Michael Young, second year Regis DPT student, writes in about his shifting perspective on the world of PT and reflections on this past year. Michael serves as the Vice President for the Class of 2018 and hosts phenomenal game nights.
As a first year Regis DPT student, life was an anxious blur of due dates, exams, group meetings, and basically doing my best to hold on to the wild ride that we call PT school. As a second year student, I’m sorry to report that PT school is still a blur of due dates, exams, and group meetings. However, I no longer have to hold on quite as tight. I discovered over the last year that I am capable of learning at a graduate level. That knowledge alone takes an incredible amount of stress off my shoulders. However, now that I know I can make it through the struggles of the short-term, I’ve gotten to worrying about my long-term future. The stakes feel higher, and now I’m more concerned with who I will be when this graduate program spits me out into the real world.
Michael takes a break from school and explores CO
That “real world” of physical therapy is starting to make more sense to me every day. It’s not that I have eureka moments with every lecture or lab; it’s actually the opposite. The amount of information in every lecture is overwhelming, the concepts are more difficult, and the clinical reasoning is not as straight forward. However, this year, I’m not worried about all those things. I understand that I am going to be overwhelmed by information in my classes and what is asked of me, but you know what? I’m going to pass my exams, I’m not going to fail out of school, and I’m going to be a certified PT in a year and a half. The light, however dim, is at the end of the tunnel.
Michael and Alison got married over the winter break last year!
As a second year student, I don’t worry about school anymore. Instead, I worry about grown-up things. Where will my wife and I live after I graduate? What sort of setting will I practice in, and will it be the right fit for me? If I stay and practice in Denver, will high prices in the housing market and relatively low PT salaries allow me to buy a house while simultaneously paying off student loans? These are the questions that I get to worry about this year. True, I don’t have anatomy exams or human physiology practicals to worry about, but just writing about my newly found grown-up questions makes me anxious.
What else do I know as a 2nd year DPT student? I know that I am about to earn a doctoral degree, which according to the 2012 US census puts me in a category I’ll share with fewer than 2% of all Americans. I also know that there aren’t many better ways to isolate yourself from the general population than by being a student for 25 years of your life. I know that the community members I meet through my upcoming clinical experiences and patients I will treat as a future physical therapist will profoundly change the way I see my community, myself, and my nation. I cannot wait to surround myself with the people I have trained my whole life to treat, yet have met only briefly.
Michael has had adventures both in school and out of school in the past year.
So here I am: a second year DPT student just realizing that the real world is coming, and I finally get to be a part of it. I am more excited than ever to get back into the clinic to meet a slice of this nation that I have been isolated from over these last years in academia. As I continue to study as a student and learn as a clinician, I hope to grow as a person. And, if the rest of my time at Regis is anything like what I have already experienced, I am confident that I will have success as a physical therapist and success in life.
Regis University - School of Physical Therapy 