” for becoming a PT has likely changed a little and you should have some new experiences to add. For supplemental essays, at least reread them and try to make some changes. Now that it’s been several months since you last looked at them, there must be something you want to change, even if you don’t do a full rewrite.

Whether this is your first, second, or third time applying, good luck!