Career Pathing Archives

How I Paid Off $250K in Student Loans One Year After Grad School

By Ricky Locci, DPT, MPH, CSCS | March 6, 2026 |

Four different polaroid photographs of Dr. Ricky Locci are pinned on a corkboard. Each photograph shows Dr. Locci either smiling or interacting with fellow Rizing Tide scholars. A fifth polaroid photograph shows the sun setting over the city of Phoenix, Arizona. There are four sticky notes, each reading as follows. "How I Paid Off $250K in Student Loans One Year After Grad School." "Everybody is dealing with something." "Action without a plan leads to failure." "Rizing Tide."

When I decided to go to graduate school for physical therapy, I was looking at more than $150,000 in student loans for tuition alone. I decided to take it one step further and also get my Master of Public Health as a dual degree—and was looking at a total of $250,000 of debt (not including…

Advancing Men’s Pelvic Health: Expert Perspectives on the Growing Need for Specialized PTs

By Rizing Tide Team | November 11, 2025

Dr. Di Wu, who is wearing a suit jacket and a button up shirt, and Zhen Chen, who is wearing a blue button up shirt, stand in front of a navy blue and terracotta-colored background. A title reads "Let's talk about men's pelvic health."

Men’s pelvic health is a deeply under-explored area of physical therapy. While DPT programs may set aside some time to cover women’s pelvic health, the curriculum often overlooks how conditions present in men—such as with urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, and chronic pelvic pain. As a result, many men struggle with health challenges that go untreated—despite…

Building a Healthcare Career You Love

By Jonathon Lee, PT, DPT, MBA, OCS, CSOMT, FAAOMPT | December 8, 2023

Jonathon Lee smiles and poses in front of an abstract background of beige and green wavy circles.

“37% of clinicians are considering leaving their role in the next 2–3 years.” Clinicians enter the workforce to help people—but working with patients is no easy task. Medical training and administration is grueling across the board, whether you’re a physician, nurse, allied health professional, or care assistant. COVID-19 brought this to the forefront of society’s…

From Generalist to Specialist: What to Know About Board-Certified PT Specialties

By Melissa Hughes | October 18, 2022

Four white paper airplanes fly in a line above a green background. A dark orange paper airplane flies in loops next to the line, leaving a dotted trail in its wake.

Have you ever heard the advice to “niche down?” This business concept is simple: Narrow your focus to serve a targeted group of customers and best serve their specific needs. But can this “choose your line” style of advice work for PT students? Absolutely! There are some serious benefits to developing a greater depth of…

You’ve Got a Friend in Me: The Power of PT Mentorships

By Moyo Tillery, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT | March 29, 2022 |

If there were no clinical instructors to mentor students during clinical experiences, how could we exist as a profession, much less as a doctoring profession? The profession of physical therapy exists and continues to exist because of mentorship—whether it’s in the form of a clinical instructor and their student, two peers, or senior to junior…