Name

Chaya Englard

School

College of Staten Island

Degree Program

Third year Clinical Doctorate student in Physical Therapy

Previous Degrees

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts from Thomas Edison State College, 2008

Research Interests

Aqua therapy

Advisor

Maria Knikou

Advisor’s Research Focus

Reflexes; Spinal cord injuries

Hobbies

Scrapbooking, pilates, cooking

Graduate School – Application Process

How did you select your graduate school and program?

I chose the College of Staten Island for my doctorate in physical therapy because tuition rates were low and I had personal connections there. I didn’t want to be have student-loan debt for the next 10 years, so I needed to go to an affordable, local school. Another reason the College of Staten Island appealed to me is that both my grandfather and my father-in-law have been professors there, so it made sense for me to be there too.

For all those reasons, my program seemed like the right choice. It is not actually a PhD program, but it is a clinical doctorate in physical therapy. My degree is on the same level as the degree that a chiropractor or an audiologist would get. If I want, I can get a PhD later on.

What did you do to prepare yourself for graduate school?

I prepared for graduate school by completing a total of 100 hours of observation at a physical therapy clinic. I was required to split those hours into at least 2 different observation sites, but I decided to look at 3 sites so that I could get a well-rounded vision of the scope of physical therapy.

I spent 50 hours observing at a nursing home, 30 hours observing at an outpatient clinic and 20 hours observing at a pediatric clinic. The point of the observation hours is to give prospective students a realistic idea of what a job in physical therapy is like, and since I loved every place, I knew this was the career path for me.

Did your application requirements include standardized test scores?

Yes, the College of Staten Island required me to take the GRE exam. The minimum score for admittance was 1000. Math is my strong suit, so I had little trouble with the quantitative section of the test. Instead, I focused my studies on learning the vocabulary words and the analogies on the verbal section of the test.

What kind of information did you include in your personal statement?

In my personal statement, I addressed the reasons that I am interested in physical therapy and which areas particularly interest me. I wrote about how, as the oldest of 8 children, I had always wanted to work with children. Even though I now think I would prefer to work with the adult population, I think my enthusiasm about the profession was part of the reason I got into my program.

How did you choose faculty to approach for letters of recommendation?

I only asked 1 faculty member to write a letter of recommendation for me. He was my chemistry professor from my undergraduate program. I asked him because he appreciated the effort I made in his class, even though chemistry wasn’t an area in which I excelled. I also obtained letters of recommendation from each of the physical therapy facilities where I completed my mandatory observation hours.

What types of questions were asked in your admissions interview?

In my admissions interview, the chair and the assistant chair of the department asked me standard admissions questions about why I was interested in the school and in the field of physical therapy. They also asked me some personal questions like who I admired most in my life. It was a group interview, so there were 3 other people in the room answering questions with me.

Do you have any other tips for a student who is considering applying to graduate school in physical therapy?

My biggest recommendation for someone who is considering graduate school is to start the application process very early. Each school has somewhat different requirements, so you need to give yourself enough time to satisfy them. You also should start to gather letters of recommendation while you are an undergraduate because it can be harder to get back in touch with your professors after you leave school.

Graduate School – The Program

How long is your program and how is the curriculum distributed?

My clinical doctorate in physical therapy is a 3-year program. During the first year, we took basic classes like anatomy and sociology that were meant to build a foundation of knowledge in the major areas of physical therapy. We learned about basic pathology and neurology, as well as how to take vitals like heart rate and blood pressure.

Each year, the classes we take get more specific. For example, during the second year, we took classes on the pulmonary and cardiac system, which taught us how the lungs and heart function. We also learned about different exercises that can help people regain mobility. We have also taken medical classes like pharmacology.

What is the focus of your doctoral research?

My doctoral research was a study about the ways that different forms of exercise training affects people’s reflexes. Measurements were obtained via electrical stimulation, and we compared the results before and after the training. We found some significant results. Since this isn’t a PhD program, my research was not a dissertation. Instead, our study was a group research project guided by our advisor. We submitted our study to a prominent journal, and we hope it will be accepted for publication.

