No, unfortunately I didn't get to open day as it clashed with another commitment so I haven't seen the Peninsula campus. What's it like?
I did go to Clayton's open day and spoke to a Physio student briefly there (:
Are you at uni every day for the course? (mon-fri I mean)
Sorry for all the random questions, uni preference cut offs are getting closer and I've changed mine many times :/
In general, have you enjoyed the course? I know that's such a general and subjective question, but I've been weighing up Monash v LTU (if you have any additional opinions/ knowledge about comparing the two apart from what you've said earlier feel free to let me know aha) and also other allied health/medical degrees, and the more info I get, the better, I guess. Sports physio has always been, and still is, a massive interest of mine but I know and have been told many times that the scope of physio is much, much wider and most people don't end up in sports physio. I have looked into other aspects of the profession, of course, but I still think my passions lie towards sports physio. How realistic is becoming a sports physio (I'm talking more private practice), and does it require additional study etc? I know you haven't graduated yet, but any info is helpful I guess
Thanks so much !!!!
I'm a huge fan of the campus - it's really peaceful, easy to navigate, and doesn't have heaps of students so you can always get a seat at the library and it just creates a more laid-back atmosphere. If you wanna have a look around I'd recommend making the trip down and just having a look around! I think they actually have a guided tour tomorrow (
info here) or I reckon if you get in contact with the campus they might even be happy to arrange a tour or something at some stage. Would really recommend having a look if you're considering coming here!!
In first year, yeah I had classes every day. But I think from memory Thursdays (and sometimes Tuesdays I think) were all lectures so, y'know, not compulsory to attend. And it's only a couple of hours. Monday is usually the busiest (with lectures, CBL and prac) but the rest of the week is reasonably chill - you might have like, one prac and one or two lectures. Now I'm in second year I have Tuesdays off and have less lectures and stuff so I have a reasonably chilled schedule.
I'll cover Monash vs LTU first. From speaking to a number of physios, the Monash course seems to produce better physio students/physios, particularly with clinical reasoning abilities. Monash is really well regarded and I've found that there's a heap of support provided by the uni in the course and the teachign staff is fantastic. The cohort is also smaller at Monash than LTU, so it's a bit easier to get to know people. Plus, LTU have the common first year for health science students so you really only have 3 years to study physio-specific stuff as opposed to 4 years (and the Monash course is a lot more streamlined in terms of what you study). I know of a few students in years above me who have started at LTU then decided the Monash course was a lot better so transferred.
In the end, I think you really can only know what it's gonna be like if you actually do it! If you start something and find that it's not for you, then at least you've tried. Whilst it's cool if you can find your dream course on the first shot, it's also fine if it takes you a few tries.
Re: sports physio - yeah, the majority of the physio workforce is in hospitals, but that's because of the nature of what physio is. If you wanna get into sports physio, then follow that path! It's not impossible to do, and a number of physios do finish their degree and go straight into private practice then go on to specialise. I think most physios these days do further study once they've graduated (you don't have to do it straight away) so it's not abnormal. To become like, an APA titled physio in x field, yeah you will need to do further study - but they tell you more about that later in your degree as you get towards graduating. I think a lot of people go into physio wanting to do sports physio because that's the contact they've had with physio before uni. But often people find they're interested in other stuff as they go through the course, and the great thing is that you get an insight through your education into the different areas of physio.
Ultimately, if that's what you want to do when you graduate, then do that.