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Kraena Pre-Health
Career Library

Therapy & Rehab

Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA)

Hands-on rehab work in two years and at low cost — carrying out plans a PT designs.

Years after high school

2

Degree

Associate's degree

Entrance exam

Program entrance testing varies

Median pay

$68,380 national median for physical therapist assistants (BLS, May 2025).

What the job is actually like

Guiding patients through therapeutic exercise, gait training, manual techniques, and modalities, then documenting progress for the supervising PT. You spend nearly the whole day working directly with people and you see them repeatedly over weeks.

The path

  1. 01Accredited 2 year associate's degree PTA program
  2. 02National Physical Therapy Examination for PTAs
  3. 03State licensure

Good fit if

  • You want rehab work without a doctorate
  • You like coaching people through repetitive, incremental progress
  • Low debt matters a lot to you

Think twice if

  • You want to design treatment plans rather than deliver them
  • You expect to advance to PT later — there is no shortcut, you would start the DPT largely from scratch
  • The physical demands of lifting and transferring would be difficult

Similar paths worth comparing

Physical Therapist (DPT)

Restores movement and reduces pain after injury, surgery, stroke, or chronic disease.

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Occupational Therapist (OT)

Helps people regain the ability to do the everyday activities that matter to them.

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Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)

Treats communication and swallowing disorders across every age group.

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All salary figures here are median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 — the most recent full national dataset. 'Median' means half of workers earn more and half earn less. Three things to keep in mind: (1) pay varies enormously by state, city, setting, and experience — a nurse in California and a nurse in rural Alabama earn very different salaries; (2) training lengths are typical, not guaranteed, and programs differ; (3) these numbers change every year. Always verify current figures at bls.gov/ooh before making a decision. For context, the BLS median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations had a median of $86,530 — one of the reasons health care is such a stable field.