Back to the Beginning
After finishing my Bachelor's Degree, I planned to begin my career and not return to school for quite some time. But, with the ever changing cycle that is life, here I begin anew to expand my horizons and return back to formal education. In this journey, I will venture back to complete 3 years of prerequisite courses from Salt Lake Community College. (I refer to this as my post-Bachelor Associate's Degree when discussing with others what I am studying.) I then will jump ahead to earn a Doctorate of Physical Therapy (DPT) from an accredited Physical Therapy school. My plans are to stay in the west were I have grown up and where my family lives. Two schools I am eyeing for my DPT schooling are the University of Utah and Idaho State University. Both of these programs are very competitive and I know I will have to work very hard to be accepted into either program.
Goal Setting
As I create my goals I will remember the important parts of creating goals. From MindTools.com comes a useful way of making goals more powerful is to use the
SMART mnemonic. While there are plenty of variants (some of which have been included in parenthesis), SMART usually stands for:
S - Specific (or Significant).
M - Measurable (or Meaningful).
A - Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
R - Relevant (or Rewarding).
T - Time-bound (or Trackable).
For example, instead of having "To sail around the world" as a goal, it's more powerful to say "To have completed my trip around the world by December 31, 2015." Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand!
Below are both my short- and long-term goals that follow that were written in December 2010 and updated in December 2011, May 2012, and April 2013 using the model discussed above.
S - Specific (or Significant).
M - Measurable (or Meaningful).
A - Attainable (or Action-Oriented).
R - Relevant (or Rewarding).
T - Time-bound (or Trackable).
For example, instead of having "To sail around the world" as a goal, it's more powerful to say "To have completed my trip around the world by December 31, 2015." Obviously, this will only be attainable if a lot of preparation has been completed beforehand!
Below are both my short- and long-term goals that follow that were written in December 2010 and updated in December 2011, May 2012, and April 2013 using the model discussed above.
My Short Term Goals (My Road to Success)
Over the next 6 months to 1 year I will achieve or accomplish the following:
(By April 2014)
· Earn a scholarship or tuition waiver to be used toward my schooling.
· Earned tuition waiver scholarship for ePortfolio - January 2012
· Earn a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average every semester.
· Earned a 3.5 or better during four semesters.
· Finish my prerequisites for a Physical Therapist program.
· Completed all prerequisites as of Fall 2013 semester.
· Complete all my prerequisites with a 3.6 or better grade point average.
· Complete 100 volunteer hours in a Physical Therapy setting.
· Completed 125 hours at Meier and Marsh Professional Therapies and 40 hours at Legacy Village Transitional Rehabilitation Center. (Also, did 15 hours at Neuroworx.)
· Apply for and be accepted into a Doctorate of Physical Therapy programs.
· Applied for programs in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Montona and Oregon-October 2013.
(By April 2014)
· Earn a scholarship or tuition waiver to be used toward my schooling.
· Earned tuition waiver scholarship for ePortfolio - January 2012
· Earn a minimum of a 3.5 grade point average every semester.
· Earned a 3.5 or better during four semesters.
· Finish my prerequisites for a Physical Therapist program.
· Completed all prerequisites as of Fall 2013 semester.
· Complete all my prerequisites with a 3.6 or better grade point average.
· Complete 100 volunteer hours in a Physical Therapy setting.
· Completed 125 hours at Meier and Marsh Professional Therapies and 40 hours at Legacy Village Transitional Rehabilitation Center. (Also, did 15 hours at Neuroworx.)
· Apply for and be accepted into a Doctorate of Physical Therapy programs.
· Applied for programs in Utah, Idaho, Arizona, Montona and Oregon-October 2013.
My Long Term Goals (Achieving My Dreams)
Over the next 4 to 7 years I will:
(By 2020)
· Graduate from a Doctorate of Physical Therapy program.
· Begin working as a Physical Therapist.
· Begin to specialize in a specific area in the field of Physical Therapy.
· After 5 to 6 years working as a Physical Therapist I will:
Within 12 years of becoming a Physical Therapist I will:
(By 2025)
· Pay off all my student loans and other debts, becoming debt free (except
for my house).
· Become a certified specialist in a specific area of Physical Therapy.
· Be Completely Debt Free (including my house).
· Start my own Physical Therapy clinic.
(By 2020)
· Graduate from a Doctorate of Physical Therapy program.
· Begin working as a Physical Therapist.
· Begin to specialize in a specific area in the field of Physical Therapy.
· After 5 to 6 years working as a Physical Therapist I will:
Within 12 years of becoming a Physical Therapist I will:
(By 2025)
· Pay off all my student loans and other debts, becoming debt free (except
for my house).
· Become a certified specialist in a specific area of Physical Therapy.
· Be Completely Debt Free (including my house).
· Start my own Physical Therapy clinic.