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How to choose the right chiropractic school for your career

Deciding to become a chiropractor is one of the smartest career moves you can make. According to a study conducted by consulting firm Grand View Research, the chiropractic market size is expected to hit $18 billion by the year 2025, with 35 million people receiving chiropractic care each year.

Life Chiropractic College West can give you all of the tools you need to be a successful chiropractor and help meet that demand. The college’s academic environment is designed to ensure that students graduate with both competence and confidence, knowing how to identify and correct misalignments or vertebral subluxations as well as how to run their own chiropractic business.

Learn by doing

Life West’s Clinically Inspired Learning curriculum emphasizes hands-on training and instruction. Life West students enter the health clinic and start working with patients far earlier than at other chiropractic colleges.

The Clinically Inspired Learning curriculum boasts three main benefits, said Life West Vice President of Academic Affairs Pardeep Kullar, EdD, who oversees the program. They are: “Early exposure and access to clinic, the opportunity to preceptor for the last two quarters and a personalized learning track,” she said. The curriculum offers Life West students the opportunity to learn various chiropractic techniques and when to apply them as they care for patients. They don’t just learn how to adjust. In up to seven quarters of practical clinical experience, students learn how to best tailor each individual care plan to every patient and case they handle.

Clinically Inspired Learning offers three different tracks and timelines. Students can begin providing care in the clinic depending on their needs and timelines.

“Based on this model, students get to choose which pace they want to go,” Dr. Kullar says. “Regardless of which track they choose, they still finish the program on time.”

For students who finish the requirements of the clinic curriculum and are still attending academic courses, Life West’s rapidly expanding preceptor program offers an opportunity to work in a chiropractic office and get a feel for how real-world chiropractors run their offices. More than half of Life West students sign up for preceptorships, which are available to those who have completed clinic but don’t have a license yet.

A vitalistic culture

Life West’s principles are grounded in vitalism and vitalistic ideals, which centers on the theory that the origin and phenomena of life are dependent on a force or principle distinct from purely chemical or physical forces. We call this innate intelligence. The college’s curriculum includes philosophy courses that address concepts such as the relationships between universal, innate and educated intelligence.

“Universal intelligence is that which transcends the world,” explains Life West faculty member and philosophy department chair Ankur Tayal, DC. “Innate intelligence is found in a living being or vessel, and educated intelligence is a further subset.” Life West courses address the philosophy of chiropractic as a complement to courses on basic and clinical sciences, such as anatomy and physiology, as well as chiropractic technique, which encircles many methods of adjusting a subluxation.

Philosophy is important at Life West. Vitalistic chiropractors work to reset the body’s nervous system by correcting subluxations that can cause interference. This allows a patient’s innate intelligence to be restored, and the newly adjusted body to perform at its optimal potential.

“Vitalistic chiropractors work with the subtle substance of the soul, unleashing the body’s own inborn ability to heal itself through administering the chiropractic adjustment,” said Life West admissions representative David Scheiner, DC. “At Life West, we produce practice-ready, confident and competent chiropractors whose vision and mission is to create a brighter future for humanity.”

The business of chiropractic

Life West classes don’t just focus on science, technique and philosophy. Students also need to know the ins and outs of business management and how to build relationships with patients, so that they can manage a successful office. Our focus on the business of chiropractic ensures that Life West graduates are in a position to start building their successful career even before they graduate.

Students mingle with prospective employers at a Life West job fair.

“We have outside experts who provide content over and above what’s in the curriculum, and the curriculum is already incredibly rich,” said Life West Director of Alumni Relations Palmer Peet, DC. “This focuses on stuff the patients wouldn’t even see. We handle that in business classes and supplement it with experts who come in three or four times per quarter. They give lectures, usually by live stream, and those are archived for both students and alumni.”

In addition, the Career Services department at Life West provides resources designed to help students find jobs quickly, once they have their degree and license in hand. Tools include a job board that spotlights new and exciting openings at chiropractic offices around the country. On-campus job fairs help connect senior students and offices looking for associates or partners. The Career Services department will even help students create a professional resume as they launch their career.

“For anything they need, to go from being a student to being an associate or running their own practice, they basically have a free consultant through our Career Services department,” Dr. Peet said.

Those in the Life West family are never alone, thanks to the college’s network of alumni, friends and supporters. Whether you’re in need of a job, a mentor or just a few tips and tricks along the way, Life West is here to support you throughout your chiropractic journey.

Lasting Purpose and learning more

Life West is built on the concept of Lasting Purpose, coined by founder Dr. Sid Williams. Lasting Purpose urges us to give, do, love and serve out of one’s own abundance, and to share the virtues of chiropractic with the world.

Life West students follow this motto in countless different ways. Service trips at home and internationally take groups of doctors and interns to San Francisco, India and Tonga on a regular basis. Students, faculty and other doctors see thousands of patients in just a few days during some of these trips. Closer to home, Life West facilitates volunteer opportunities in the Bay Area community, including military veterans and day laborers in San Francisco’s Mission District. Life West leaders have spent more than 40 years instilling the concept of Lasting Purpose in students, who have gone on to blaze new trails in chiropractic.

For more information on Life West, visit the college’s website or email the admissions department at admissions@lifewest.edu.

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