Utica University PT

  https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/good-bye-words Hello everyone! If you’ve been following along, you likely know that I am going to be finishing up my final semester of classroom work here at UU. I have learned so many things and have grown so much as a student, physical therapist and person. I remember my first day of class and all of the emotions that rushed over me for what was to come - all the people I’d meet, the things I’d learn, the places I’d go. I look back on my time here and remember the days going by so so slow, but man have these past two years f l o w n by. I definitely will miss some of the aspects of coming to campus everyday and learning things in a classroom as I have my whole life up until now, but I am VERY excited to head out on clinical for my final year of the program.  I had the best time at my clinical last summer, getting a chance to work hands on and apply everything I had learned. It is really a setting I thrive in. I have always been a hands-on...

Clinicals are a very big part of our education here at UU, so it is important that the sites we choose are in locations and settings that we’d really like to check out for the future! After all, our clinicals could easily turn into a job post-graduation. In my previous post about clinical education, I mentioned the process for site developments and making a site wishlist, but here I want to touch on the different locations we get to go to and when the clinicals occur within the curriculum. Clinical education is split so that it occurs at 3 different times throughout our 3 years. Our first clinical rotation is following the first year, during the summer before our second year. This one is for 6 weeks and is in an outpatient orthopedic setting. This is really our first chance to apply everything we’ve learned and see how it all comes together. Then, our remaining 2 clinicals are during our last year of the program. There’s one in the fall semester and one in the spring semester. These on...

  https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/physical-therapy Hi all! I remember thinking about this spring semester of my second year when I was in gross anatomy. Envisioning all of the information that I would know and all of the time spent on becoming a PT. Although in the moment, each day felt like it lasted 100 hours and there was always something new to learn, this semester came up much quicker than I anticipated. As I head into my last semester in the classroom and my last semester on the UU campus, I find myself reminiscing about all of the wonderful experiences that I’ve had thus far. Going in the donor body lab for gross anatomy and neuroscience, learning all about the musculoskeletal system and the neuromuscular system, meeting great people - both students and professors, who will be my colleagues in a little over a year, going out on clinical and having patients of my own for the first time, and so much more.  Although I feel like I have learned so much since I started t...

  Hi everyone! I wanted to talk a little bit about the process for selecting clinicals here at UU. Clinical education is about ⅓ of our curriculum, so it's a big part of our learning process. There are two different routes a student can take to get a clinical. One would be to do site development. As of right now, each student can do up to two site developments. For this, the student can fill out a form and contact the potential site to arrange affiliation. This process can take weeks or months, but is nice because you are able to decide where you want to go. Some of my friends have gone to Denver, Nashville, Cincinnati, and so many other fun places! I hope to create site developments for my clinicals next year. The other way that a student can get a clinical site is through making a wishlist of already existing affiliated clinics. Here at UU, we use a website that has all of our clinical sites listed. On the site, everyone builds a wishlist 1-10, 1 being their top choice and 10 bei...

  Hello all! The fall weather here in Utica has been just perfect lately, sunny and 70 (some would say 75, but that’s a smidge warm for me!). And, the leaves are changing which is super exciting! I’ve got to get to the Adirondacks mountains for a hike this fall - it’s a very simple drive about an hour north of here and it's gorgeous! Last post I briefly touched on how the curriculum is sectioned out here, but I want to dive a little deeper into the 3 years. Year 1 is primarily musculoskeletal based, year 2 is mainly neuromuscular based with a clinical experience and year 3 is all clinical experiences.  Year 1: Musculoskeletal In this year, we take gross anatomy and courses like examination, evaluation, interventions, clinical science, and movement science to begin applying our knowledge of the human body. After spending 6 weeks during the summer of your first year in the donor lab, you basically know every muscle - its action, its innervation, where it attaches, etc., you will...