Can you describe the process of researching for and writing your group project?

We started preparing for our research project during the first semester of graduate school. For the first year, we focused on reading articles so that we would have a solid knowledge foundation before we started to plan the experiment. We designed the experiment during the second year of our program, and finally conducted the study at the end of that year. We have now completed the trial, which we hope will benefit physical therapists and other clinicians in the future.

While I found our study to be interesting, the research project has not been my favorite part of the program. But if I were to conduct more research in the future, at least I know what that process should be like.

Does your program have an internship component?

My school requires its physical therapy students to complete 4 separate internships, which we call clinical affiliations. Each affiliation runs for 6 to 10 weeks. We have to fulfill 2 of our affiliations in the specific settings of a hospital and an adult rehabilitation facility. Another has to be in a specialty area like orthopedics or in a burn unit, while the other is titled “across the lifespan.” meaning at a setting with pediatrics, adolescents, adults or geriatrics.

Our professor has a list of several physical therapy settings that offer affiliations, so we have a little freedom to choose where we go. People that go to more established clinics and facilities tend to have better experiences. For example, I completed an affiliation at the JFK Rehab Center, which is a facility that focuses on brain trauma and orthopedics. It was such a valuable experience for me that I can hardly stop talking about it. I would definitely recommend that physical therapy graduate students do their affiliations in reputable and well-established facilities.

Does your doctoral program require comprehensive exams prior to graduation?

My program is very unique in that we are required to take comprehensive exams after each year in order to qualify to continue the program. The end-of-year exam covers all of the classes that we took that year. Those exams are meant to prepare us for the state board exam that we have to take at the end of our program, which I will be taking in July. It is a very difficult test that takes about 6 hours to finish. A lot of people don’t pass the first time.

Graduate School – Paying for It

How much does your doctoral program cost?

My doctoral program costs around $3,000 a semester, which is fairly inexpensive when you compare it to the tuition of the bigger schools in Manhattan. The total cost of my degree will be $25,000 to $30,000, whereas other schools cost more like $150,000.

How are you funding your education?

My parents are helping me pay for school, but we are paying out-of-pocket since the tuition is reasonable. A lot of the students in my classes have taken out loans, but I didn’t want to do that.

Graduate School – Living Life

What are the time commitments for a doctorate degree in physical therapy?

The amount of time I spend on schoolwork varies according to the semester, but typically I could spend around 10 to 15 hours each week doing schoolwork during semesters in which I have classes. Usually I am in class from about 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Then I study for about 2 hours each night. I am definitely busy, but I try to keep the weekends open to spend time with my family.

How has graduate school affected your personal life?

The biggest way that grad school has affected me personally is that I am far more confident about my own abilities. After completing my affiliations, I have seen that I can help people and make a difference in their lives. There is nothing that could replace the feeling I get when I help someone to walk properly for the first time after sustaining an injury. I feel good about what I have learned and how I can assist people through physical therapy.

Graduate School – After Graduation

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Eventually, my goal as a physical therapist is to specialize in aqua therapy, which is a specialty that promotes physical therapy in the water. I have always loved water, so I hope to blend that interest with physical therapy. That is probably more than 5 years in the future for me, but it is the goal that I will be working toward.

Graduate School - Advice

What insights can you offer a student who is interested in pursuing a doctorate degree in physical therapy?

One insight I can offer is that physical therapy is a very people-oriented profession that requires a high degree of physical contact. No matter how skilled you are with your hands, if you don’t know how to make people of different ages and cultures feel comfortable with you, then you’re not going to be a very good therapist. You also have to be able to get very close to people, like when you transfer them out of bed and into their wheelchair. I advise you to think about that before you decide to go into physical therapy, because if you aren’t comfortable with that you will not do well in this profession.