First was prereqs. I spent two years of my life taking specific courses for a majority of schools. If a school had something like Chem 101, I wouldn't be willing to take that.
Second was location. I wanted to be close to home (SF Bay Area) or back in NYC, which has a special place in my heart living there for a little over a year.
Third was cost. If you have student loans from undergrad, it doesn't make sense to compound that interest without some sort of plan of attack. It is a mistake of many people who get into OT grad programs (or any for that matter) to not think of the cost that will be incurred during and after graduation. Some people are so far into debt that it is ruining the quality of their lives, no matter how passionate they are about OT.
Fourth was specialties. For example, Pacific U has a gerontology certificate that you can earn while finishing your OTD. That's pretty cool and seems a bit rare. But since it's online, I guess I can get it later. Otherwise, most MSOT and OTD schools will generally have the same curriculum. The differences are in culture and facilities though.
But these four considerations were very close in priority, so it was a toss up for me. Luckily, I was only accepted into one school so I only had one choice and it covered the first three considerations for me.