Hi everyone! I am writing this a few weeks into my second year of the DPT program here at UU and I am feeling great about the school year to come. I had a great summer completing the first part of my clinical education and gaining so much knowledge that I will take forward with me for every patient interaction here on out! My clinical was six weeks long at an outpatient physical therapy clinic and I had the best time! It was so nice having the opportunity to apply all of the things that I learned here in class to the real world and with real patients. It made me realize I knew more than I give myself credit for! I got to see people of all ages and abilities, helping them get better with every visit. This is what I’ve been dreaming of ever since I started my path toward becoming a physical therapist. The difference you make as a PT is unmatched and I am thrilled to eventually do this every single day. They do say, “if you love your job, you'll never work a day!” Now that I am back i...

Utica R.I.S.E is a pro bono clinic that provides health services for the disadvantaged population in the Utica area. R.I.S.E  stands for Rehabilitation and Integrative Services for Everyone. This clinic is run by physical therapy students, second years and first years, with supervision from professionals in the field (including some of our pt faculty and staff). Utica R.I.S.E provides students with a great opportunity to get involved and give back to the community. These services help those who may not otherwise have an opportunity to receive therapy or health care services in general for a variety of reasons. They help restore physical capacities through a holistic approach focusing on wellness promotion. Not only does it help patients who come in, but it gives students a chance to interact with people and practice communication with patients through hands-on experience. One of the main goals of Utica R.I.S.E include educating new health care professionals in competency, character...

Now that I am well into the spring semester of my first year here in Utica University’s PT program, I can explain a little bit about what a typical day of class / lab looks like. Our course schedule is very busy, but it’s also very organized. Generally we will have a lecture for a course and immediately following that lecture we will have the lab for that same class. I personally really like the way that this is set up because I can immediately use the knowledge that I gained from the lecture and directly apply it in the lab on that same day. This helps me solidify the things that I learned in the classroom by practicing them hands on.  Another thing that I really like about the way that classes are run here is that the professors are very good at giving breaks. I would say that we don't lecture for more than an hour and a half without a 5 to 10 minute break. During that time we can get up and walk around, eat a snack, fill up our water bottles, and just hang out while we rest...

  Hey all! As a part of the DPT curriculum here at UU, it is important for us to have interprofessional collaboration since that will be a very big part of our careers post graduation. Here on campus, we have physical therapy students, occupational therapy, nursing, recreation therapy, nutrition, and many others who all will be working in the healthcare field someday. As a part of the interprofessional collaboration here, we held a health and wellness fair! It gives each of us a chance to mingle with others in different health professions and allows us to understand each others’ roles more clearly. I had so much fun this year getting prepared for the event and spending time with my interprofessional group during the fair! This year, my group’s topic was nutrition. We had a station set up with games (and prizes of course), a slide show, and a posterboard. We got a chance to meet with the members of our group and explain how the topic relates to our fields of study so we can learn mo...

  https://www.pinterest.com/LauraStevensPT/physical-therapy-humor/

Utica University organizes the class schedule so that we take human gross anatomy the summer before the fall semester of our first year. It is an intense, six week course laying out the foundations of the human body from head to toe. Here on campus, we have a human gross anatomy lab. Each summer, the first year students in the PT program are provided 6 donor bodies. It's so awesome to have the opportunity to learn with a real human body and I personally am so grateful for the people who donated their bodies for us to learn and aid us in someday providing PT care to those who need it. The course typically runs from mid-June to the end of July. There are lectures in the mornings, 5 days a week with a 3 hour lab to follow. There are tutors (2nd and 3rd year DPT students) who have previously gone through the course that are there to help with any questions, provide practice questions, run through muscles in the lab with you, and so much more. This human gross anatomy course is challeng...

Hello everyone! This post is going to be all about what to expect during your first year at PT school. I’m halfway through my first year and have definitely seen some big differences from undergrad. One of the biggest (and I’d say most expected) differences is the workload. It’s much more in-depth work and there’s extra pressure there because these are the things that we will have to know for our careers and for the rest of our lives as PT’s. So keeping this in mind, it’s important to remind yourself regularly that you’re working so hard to be the best PT you can be in the future. Although the workload is a lot, everyone is helping you work toward your goals. Your classmates are helping you reach your goals, the professors are there to help, the students in cohorts above you are always helping out, and so much more. In undergrad, it may seem at times that you are always in competition with those around you. You're all trying to get into programs that have very limited seats and you...

