Newbie want to become an OT

[healthyhappy]

Hey there! I've been reading a lot of these posts and they have been quite helpful.

I'm 26 and want to go to school (preferably in NY) to become an OT.
I'm starting completely fresh. I have a BA in Film and so will be taking all my prereqs over the course of the next year at Hunter/Baruch. Any advice on a good way to spead the coursework out over multiple semesters, strategically in order to pick up all the new information? And, any ideas on study guides, etc. to help make up for lost time on my own?

All advice relating to this transition is welcome!

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[busymommy]

Hi! I'm so glad to find this site. What a great forum source.

I'd like to post basically the same thing (sorry not much advice here but hopefully someone will respond to us!)

I am an undergrad student looking to get into an OT program; have a high GPA but my classes so far have been scattered between several disciplines and over several years. I am 30 yrs old and have had a lot of "life experience" as well, living abroad for many years working as an ESL teacher. I started college young, geared towards Bio then switched to Education; then got an ESL teaching cert, then switched gears again and now am in my last year of a manual therapy cert that I AM LOVING. I REALLY WANT to be a therapist (OT much more attractive to me than PT). I do not have an undergrad degree yet but there are a couple of really attractive programs here in NJ that offer dual degrees (undergrad + OT Master's).

So we are basically in the same boat! I also am in the process of trying to figure out what prereqs to take and when. What I am really interested in is hearing from people who have gotten/not gotten into these highly competetive programs. What are your impressions of what OT schools are looking for on an application aside from high GPA?

Any advice/experiences welcome! Thanks!

 

[teacher2PT]

The program I got accepted to loves people with experience (I've taught spec ed for over 10 years) who can demonstrate why they are cut out for OT. So if you have some life experience (as you both do) and you've done observations in a variety of OT settings (the more the better, but I'd say at least 2 or 3), you will stand out as candidates on that alone. I would just say to do your best in your pre-req's because usually these programs take your most recent grades into account (I did not have a stellar undergrad gpa but grad school and pre-req grades were A's and B's so that helped).

I guess I'd recommend taking Anatomy and Physiology early on, because once you're in OT school you will be relying on your knowledge from these courses. Usually you have to take cadaver lab or more advanced anatomy in OT school. I just wish I hadn't waited so long to start pre-req's; I was nervous A & P would be too difficult and add another stressor onto my already stressful job. It turns out the complete opposite was true......I love A & P and look forward to going to class! Just make sure you have a good teacher who is willing to help you and explain things. You can find professor ratings on ratemyprofessor.com, to see what other students have said. Good luck to both of you!!

 

[ajilli]

healthy - I did the same thing last year. I did psych in college but then was in post-production for three years and I had no trouble getting into school. More importantly, I tried to take classes at hunter, baruch and bmcc and was screwed as a non-matriculating student because they wouldn't let me register until everyone else in the school had already registered. If it looks like it's going to be hard to get into classes, I suggest trying CUNY City Tech. It's where I've taken all of my prereqs and I haven't had any trouble getting the classes I needed.

 

[caduceus27]

Hey there! I've been reading a lot of these posts and they have been quite helpful.

I'm 26 and want to go to school (preferably in NY) to become an OT.
I'm starting completely fresh. I have a BA in Film and so will be taking all my prereqs over the course of the next year at Hunter/Baruch. Any advice on a good way to spead the coursework out over multiple semesters, strategically in order to pick up all the new information? And, any ideas on study guides, etc. to help make up for lost time on my own?

All advice relating to this transition is welcome!

hi there
make sure you decide on school you would like to go before you take prereqs in will save you lots of time. since some schools have some slightly different prereq requirements. DO NOT take classes that you dont need unless of course you think they would benfit your application. Usually a science class such as Biology 101 with a intro pschology course works. try to take summer classes if you can it will save you sometime. I dont know if you wanna go full time but for OT you only need to take 1 science class per semester since you only need about 5 science classes the rest are all psychologys and statistics. If the year comes around and you have maybe 2 courses pending, apply anyway! The EARLIER YOU APPLY THE BETTER. One last thing that is probably obvious make sure you do well in the prerequisite courses, OT programs are very competitive nowadays. I hope that helps and good luck!