So I finally did it. I went after the big one. The license that recruiters warn you about, the license fellow physical therapists complain of and the license that scares many travelers away from ever applying for.
It’s the license process that is warned to take so long that many travelers miss out on job opportunities or need to delay start dates. It’s the license that has so many steps that many lose track of what they have submitted further delaying licensure. It’s also one of the more expensive PT licenses to obtain.
However, it’s also the license that offers the most jobs in the United States, as well as some of the highest paying jobs.
I could only be referring to one license: the California Physical Therapy License. I took it on, and succeeded…and it really wasn’t that bad.
My License
Even prior to looking into getting my California license I knew that obtaining it kind of sucked to put it bluntly. My recruiters through the years warned me about it as a traveler because it often took so long to get, that the job you were looking at was long gone before you actually received your license.
Many other PTs warned me that their license took them over 6 months to finally. While in many other states you can get your license in a matter of weeks. The process (which I will lay out in a separate post), consists of a long application which includes fingerprinting and a jurisprudence exam.
However, the part that takes the longest is the PTBC’s (the California Board of PT) processing time. The board themselves list the max processing time as 365 days. They give themselves up to 1 YEAR to process your application. So you can see how difficult this makes planning for the future, especially as a traveler.
I wasn’t expecting mine to take a year but I began my application process starting in the beginning of December, 2020 with the intention of being able to work in California by June, 2021. So I left myself a nice buffer.
Well, I submitted a completed application on December 29th, 2020. I took my jurisprudence (Law) Exam on 1/15/2021 and I received an email with my license number on 1/28/2021…
They processed my application and got me my license in 30 days! It was CRAZY!
The minimal processing time listed by the board themselves is 46 days…I thought it was a mistake to be honest until I received my license in the mail a few days later.
The entire process, which I took my time with, only took me about 2 months. With the majority of that time being spent getting my application requirements together to be sent to the board and studying for the law exam.
Apparently this monster wasn’t as scary as I previously thought.
Conclusion
I’m unsure if this is the new norm for California but I view it as very good news for my fellow travelers because this unlocks one more BIG state to find jobs in. Hopefully, this means that others will be able to get their license with the same relative ease as well.
In general, I see most traveling jobs in California as at least $300-$500 more of take home pay per week compared to similar jobs in other states outside of CA. Plus, because of the states size, you can spend multiple contracts in the state without violating any tax home rules.
Good luck to anyone else trying to get their license in the state, I hope it goes as well for you as it did for me. So don’t let your recruiters scare you away from the opportunities that California has to offer!
Feel free to comment with any questions you may have.
What’s to Come
In the next couple of weeks I plan to release a requirements checklist that I created to stay on top of all the various application requirements that the board needs. The Board has one, but it felt more confusing than it needed to be, so I simplified it and answered some of the common questions I see.
I also plan to release my jurisprudence study guide I created which helped me to ace my exam on my first attempt.
