13 Important PT School Interview Questions And Answers You Need To Know To Get Accepted

The PT school interview questions can be scary, especially when you know your acceptance to physical therapy school relies on how you do in your interview. However, it does not have to be as anxiety-ridden of a process if you prepare properly. This article, will dive into the 13 most important PT school interview questions and answers. By the end of this you will know more than 90% of the other physical therapy school applicants.

This article covers the most common PT school interview questions and the secret answers that will make you stand out. Most importantly you will learn how you can nail physical therapy school interview questions to almost guarantee your admission.

Chances of Getting Into PT School After Interview

Unfortunately, there is not set statistic on the percent of applicants who get into PT school after interview. Less than 50% of the application pool will receive an interview invitation. This percentage may be much less depending on the competitiveness of the school.

The important thing to note is that if you received an interview invitation the school is interested in you! You have already beat out over 50% of the applicants so the PT school interview is your time to show off your sparkling personality and passion for PT.

How Do I Prepare For a PT Interview?

Preparing for your PT interview includes reviewing PT interview questions and answers, doing a mock interview and researching your school. Although it is impossible to prepare for every single question that you will get asked, these 13 questions will give you the general blueprint to be able to answer any question.

It is very important to practice answering these questions in your own words! You may have a great answer in your head, however you may blank or stumble over your words when you are anxious and in front of the interviewers. Practice is key!

Lastly, it is important to research the school that you are applying to. You want to be able to talk about why you want to go to that specific school and show your knowledge on the school’s curriculum, clinical experiences etc.

It is also important to determine how you will get to the PT school interview if it is in a place you are unfamiliar with. The last thing you want is to be stressed and running late on the day of your interview.

Physical Therapy School Interview Questions And Answers

These are actual physical therapy school interview questions and answers that I gave throughout my PT school interview process.

These include 1. Tell me about yourself? 2. What makes you unique? 3. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 4. Which setting are you most interested in?

1. How To Answer Tell Me About Yourself

This is probably the most common question that is asked at every physical therapy school interview and a great question to have answered for any interview. They key here is to give an answer that will set you apart from others while also showing why you would be a great addition to their PT school cohort.

You want to show that you are interested in PT but you also want to be genuine. Make them feel like they are actually learning something about you! If you have a unique fact about yourself this is the place to mention it.

You should tell the interviewers briefly about your hobbies, whether you were a D1 athlete, avid runner or just enjoyed pick up games with your friends.

Don’t lie! If you don’t like sports and aren’t active that is ok! Just don’t pretend like you are. The interviewers will see right through this. Instead focus on what about you personally led you to PT.

2. What Makes You Unique?

If you are applying straight out of college you can mention your major and any minors or extracurriculars that you took that are relevant to PT. You can also talk about specific classes that made an impact on you. For example, did you have a cadaver lab? Or maybe you just had an interesting anatomy or exercise physiology course.

Is PT a second career for you? Mention that! Explain how your first career gave you much needed experience, but that it ultimately led you to physical therapy school. Again, only say these things if it is truly how you feel. If you have kids talk about them! Explain how they have given you a different perspective on life.

This is your chance to share who you really are with the interviewers so be personable! Share something about yourself to show that you are a real person, rather than just another PT applicant.

3. Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?

I love this question because it gives you an opportunity to explain both your professional and personal goals.

When I first got this question I was caught off guard. I stalled by asking if they were asking professionally or personally. I knew the answer was both but I needed a couple of extra seconds to think.

Start with your personal goals first if that is easier. Physical therapy is known to be one of the few careers with a good work life balance. Talk about your current family or your future plans for a family. Were your parents able to go to your soccer games and you want to be able to do the same?

For your professional goals try to incorporate your greatest strength in your answer. For example if you said you are a leader then talk about how you would like to be in a management role one day. Or maybe you want to own your own business. It is ok to be ambitious when talking about your 5 year goal!

