Filed in Category Pediatric Therapy
Hello,
I am planning on going back to school for physical therapy and had a question about volunteer hours. When should I do them? I am going to need to go back to undergrad and take about a year’s worth of prerequisites. Is it best to begin my volunteer hours before I start taking them, during school, or should I wait until I finish my prereqs in order to get a better understanding of the human body and medical issues that warrant physical therapy?
Also, what different types of areas do you recommend I volunteer for? I am going to be volunteering next week in a pediatric outpatient clinic. What other areas should I consider? Does it matter where I volunteer? Should I seek out the most prestigious PT clinics in my area?
Thanks to all who reply.
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I have two ways to answer this question. First, if you are not entirely sure you want to become a PT or that you even understand what the job entails, complete your volunteer hours now. That way, if you make the decision to not persue this career path, you haven’t spent 3 years completing your pre-requisties.
On the other hand, if you are pretty sure you want to become a PT, then I would suggest you hold off at least a little bit…or that you complete some hours just before you apply. This is because many programs want a letter of recommendation from where you complete your hours (and not just documentation that you completed them). Therefore, it’s wise to make sure you are “fresh” in the minds of where you volunteered. If you volunteer at a clinic and five years later you want a letter of recommendations, they may not remember you.
Some schools do require that you observe in more than one setting. Pediatrics is a great niche, but I also suggest you spend sometime in an orthopedic clinic, or in a hospital or extended care facility. This will give you an idea of what PT entails in a broader sense.
In the end, most programs do not care WHERE you do your observation, but just that you’ve completed it and have been recommended.