Status: Class of 2009, M.S. and D.P.T. 2010

Major: Physical Therapy

Hometown: Dallas, Pennsylvania

Worked: 10 Hours/Week at Campus Center and Events Services

Tuition Assistance: Dean’s Scholarship

Current Employment: Physical Therapist with Supplemental Health Care

Student Debt: $60,000

As an undergrad at IC, Diana Glicini ’09, M.S. and D.P.T. ’10, kept busy taking rigorous classes and rowing on IC's crew, which went to nationals during her junior and senior years, and the Head of the Charles, a competitive regatta, during her senior year.

“It was my favorite race ever,” she says of the Head of the Charles. “There were all these crazy twists and turns on the course, and you could hear all the fans cheering for you. It was an amazing experience.”

She had an academic scholarship, and for spending money, she worked at Campus Center and Event Services.

“I stretched myself thin mentally with work and crew and the physical therapy program,” Glicini says. “I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a breakdown here and there.”

But she didn’t have much time to worry much about her future debt. “I kept myself distracted enough that I didn’t pay attention to it,” she says.

After graduation, it seems that reality struck: “It’s like, ‘I had an excellent time, but now I have to start paying for it.’”

Glicini graduated in December and in four months she had passed her licensing exam and was working at Einstein Health Care in Philadelphia. Even though she had a job lined up, she said she had to make sure that she could cover the cost of moving and that she enough money to pay the bills when work started.

She graduated about $60,000 in debt, which, she says, amounts to payments of about $700 a month. “It’s like paying an extra rent every month, but it’s not horrible. Finding a job to repay my loan wasn’t an issue. In other fields I might not have the same advantage.”

Plus, with a transitional doctorate, Glicini doesn’t ever have to go back to school. But she may want to—she’s thinking about getting a Ph.D. so that she can teach anatomy or physiology at the college level.

In December, she left Philadelphia for a job with Supplemental Health Care in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as a contract worker. Her current assignment is at Oakwood Heritage Hospital, an acute rehab facility where she works with patients who have had a traumatic brain injury, stroke, or spinal cord injury.

“It’s so rewarding to work with these patients,” she says.

How can future students get the most value out of their IC experience? 

“I’d recommend finding something you’re passionate about and sticking with it. IC has so many clubs, organizations, sports teams, recreation teams. You’re only going to be in college once. Ithaca has a lot of opportunities, and if you take advantage of them, you’ll get more out of your experience.”

Read more about the value of an IC education here.