Physical therapy or exercise science doctoral degree?
Your questions is some what confusing, so I'll clarify a few points first. 1. Athletic training and exercise science are not the same degree. Athletic training has it's own degree which can be a bachelor's or a master's degree. Exercise science is a major you can take that will prepare you for a graduate level degree such as ATC or PT, but, itself, doesn't have have a designated "career." 2. Getting a doctorate in exercise science wouldn't make much sense unless you wanted to work in a research lab. 3. In the US, all PT programs are, or are in the process of converting to a doctorate degree (called a DPT). You will no longer be able to get a master's degree in PT as of next year. 4. If you really want to be an athletic trainer, it wouldn't make sense to get a degree in physical therapy. This would be like someone going to medical school, earning their medical degree, but then going back to nursing school and becoming a nurse instead. As far as exercise science, like I said you could get your undergraduate degree in that and then go to either ATC or PT school. That would make more sense. 5. Sometimes PTs choose to do their undergraduate degree in ATC and then go to PT school. There are some advantages and disadvantages to that. The advantage would be that you would be elligible and well-qualified to work in a more "first responder" role such as working with a high school athletic department as an ATC. Since these jobs are hard to come by, you could spend the majority of your week in a standard physical therapy clinic and serve as a liason between the high school department and the physical therapy department. A disadvantage is that not all the courses in ATC programs fulfill the prerequisites for PT. You may find that completing your undergraduate degree will take more time than normal. Full time ATC jobs are really, really rare and competitive. Almost all ATCs I know have either left the field to do sales, gone back to school to become PTs or have decided on a completely different line of work. It doesn't pay much and the jobs are scarce. My advice: look carefully at what you REALLY want to do. If you REALLY want to be a ATC, just know that this will come with a very competitive job market and a rather low salary. Generally speaking, PT is a much more employable career. Furthermore, you can become an ATC first and then go to PT school.
Is Exercise Science a difficult major?
My plan is to become a physician assistant. Exercise science is actually my back up. i would only need to take a couple of courses outside of exercise science to qualify for a PA program. Once I finish at the university I could use exercise science to get my license and still apply to a PA program. That way i'll always have an option. Sound good???
Should I major in Biology or Exercise Science?
I ultimately wanted to apply to dental school after I graduate, as well as some physical therapy schools. I'm an athlete, and it seems that Exercise science will be of more interest to me. I think Biology may have better job outlooks. I don't plan on going for any lab jobs, it just seems that with the pre-reqs now in my sophomore year, these are the only majors were I'd graduate on time with. Well, Chemistry and Physics too, but I doubt I'd major in those. Can I still be prepared for dental schools with a major in Exercise Science and just do the pre-reqs?
Can I obtain a physical therapy license with a masters degree in kinesiology?
No you need to finish a PT program with clinicals to be eligible to sit for the national exam in order to be licensed. You can not even work as a PTA (assistant). You are only qualified to work as an aide which has no educational requirement but on the job training. If you are interested in PT, you do not need a MS degree. Quickly finish your pre reqs and apply to PT school. YOu only need a BS to do that. Pre reqs include one year of gen bio, gen physics, gen chem, A and P, math potential to calc, stats, and psy. www.apta.org (education tab)
Can I get a masters degree in exercise physiology with a bachelors in sociology and a 2.4 gpa?
Probably won't get into any Grad. schools. Grad. school is much more competitive than undergraduate college. Even if you had a 3.0, you would have a hard time getting into a grad. school. What you could do is try and get job experience in your area of interest or a related area and maybe take a single grad. school course in this subject to prove you can be good at it. You also would need to do amazing on the GRE and have excellent recommendations. After getting job experience, I would say then maybe try grad. school in 3-6 yrs.
How do I obtain a second bachelor's degree?
I am about to complete a bachelor's degree in psychology and had planned on attending grad school to obtain a masters in counseling. But now I'm not so sure with the job market the way it is. I had originally considered physical therapy and it seems that it is a highly available job almost anywhere. So, if I do decide to get another bachelor's degree for physical therapy, do I have to complete all of the core classes (math, science, english, etc.) again that I will already have completed with my current degree? In almost any bachelor's program most of the first two years are basic core classes. Is it possible that the ones I have already completed could be "counted" towards my 2nd bachelor's?
Exercise science to become a nutritionist/dietitian?
To be a dietitian (the term nutritionist is used interchangeably but "dietitian" is a protected term) you need to complete a series of prerequisite classes AND complete an internship. The exercise science will probably satisfy some of those requirements but if you graduate with a BS in exercise science and want to be a dietitian, you will need to complete a post-bac and take the classes required for application to the internship (nutrition classes, food science, etc.). Most dietetics focuses on medical nutrition therapy (nutritional management of medical conditions) but there are plenty of dietitians who abandon this to focus on sports nutrition.