Id imagine i'm not the first nor the last...

[bobo]

Hi,

I'm currently a 3rd year Sports Science student and have had my heart set on a physiotherapy (pre-registration) postgraduate.

My problem is I've lost a lot of motivation for my current degree but require at least a 2:1 honours to have a chance of getting a place in physiotherapy. Did/does anyone else feel the same as me? Also, has anyone got any advice for me with regards to beefing my CV up for the selection interviews etc. I might aswell use the agonising year before I can start applying to my advantage.

Finally, and sorry if this has been been done before. Funding. Im Scottish and studying in Scotland at the minute. I also plan to do my postgraduate in Scotland however am unsure if SAAS will pay my fees or not? If not how much are they per year roughly?

Thanks for any advice, I'm sure im not the first or last to go through what I'm going through. I'm 21 later this year and its hard to see that my current degree is a means to my desired end - even though it hopefully is.

[sazal]

Dear Colleague,

I am a physiotherapist from bangladesh. and trying to persue MAsters from UK, University of Brighton. But the job opportunities for junior Physiotherapits at UK is very limited as i know and also there are lot of complications now a days to get a job as a newly qualified physiotherapit. so i cant understsnd why you are interested to be a physiotherapist. it will very very difficult for you to get a job as a physio. i belive you may find more information about this from your UK colleagues. please communicate with them.

Sazal
[email protected]

[bobo]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I am aware getting a job may be difficult in the UK however I don't believe thats a good enough reason to prevent me from studying physiotherapy. Before studying sports science I intended to join the British Army however was rejected on medical grounds. Low pay, poorer living conditions, Iraq/Afghanistan wern't enough to stop me attempting to do what I wanted to do so if I can't get a job in the UK its quite simple - I go somewhere where I can get a job.

Australia looks nice this time of year

[sazal]

Dear Bobo,

I believe You are really interested to study Physiotherapy. Then Please Visit the web site of Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). there you will get all of the information about the universities offerring Physiotherapy Undergraduate Courses.

Please visit the following link for learning about Career in Physiotherapy
Careers and learning - The CSP

and this link for the universities who offers Physiotherapy Courses (UK Qualifying Courses)
UK qualifying programmes - Careers and learning - The CSP

i believe these will be help ful for you.

With Regards

sazal
[email protected]

[oscar]

Hi,

I did sports science as my first degree, then 3yrs later (I was working in other areas before deciding to apply for physio) I did the MSc (pre-reg) course in Scotland. I finished that in November and was lucky enough to get a permanent job the next month! In fact out of 19 people in my course something like 12 have jobs already (some permananet, some temporary).

Basically no, the SAAS will not fund this course. You need to pay for it yourself I'm afraid, as you've already done a degree you won't get any money for it in terms of another student loan. I ended up paying for mine out of my own pocket as well as taking a loan from the bank, a 'professional skills loan' which basically gives you up to £20k for courses like physio, medicine, law etc. You get 10 yrs to pay it back and you don't start repayments till you graduate. As far as I know Natwest bank and HSBC do these loans, mines a Natwest one. You may also be able to get some money from the 'career development loans' people.

It's not a cheap course to do, and given the current climate for jobs, I'd think hard about getting into even more debt to do it. Saying that though my friends and I have been lucky enough to get work pretty easily so I think the job situation is changing, well in Scotland anyway!

My best advice for getting on the MSc course is to show your commitment to physio- not just in terms of work experience, but by doing other things like sports massage courses, voluntary work in charities etc....the panel will want to see NHS based work experience, and you MUST make sure it's not just sports- in fact I wouldn't tell them if you have a preference for sports physio (if you do) as they tend to reject people on that basis because so many people think that's what physio is about- It's not! It can be the most un-glamourous job (i.e. changing patient's clothing if they have 'accidents', holding the sick bowl when they get sick etc..!), and you need to be aware of this. So try to get work experience in different areas (neuro, respiratory and MSK) so you can talk about that at interview (if you get that far!). As I said, any voluntary work also looks good.

The other thing is don't worry too much about working in relevant areas in your year-off, I worked in Marketing, my friends worked in HR, Research, Retail etc...before applying for and getting into physio, any paid work experience is beneficial as you'll develop communication skills, time management, prioritisation of work, etc, etc....which all looks great on application forms!

Anyway, PM me if you have any more questions! Just be determined, it's hard even getting work experience these days because the demand is so high, so be persistent!

[Flarenixie]

Hi

I worked as an assistant (not that Im saying you should do this) in Neuro for a year and a half while I did my A levels (Im a mature student) and the uni's loved it. I got two offers without even attending an interview while I was working there the hospital organised days for anyone interested in physio and would let you go into 5 areas over two days, which looked good on any statement. I know several people who are post grad that came onto the BSc physio, and a couple on the MSc (who are finding it hard). Anyway hope my rambling helped

Karen

[sazal]

Dear Colleague,

thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Now a days it really become diffuicult to get even the Assistant job in Physiotherapy at UK for the foreign physiotherapists specially Asian trained physiotherapists.

Could you give some advice regarding this issue....


Sazal