General Admissions & OTCAS 2020 Summer/Fall Applications

[2020OTapply]

Hi! I am about to start applying later this summer and I would love any input and advice. I am the first in my family to go to graduate school so this is new to me. I am wondering how many schools I should apply to and how to decide on which programs are right for me. Here are my stats:

Major: Special Education
GPA: 3.942


Applying: MUSC, Lenior Rhyne, NYU, Texas Women's, UNC, Augusta University, Tufts, and KU Medical Center

How many programs should I apply to?


Thanks and good luck

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[OThopefully183]

Hi! I am about to start applying later this summer and I would love any input and advice. I am the first in my family to go to graduate school so this is new to me. I am wondering how many schools I should apply to and how to decide on which programs are right for me. Here are my stats:

Major: Special Education
Minor: Medical Humanities
GPA: 3.945
Pre Req. GPA: 3.98 (2 A-s in Psychology and Sociology)
GRE: W:4 V: 148 Q:147 (Retaking later this month)
Extracurriculars: SC Teaching Fellow (Cohort Rep), VP of Occupational Physical Therapy Alliance, Leadership position within sorority, Clinician with Fit Catz (Organization working with children with special needs to develop their motor skills in a gym as well as aquatic settings), and 2 Honor Societies
Employment: Former First-Year Experience Peer Facilitator, Nanny of 3 years for special needs family, summer tutor for elementary students
Service: 220+ hours of volunteering (mostly with children)
OT Observation hours: 80 hours: School-based, In-Patient ortho, In-Patient cardiac, Out-Patient Ped. **trying to get more (I was supposed to go on a medical mission trip with a group of OTs this May)

Applying: MUSC, Lenior Rhyne, NYU, Texas Women's, UNC, Augusta University, St. Augustine, and KU Medical Center

Questions:
1. Are my stats competitive?
2. How many programs should I apply to?
3. Do OT graduate programs offer scholarships?
4. From my stats, what are areas of improvement?

Thanks and good luck

1. For University of St. Augustine (only school I applied on your list), your stats should be great. I had a much lower GPA.

2. I don't think there is a certain number of school you should apply to. Just make sure it will get you to where you want to be after graduation. Some schools are more researched based and some more clinical. I know for me tuition and geography was the main two concerns I had, so I only applied to programs where I liked where it was geographically and the cost and if it matches with my career goals.

3. I think they do. For the most part the ones I've seen have them for students that are on second quarter/semester of their first year.

4. Besides the GRE (not the most important thing in an app), I think as long as you have a kick ass personal statement, you should be fine. I would ask couple of friends to read it as I know that helped me tremendously and made my essay much stronger.

Best of luck on your OT endeavors.