General Admissions & OTCAS The "Who applied to the most schools" Thread

[OtGuy2015]

How many schools did some of you apply to?

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[futureOTsj]

8!

 

[ananjyu]

11!

 

[Chapsa]

Only 2, because I wasn't trying to move out of state.

 

[Teacher84]

I will be applying to 10-11.

 

[HopefulOT13]

8 and rejected from 7 wait listed at 1

 

[jka252]

Applied to 9!

 

[sb0106]

11

 

[ProsperingOT]

I believe my final count was either 20 or 21. I win . . . over a thousand dollars spent on application fees.

 

[Fbomb10]

I believe my final count was either 20 or 21. I win . . . over a thousand dollars spent on application fees.

21! Wow! I'm almost afraid to ask if you got in anywhere.

I applied to 7 btw

 

[brighton421]

Was originally going to apply to 7, but ended up only applying to 4.

 

[Confusedandlostone]

13 but I was previously enrolled in another OT program. I "withdrew" from the program, and decided to do a shotgun approach because I was scared a previously withdrawn student would have no chance of getting in again. Miraculously I was accepted into 2 programs and granted 1 interview thus far.

 

[ProsperingOT]

21! Wow! I'm almost afraid to ask if you got in anywhere.

I applied to 7 btw

Hahaha. Yes I did. I had a few acceptances and got to take my pic. I got into 4, waitlisted to too many to count, denied at all the others and have yet to hear back from 2... At this point Ive lost track of the numbers, lol. But I have made my decision! I was just so worried because last year I only had 2 acceptances out of 5 and decided not to go for personal reasons... I was terrified, to say the least, that I wouldnt get in to any this year and screw myself by not going last year when I had gotten accepted since my stats arent that great. But I'm so relieved now that I was able to chose a school I actually WANTED to go to and its just better timing for me Good luck, everyone!

 

[Osillyphilly]

I applied to 12!

 

[HopefulOT17]

Lucky number seven!

Buuuuut none of them were lucky. This time around anyhow.

Congrats to everyone who got into programs

 

[Should_I_continue_OT]

Nope, I think I win on the most applications. I'm not sure how many I applied to last year but it was more than 21. 23 or 26 or something like that? Accepted to 3, turned down interviews at maybe 6. OTCAS was $1200 or $1500? I was worried about not getting in anywhere because of an unconventional (and lower GPA) previous academic record. And applying rather late.

I'd warn against applying to that many schools. I knew very little about the vast majority of schools I applied to. While I was waiting for OTCAS to verify all my transcripts, one school invited me to interview based on my unverified classes. Because of the earlier interview, I got accepted before I was invited to interview anyplace else. I think I had one other interview before I had to put down my deposit to reserve my spot at the school that accepted me.

In the weeks after that, I also got invited to interview at two schools on the same weekend on more than one weekend and had to debate which school to interview at when either one would require a 12-16 hour drive or a plane flight bought 2 weeks beforehand. Even when I didn't have double-booked interview invitations, I didn't think I could handle consecutive 3 day weekends away from home/school.

One flaw with applying to so many OTCAS schools, is that I neglected to apply to several schools in my state that had non-OTCAS applications. I ended up going to a school that I knew nothing about prior to applying through OTCAS. Before the interview, I only had seen the website, which had very little information on the program, some of which was incorrect. At the interview, I found out that the cohort was close to 60 students and they rarely split the classes for labs. I hadn't looked at the total cost of attendance either. It was rather high, comparable to many of the private OT schools.

I may be applying to other schools this summer/fall and see what happens.

 

[Confusedandlostone]

Nope, I think I win on the most applications. I'm not sure how many I applied to last year but it was more than 21. 23 or 26 or something like that? Accepted to 3, turned down interviews at maybe 6. OTCAS was $1200 or $1500? I was worried about not getting in anywhere because of an unconventional (and lower GPA) previous academic record. And applying rather late.

I'd warn against applying to that many schools. I knew very little about the vast majority of schools I applied to. While I was waiting for OTCAS to verify all my transcripts, one school invited me to interview based on my unverified classes. Because of the earlier interview, I got accepted before I was invited to interview anyplace else. I think I had one other interview before I had to put down my deposit to reserve my spot at the school that accepted me.

In the weeks after that, I also got invited to interview at two schools on the same weekend on more than one weekend and had to debate which school to interview at when either one would require a 12-16 hour drive or a plane flight bought 2 weeks beforehand. Even when I didn't have double-booked interview invitations, I didn't think I could handle consecutive 3 day weekends away from home/school.

One flaw with applying to so many OTCAS schools, is that I neglected to apply to several schools in my state that had non-OTCAS applications. I ended up going to a school that I knew nothing about prior to applying through OTCAS. Before the interview, I only had seen the website, which had very little information on the program, some of which was incorrect. At the interview, I found out that the cohort was close to 60 students and they rarely split the classes for labs. I hadn't looked at the total cost of attendance either. It was rather high, comparable to many of the private OT schools.

I may be applying to other schools this summer/fall and see what happens.

I should also add that non-OTCAS schools are slightly easier to get into, as OTCAS schools have a higher number of applicants and are more popular/easily accessible to the general public. I don't think it's a coincidence that both programs I was admitted in were non-OTCAS schools. Even the original program I was admitted to was a non-OTCAS school. My hypothesis is that prospective students simply do not want to individually work on applications that require different things as opposed to one application that can be sent to multiple schools.

 

[Chanandler Bong]

Applied to 14! Accepted at five -- including WUSTL and Milwaukee, my top two choices!

Invited to interview at two of those, plus another one that I attended (and got waitlisted for) and one that I didn't. Auto-rejected at two, still theoretically waitlisted for an interview at one, and didn't bother to do the supplementals for another four because acceptances started coming in.

I spent a lot of money doing the shotgun approach. I applied in January without having completed all of my prerequisites, and I had this existential NEED to get in this year. If procrastination/high stress/desperation is your way of making things happen (let's be real, you know who you are) then yeah, cast a wide net and say goodbye to your money. Otherwise, just apply to your 10 favorites in the summer...

P.S., The one I interviewed at and got waitlisted for was a non-OTCAS school, and people flew in from all over the country to interview there. I wouldn't say it was easier. I get horrific foot-in-mouth syndrome during interviews, and in this case it cost me a seat.

 

[LeyanaLey]

Applied to 14! Accepted at five -- including WUSTL and Milwaukee, my top two choices!

Invited to interview at two of those, plus another one that I attended (and got waitlisted for) and one that I didn't. Auto-rejected at two, still theoretically waitlisted for an interview at one, and didn't bother to do the supplementals for another four because acceptances started coming in.

I spent a lot of money doing the shotgun approach. I applied in January without having completed all of my prerequisites, and I had this existential NEED to get in this year. If procrastination/high stress/desperation is your way of making things happen (let's be real, you know who you are) then yeah, cast a wide net and say goodbye to your money. Otherwise, just apply to your 10 favorites in the summer...

P.S., The one I interviewed at and got waitlisted for was a non-OTCAS school, and people flew in from all over the country to interview there. I wouldn't say it was easier. I get horrific foot-in-mouth syndrome during interviews, and in this case it cost me a seat.

So, uh, we should OBVIOUSLY be friends.