professional health care graduate school "feeders"?

[Anonymous]

DC wants to go to graduate school for a health-care related field (probably not medical school but possibly PA, PT, or OT)...do those types of graduate programs tend to disproportionately take students from their undergraduate programs? That is, in the college search, should DC focus on colleges that have these graduate programs?

[Anonymous]

I would look at 5 year programs where available. E.g. 4 year undergrad program plus 1 year grad.

[Anonymous]

VCU

[Anonymous]

OP here...

DC isn't entirely sure they want to go that route and may not want to lock into a 5 year program (and PT, for example, requires a doctorate so the combine programs are 6+ years)...so my question is more about whether it's easier to get into these types of grad schools if you go to an undergraduate institution with an affiliated grad school.

[Anonymous]

Be aware of all the pre-requisites for each of these post grad degrees. Typically, they are science based. I do know that PA school also has a pre-req of face-to-face required # of hours spent with patients. The current average, according to google, is 2500-4000 hours. Of course, space is limited so a high GPA is a given. Also, be aware of the size of the graduate class.

[Anonymous]

College Transitions has a list for med schools, but they only track the top med schools — (maybe the top 25 med schools?). And I remember the methodology seemed a little dubious — pulling from LinkedIn and such.

For these institutions, there was an advantage to have attended the undergrad institution. Yale Med School likes Yale undergrads, etc.

Whether that holds outside the top 25 or in other health sciences schools I don’t know. Have never seen data that tracks it. Would be a great study especially if it tracked things over time, as it wouldn’t surprise me if things have changed a bit in the last decade.

[Anonymous]

I’m a Nurse Practitioner. Don’t have input re: feeder schools, but these career fields are so different that I would encourage your kid to try to figure out which one is most desirable. PT and PT are complimentary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be aware of all the pre-requisites for each of these post grad degrees. Typically, they are science based. I do know that PA school also has a pre-req of face-to-face required # of hours spent with patients. The current average, according to google, is 2500-4000 hours. Of course, space is limited so a high GPA is a given. Also, be aware of the size of the graduate class.

How on earth is someone supposed to get 4000 hours of face-to-face work experience (that's 2 years of full time work) prior to graduate school? Unless they absolutely do not want anyone straight out of undergrad?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Nurse Practitioner. Don’t have input re: feeder schools, but these career fields are so different that I would encourage your kid to try to figure out which one is most desirable. PT and PT are complimentary.

That makes sense- OT and PT have a lot of the same prerequisites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC wants to go to graduate school for a health-care related field (probably not medical school but possibly PA, PT, or OT)...do those types of graduate programs tend to disproportionately take students from their undergraduate programs? That is, in the college search, should DC focus on colleges that have these graduate programs?

Grades in the specific prep classes are probably the most important thing. I'd look at smaller schools with a reputation for great teaching. I would NOT recommend the schools full of premeds (Hopkins, etc), where some of the classes they'll need will be full of very smart, very ambitious students and the bar for grades will be set very high.

[Anonymous]

Pitt.

[Anonymous]

Jmu has a pre health professional minors program that looked pretty cool when we visited. The goal is to ensure kids have the prerequisites needed for grad school.

[Anonymous]

https://www.jmu.edu/pph/index.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC wants to go to graduate school for a health-care related field (probably not medical school but possibly PA, PT, or OT)...do those types of graduate programs tend to disproportionately take students from their undergraduate programs? That is, in the college search, should DC focus on colleges that have these graduate programs?

Apply for Direct Entry into these programs as a freshman. Highly competitive, but really the way to go. Especially PT/OT, there are many direct entry programs. Some require only a 2.5/2.7 gpa to stay in the program (even top programs). Versus to get into PT program after undergrad, you will need a 3.5+ overall as well as for the 10-12 prerequisites.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here...

DC isn't entirely sure they want to go that route and may not want to lock into a 5 year program (and PT, for example, requires a doctorate so the combine programs are 6+ years)...so my question is more about whether it's easier to get into these types of grad schools if you go to an undergraduate institution with an affiliated grad school.

It depends.

FOr example: Marquette University has a great PT program. They also have freshman direct entry. They also largely give priority to current MU undergrads for entry into the PT program at the end of your junior or senior year. How many spots are available depends upon how much attrition (kids Directly admitted who drop the program). Some years it's only 2 spots, some years it has been 12+. Either way, if your kid majors in Exercise Phsy/Science, they will be taking classes alongside 95% of the DPT direct entry kids (some choose to major in something else, but not many). So yes, they do give preference. However, it is smartest to apply for direct freshman admission. You can drop out if it's not for you, but DPT program admission anywhere after undergrad is Challenging.