The prevailing advice online is to seek out the cheapest PT school to attend, and unfortunately, there aren’t a ton of PT scholarships out there. I recommend asking the program you hope to attend if they can do anything to help you out financially, and if one school has already offered you money, you may as well use that as leverage.
Here’s the letter I successfully wrote to ask one school if they had any merit money to give me.
Hi Dr. [Director of DPT Admissions],
I have been happily accepted into the Fall 202* DPT class. I read in my admissions packet that [School X] awards merit money to some students, and Ms. [Admissions Coordinator] suggested I contact you for more information. Although [School X] is my top choice, I also have a deposit down at [School Y], where I have been awarded $X for my first year based in part on graduating from Cornell with a X.XX GPA. As I am hoping to make a final decision between the two schools in the coming weeks, I am hoping to know if the scholarship committee has merit money left to award and whether I am a candidate.
Thanks for your time,
Jasmine Marcus
I used my letter to highlight that the extra money could make a difference in me attending the program and played up the fact that I would be an asset to them, having excelled in undergrad. I don’t know if they would have been as generous if I didn’t have the resume to back my request up. If you don’t have a high undergrad GPA, consider others factors that might help you stand out, such as being a first-generation college student, underrepresented minority student, or something else.
Also worth noting, this was merit-money, separate from financial aid.
Late that day, the program awarded me slightly more merit money than the first school did. Both were 4-figure numbers per semester. While any amount of money off of tuition is helpful, it’s not like they’re giving away 5-figure sums of money. This isn’t going to make up the difference between going to a private vs. a public university.
Not every school awards merit money or gives out scholarships, but I think this shows that if you ask politely, they might just say yes, and worst case, they say no. I can’t imagine a school rescinding your admissions because you asked for more aid. And if they did, is that the type of program you’d want to attend anyway?
Good luck!