Schooling For Therapist

How much schooling is required to become a massage therapist?

It can take anywhere from 2 - 4 years depending on where you take the class. It's on the expensive side and it's not easy. There's a lot of anatomy and medical subjects that are included and the exams are pretty tough. It's hard work and requires a lot, and I mean a lot, of reading. Make sure you pick a reputable institution. Do some research and go there and talk to some of the students. You can also go there for a massage. The senior students do them and you can talk to them about the course. Go to several schools and make an appointment. There may be a small fee for the massages but it would be a worth while investment.

Respiratory Therapist? What do they? Schooling hard?

I was wondering the benefits of pursuing a Respiratory Therapist position. Please give me as much knowledge as you know regarding the career path.

1. What level of education is needed? Bachelors or Masters?
2. Are the jobs consistent and is there a good chance of finding a job?
3. What are the typical work hours?
4. What are other career opportunities in this field?
5. What tasks do you do to take care of patient?

How hard is the Schooling for Respiratory therapy?

Respiratory therapy programs are very challenging. Obviously, plenty of people make it through and go on to become respiratory therapists, but it's good to know what you're in for and decide if you're up for the challenge. I have some familiarity with the program at my local community college. It is extremely selective. They actually do interviews as part of the admissions process. The handful who make it into the program have a 100% graduation rate, though, which is remarkable. (I see that at SJVC the graduate placement rate for the program is 75%.) After you graduate, you have to pass an exam to get licensed.

The SJVC brochure says "applicants to the Respiratory Therapy program are selected based on points earned in an evaluation process that includes assessment, transcript review, professional reference and personal interview.
Applicants must have reliable plans for transportation, child care and time to devote to
academic work outside of scheduled class hours."
They mention that because the class time is Mon-Thursday 7:15am-5:30 pm and a half day on Friday. So when are you going to study? Late into the night. They say you'll spend 900 hours working in hospitals and clinics, so you definitely need good transportation and child care.
The brochure lists all the courses you'll need to take. A&P, chemistry and microbiology all require intensive study (and have a high drop-out rate) and I can only imagine what is covered in those innocuous-sounding Respiratory Care classes.
So: if you have a history of being a straight-A or nearly straight-A student, if you are the type of person who can study for hours on end and do whatever it takes to get the grade, and if you do not have young children who need your time, then you should be fine.
Check out the two links I've included. The second link shows that respiratory therapy is a growing field with a median pay of $54,000 a year, which is remarkable considering that it only takes two years to get the degree. Physical therapists make $76,000, but they study for seven years.

Should I become a high school teacher or physical therapist?

I wanted to become a Physical Therapist. However it takes 7 years of education to get there so why not pull off one more year and become a doctor completing medical school?

Physical Therapy now requires you to have a doctorate whereas a few years ago it only required a bachelors. A doctorate is 3 more years of school after you get your bachelors.
- Undergrad (4yr Bachelor Degree College)
- Doctorate (3yrs)

So instead I decided I would rather go to medical school which is one year longer thant Physical therapy totalling 8 years. Of course with medical school don't forget that you have to do 2-4 years of residency depending on your specialty, and the school is more expensive.

My look on Doctors vs. Physical Therapists...

The good:
- Much higher pay.
- PT with doctorates get payed about 70k-90k.
- Completing medical school however you will earn upwards of 100K start and much much higher later on, of course depending on your specialty and years of education and work experience.

The bad:
Much longer education to become a doctor.
- undergrad (4 yrs)
- med school (4 yrs)
- residency (2-4 yrs)
(Residency is on the job training of the medical specialty that you choose, and you start getting paid a salary there like 30-50K, something like that.)
- Also med school is very competetive, you need very good grades, strive for A's and B's and a 3.7+GPA.

Of course even though physical therapy is lower paying and less schooling, it is still very rewarding as is a career as a medical doctor.

Good luck!

Radiation Therapist ?

If that is your motivation you should really reconsider. Radiation therapy is a very important job - it can be very demanding. You're on your feet and you HAVE to be paying attention. You're operating a machine that can kill someone or seriously destroy their quality of life if you don't know what you're doing. You have to pay attention. You have to like doing it or you will really hurt someone.

That being said.

Most radiation therapists anymore are required to get a bachelors degree. You can still become a therapist with an associates, although you'll have a much harder time finding a job. Any program in the country that you can find would be fine. Most are at community colleges though.

Your schooling won't end though when you graduate. You will have to become certified, which is a huge test. You have to maintain certification which requires you to attentend classes.

Now for the pay. 70,000 is NOT a typical starting salary for a therapist. Slightly more than half that. Most therapists start out part time or contingent. The reason is that this is a HIGHLY competative field. You'll be lucky to find a job in the area you want. If you want to move, you'll find a job. But the field is seriously flooded right now. So, you'll probably have to take a part time or contingent job for a while untill you gain more experience. I know therapists who have been working for 20 years and are barely making 70k now, so I'm not sure where you got your info....

If it's something you are interested in and love, do it. If you're doing it for the money? Please pick a different career, for the sake of all the patients, etc. If you do decide to do it though, there is no doubt in my mind that you would find it very rewarding and would enjoy it. So don't let me discourage you from doing it! I'm not a therapist, I kind of supervise over them, but the whole radiation oncology field is incredible to be a part of. It's very rewarding, and while you have to pay attention, it's not overly stressful. Perhaps you could talk to a professor at a local school about it? Or call a hospital and ask to volunteer or shadow?

good luck!

Respiratory Therapist, is it a good career to get into?

1. Job outlook is very good.
2. a good entry level field to healthy care.. Some times RT is a fall back position for those seeking admission to RN school. Field can be very rewarding and sometime frustrations due to "head butting' with RN's and MD's. Many new positions are 7P-7A with weekends. Prepare to spent long hours on your feet, but rewarding in one-on-one contact with patients. RTs help many patients but due to the dature of the patient population served many of them die. You need to be strong but not cold emotionally. Not all positions are in the hospital there are a number in homecare and long-term care. Thye tend to not be as stressful but still demanding. Schooling can be hard but a C+ student with dedication can make it through, A&P, chemistry, microbiology, respiratory courses and clinical practice. Finally, I think it is a good entry level field but does not have the natural advancement possibilities as nursing. So RT get into the filed and afater a few years go to RN school and an extremely few apply to medical school.Good luck