4. Which Setting Are You Most Interested In?

This question is a great way for you to talk about your experience with physical therapy. You should definitely talk about your observation hours and what you learned. It is ok to say you are really passionate about a certain setting, but be sure to say you are still open to learning about other settings.

Many physical therapy schools want their students to be generalists. By this they mean they want their students to graduate having knowledge in all settings. You do not want to come off as close minded. Even if you know that you will 100% work in sports ortho after you graduate, you need to be open minded.

Physical Therapy School Interview Scenario Questions

Scenario questions are common in PT school interviews. The interviewer may ask you a question and expect you to provide an example of a real life scenario. The common scenario questions are 5. Tell us about a time you struggled 6. Time you had to work with a difficult person or situation? 7. Greatest weakness/ strength.

5. Tell Us About a Time You Struggled

The interviewer may ask this question in a variety of ways, but the basic jist of it is they want to hear about a time you went through a difficult or stressful situation. Most importantly they want to know how you overcame it.

The interviewer may or may not ask specifically how you overcame it, but you should definitely talk about how you overcame it. Share how you are better for it. The interviewer may even ask for an example of a failure. It is 100% ok to talk about a failure as long as you talk about the growth you got form that failure.

I used an example of how I got a B- in chemistry. The school can see your grades and a B- is not a great thing to have on your transcript, especially in a prerequisite course, however not talking about it won’t make them magically forget about it. I took this opportunity to explain how I worked very hard and went to office hours each week.

Although I did not end up with the grade I wanted I learned better study habits and when to ask for help. This shows that the B- wasn’t just out of laziness. Another option is to talk about a time you didn’t get a job, get elected to student council or make a team.

6. A Time You Had To Work With a Difficult Person or Situation

The interviewer is trying to see how you deal with stressful situations. They are also trying to see how you work with others. In physical therapy school you will have a lot of group projects. They want to make sure you get along with your classmates, professors, and future patients.

Give a specific story of a stressful situation and do not put all the blame on the other person.

Maybe you worked at a restaurant as a waiter and someone called off. Maybe this person calls off every Saturday and is notoriously unreliable. Instead of focusing on all of these bad qualities focus on how you made the best of the situation. Because of this person, you worked on your time management skills and calming down frustrated customers.

7. What Is Your Greatest Strength/Weakness?

This is a very broad question because you can answer it in a million ways but the answer you give does not matter as much as the story you tell. For example, if you say you are a leader but you don’t give any other context, then you aren’t really conniving anyone that you are a leader.

However if you say you are a leader because you always find yourself leading group projects or people are always asking you to for advice you then you are better able to prove that you are in fact a leader.

For your weakness, it is important to give a real weakness. Interviewers hate nothing more than when people give the same generic answer of “I am a perfectionist.” I just work too hard” is also a frustrating answer.

Give a real weakness! More importantly, use this opportunity to explain how you have grown from this weakness.

For example, if you are insecure then say you used to have difficulty voicing your opinion for fear of being wrong. You had many situations in which you would miss out on voicing your opinion just for someone else to voice what you were thinking. Since then you have learned to voice your opinion, challenge others and ask questions since it is your learning experience that you were previously missing out on.

8. Why This School/Program?

This question is basically asking if you did your homework. By doing your homework, I mean did you take the time to actually research the school you are applying to? Even if this is your safety school you need to act like it is your dream school!

You can do this by researching the school’s mission statement and core values. Physical therapy school is a very small portion of the entire school as a whole so you want to make sure you also focus on what makes their DPT program unique. Research the courses in their curriculum.

NYU for example was one of the first schools to teach in depth cardiopulmonary courses. They were very proud of this and were impressed when I brought up in my interview. Research the faculty. The last thing you want is to get to your interview and be interviewing with the chair of the department and have no idea who they are.

The “Hard” Interview Questions

These “hard” questions are actually a great opportunity for you to explain yourself and rationalize why a certain part of your PT school application isn’t perfect. What you need to remember is that if the school was not interested in you they would not have extended the interview in the first place.

