Cristy J.
Physical Therapist Assistant Student
Cristy J., Physical Therapist Assistant Student
This degree gives you great credentials. Almost every Bay State PTA student from last year’s graduating class has been offered a job right out from the clinical internship they did. It’s like they can’t believe how much we know.
Sometimes big changes can creep up slowly. But for Cristy J., change hit her one day head-on at 47 miles per hour. Struck by a car while crossing the street, Cristy spent the next two months in a hospital, getting back on her feet.
“I was in physical therapy for about a year and a half after that, and the change that I saw in myself from those physical therapists, what they did with me, was incredible,” she recalls. “I just got such a huge bond with them that I was like, ‘This is something I really want to do.’”
Although she already had a bachelor’s degree in Finance and had been working at an investment firm for six years, Cristy was determined to change career paths. Looking for a Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program, she discovered that one of the best was located literally across the street from where she worked. “When I found out that Bay State College was right next door, I was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me!’” she laughs.
Now a first-year student in Bay State’s PTA Program, Cristy says that the program, which boasts a 100 percent placement rate for its May 2010 graduates, is a “huge commitment” but definitely worth the effort. “You gotta stay right on top of your studies,” she says, “But the thing is, you have this huge rush of, ‘Look what I just accomplished!’
“I mean, in the end, we look like superstars, and that’s what our professors want.”