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If you could go back to DPT school, what is one thing you would focus on more, and one thing you would focus on less?

I'm starting DPT school soon and would love to hear opinions on how to make the most of my experience!

spring26 physical-therapy dpt
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Dr Sweta’s Answer

If I could go back to DPT school, one thing I would focus on more is truly understanding the concepts behind movement, pain, healing, and clinical reasoning—not just memorizing information. I would also seek more hands-on patient experience early on, because there is a big difference between learning theory in class and applying it with real people. Treating patients teaches communication, confidence, adaptability, and how every case is unique. One thing I would focus on less is trying to learn every detail without understanding its real purpose. Long-term success in physical therapy comes more from practical skills, critical thinking, empathy, and the ability to connect knowledge to real patient care.
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Rebecca’s Answer

I wish I had placed more emphasis on the hands-on experiences of patient interactions. I did very well with the academics - studied hard, got good grades, knew all the materal from lectures - but when I got into the "real world" I was never as confident as I could have been in my treatment techniques and the manual, clinical, real-time application of all that I learned. That came with time, but I think if that had been more of my focus while I was in school, I would have had less stress during my first few years of work as a PT. You will always be able to look facts and concepts up - even more so now with AI options - but you can't look up the feeling of competence and confidence you need when the patient is right there in front of you.
Good luck!
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