You have already beat out thousands of applicants by getting to the interview process so don’t stress now! Here are a couple of the “hard” PT school interview questions that you may get. These include 9. What do you plan to do if you don’t get into PT school? 10.Why is your GPA low? 11. Why is your GRE low? 12.Why did you drop this course? 13. What is different about your application this year?

9. What Do You Plan To Do If You Don’t Get Into PT School?

Schools want to understand your thought process. If you say you would give up and go down a different career path you are essentially saying you aren’t that passionate about PT. You also run the risk of looking like you give up when times get tough.

Are there areas in your application that could be improved? Say that! Maybe you would retake certain prerequisite courses or take the GRE again. Or maybe you would get more observation hours in different settings. Schools want to know that you are always open to improving.

10. Why Is Your GPA Low?

Before you can answer this question you must first answer this question just for yourself. What is the real reason for your low GPA and how do you turn that real reason into a growing experience.

Was your GPA low because of your lack of time management? Then say you over-committed yourself trying to do everything and have now learned to have fewer commitments and focus on what is most important.

Maybe your GPA was low because you realized you wanted to go to PT school late and had to take a bunch of hard, demanding prerequisite courses all at the same time. Talk about this!

Explain how you wish you had figured it out sooner so you could plan better. Mention how that stressful part of your life was worth it because, in the end, it got you closer to PT school.

11. Why Is Your GRE Low?

Were you too busy with work and school to make studying for the GRE a priority? It is ok to admit this but be sure to explain how it was a growing experience. Explain how in retrospect you should have made the necessary time to study properly.

Was it test anxiety? Again it is ok to admit this as long as you then go on to explain how you have improved yourself since then.

The GRE is really the only standardized test they have to judge you on prior to the boards. Make sure that you have a well-thought-out answer explaining why your GRE is lower. Also be sure to explain why poor scores on a standardized test, like the boards, will not be an issue for you in the future.

12. Why Did You Drop This Course?

The key to answering this question is to be honest but not too honest. For example, I dropped organic chemistry (this was back when PT schools still made you take this course.) Anyway it was the end of the semester and I was going to get an F in this course.

The honest truth as to why I was failing this course was because it was hard. But I can’t say this to my interviewers or they will think I am either not up for a challenge or not able to keep up with a doctorate level course load.

Instead, I explained how organic chemistry did not come naturally to me. I was used to putting time and energy into something and seeing a result. I was struggling with the concepts with organic chemistry.

In addition to that I had strep throat 3 times throughout that semester and thought I could “power through.” I had never dropped a class before and really did not want to but knew that it was what needed to be done.

13. What Is Different About Your Application This Year?

This question is for applicants who applied in previous years and did not get into physical therapy school. Although this is a nerve-wracking question, it is an important question. This question gives you an opportunity to explain how you improved your overall physical therapy school application.

If nothing has changed in your application from the previous year why would you expect to get in this year? It is important to prepare for these hard PT school interview questions if you want to succeed in your physical therapy school interview.

What Questions To Ask In a PT School Interview?

The end of the PT school interview is very important because it is your opportunity to ask questions. The key to asking questions is to show that you did your homework and researched the school. You want to ask questions that show an interest in the school.

For example if there is something unique about this school mention it! NYU had 2 week “study abroad” options in Trinidad and Tobago and Tel Aviv. I showed an interest in this program by asking about the program and I could see my interviewer light up since not a lot of people bother to mention these programs. I also ended up getting chosen to go on this trip a year later.

Summary

Now that you know the secret PT school interview questions you should feel slightly less stressed. If you do end up getting a question that you don’t feel prepared for just breathe and use a modification of one of these previous questions that you have answered. You can find 8 Physical Therapy School Requirements here.

Although PT school interview questions are a big part of the physical therapy school application process there are also many other steps. You can learn How To Get Into Physical Therapy School here. Good luck with your PT school interview. Remember to be confident and show them why you are the perfect addition to their cohort.