General Admissions & OTCAS Pursuing OT-double minor or GPA boosters?

[OTstudent123]

Hello, I am pursuing a career as an occupational therapist. I'm a freshmen right now and I'm majoring in Psychology and minoring in health and society. Along with that, I am going to be taking general biology, general chem and anatomy and physiology (with labs). I could double minor with public health and still graduate in 4 years. However, it doesn't really interest me so I was wondering if I should just minor in it anyways or take GPA booster classes? I would take classes such as ethics,logic,art history, religion,etc. Which option would make me a more competitive applicant?
Option 1: Psychology and minor in Health and Society (+random classes)
Option 2: Psychology and double minor in Health and Society and Public Health

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[NicMOT]

If you're not interested in Public Health, I wouldn't pursue a minor in it. College should be about pursuing your interests. I think taking classes in Ethics, Logic, Religion, etc like you mentioned will make you a well rounded student. If you happen to do well in them, it'll help your GPA too! People come into OT programs from all different disciplines, so I wouldn't worry about not minoring in Public Health making you less competitive. That's just my opinion though, I'm sure others will chime in too!

 

[Gemut]

Sad to say but OT admissions is not OT. While you might counsel a client to follow their passion, getting into OT school requires a high GPA. Do whatever you can to boost your GPA, what your minor in is of little interest to most MSOT admissions staff. Your academic accomplishments are reduced to letters that are converted to numbers on a rubric. For example, Colorado State publishes this MSOT admssion is based rubric
GPA 45
Personal statement 25
Prerquisites 12
LoR's. 10
GRE. -5,0, +5 depending agregate score of V,Q, AWA
Major. 3

The maximum score is 100. 50 out of 550 applicants were admitted last year. Here is the link. http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/OT/MSINFO98.html#Selection is based on the following criteria:


This is not the only MSOT rubric but it is one of the few published admissions rubrics. Pad your GPA whereever possible, get A's on all your prereqs, don't worry about your minor.

 

[KEot]

I would say if you were really interested in the minor then you should certainly do that since you only have one chance to make the most of your undergrad, BUT since you don't seem to be super interested in that minor I would say take the mix of classes that interests you the most. That being said, make sure you take all of that classes that you find interesting in undergrad, regardless if they are considered "easy A's". I ended up doing 2 minors but that's only because the material really interested me! Make the most of the time you have in undergrad!!