  Hi readers! For this post, I wanted to talk a little more about some of the many things that I love about Utica University’s physical therapy program (one post just wasn't enough)! The college is very involved with the Utica community, so there are so many opportunities to get involved in volunteer work! One big event that happens here in Utica is the Boilermaker! It’s a big, annual 15K that takes place here in the city. Some of the PT students go and give the runners massages after they finish the race. It’s so much fun for the whole community! Another amazing thing that I personally love about Utica’s program is the pro bono clinic that we have the opportunity to volunteer at called Utica R.I.S.E. R.I.S.E stands for Rehabilitation and Integrative Services. The clinic provides care to disadvantaged people in the greater Utica area. First year students and second year students go and work together at the clinic. This is a great way to give back to the community and good practice ...

FUNNY FRIDAY   https://www.pinterest.com/LauraStevensPT/physical-therapy-humor/

  Hey ya’ll! For this blog, I’m going to be talking about some of the special things that I personally find great about Utica University’s program compared to many other programs. Most PT programs are organized in a similar manner, but they all definitely have little things that are specific to each one. One thing that I found to be a great perk to UU’s program is how they set up the curriculum. The first course that we take here after entering the program is human gross anatomy. This course is taken the summer before your first fall semester. I really liked that it was set up like this because it was the only class I was taking at that time and I could really focus on learning that material. As a PT, this information is the basis of our career, so I really liked that I was able to put my all into that course and just focus on that one class.  Another thing that I really like about Utica University’s PT program is that the first year students work closely with the second year ...

 FUNNY FRIDAY  https://www.pinterest.com/LauraStevensPT/physical-therapy-humor/

  http://clipart-library.com/job-interview-cliparts.html Hi readers! When I started interviewing for physical therapy school, it was just about this time last year. I remember being super nervous, feeling like I wasn't sure what to say to make me stand out more than my fellow applicants. I met with one of my professors a couple times to do mock interviews, my friends pretended to be interviewers for me so I could practice, and I even reached out to the graduate admissions offices to be clear on their expectations for prospective students into their PT program.  When I did my interviews last year, most schools were offering either an in-person interview or a virtual interview via zoom. One thing that I really loved about Utica University was that they were one of the schools that were offering in-person interviews. I personally felt that I could better portray my character and who I am in-person much better than I could online. For UU’s interview, they had four faculty mem...

FUNNY FRIDAY  https://www.pinterest.com/LauraStevensPT/physical-therapy-humor/

  UUDPT Class of 2025 Hey readers! For this post, I’m going to touch a little on what it's like to be a part of a cohort here in UU’s DPT program. Prior to graduate school, I personally think everything felt like a competition to be the best of the best and get into a desired program. However, now that I’m in the program, that feeling of competitiveness has gone away… so that’s something to look forward to after the chaos of the application process! Everyone in my class here at UU is super supportive and we all work together as a team to help one another be successful. I was not a member of the 3+3 direct entry DPT program, so I wasn’t able to build very strong connections with my cohort members prior to grad school. However, this has not been a problem at all. Everyone is so very supportive and welcoming, no matter your background, age, etc. This makes the challenging courses and hard work that much easier. It’s nice to have the same group to study with, to go to classes with, and...

Hello everyone! PTCAS stands for the Physical Therapist Centralized Application System. This system is used by many physical therapy schools across the country, Utica University included. When I was applying for graduate school last summer, I used PTCAS. This makes applications a lot easier by organizing all of your applications onto one site. For the most part, physical therapy schools need to know the same general information about each of their applicants. Using the physical therapist centralized application system allows you as the applicant to enter a lot of this information one time and apply it to a number of applications for a lot of different schools. When I found out that Utica University uses PTCAS for their applications, I was very happy because this made my life much easier. I was able to enter my general information onto my PTCAS  account and then just type up short essays and other questions that were specific to each school that I applied for. On the physical therap...