General Admissions & OTCAS Applying Fall 2017 for 18!

[NYY13251]

So who is applying this summer/fall for next year? This is my first (and hopefully only time) applying to OT school. I am applying to about 7-9 schools. I am finishing up my final 2 pre-reqs and they will be done within the next few weeks. For anyone who has applied before or who will be applying, I have some questions

1) When do you get things ready? I made an account on OTCAS and filled out my transcripts from schools. I also did the basic info. How far in advance.

2) Did you start your personal statement/ essays? I plan on starting mine once I wrap up these 2 classes.

3) Can you apply while still observing? I finally found a place to observe and am also doing some other work for an OT. Come July, I will have about 40 hoursish but plan on keep going for the remainder of the year. Can I add more hours even after I apply?

4) Any other tips? I feel like I want to be able to send everything out within the first day I can. Does it make a big difference to do it ASAP or slow down and aim to submit it by September?

Thanks!

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[Ot1029126]

Fall 18 here.
I don't believe the OTCAS cycle for the 17/18 cycle has started yet. If you applied early (previous cycle) without applying to a school, then all of your work will be lost. I have begun collecting things for school as well. I think it would be best to slow down and make sure to have everything done right rather than fast.

 

[OT2BE2017]

So who is applying this summer/fall for next year? This is my first (and hopefully only time) applying to OT school. I am applying to about 7-9 schools. I am finishing up my final 2 pre-reqs and they will be done within the next few weeks. For anyone who has applied before or who will be applying, I have some questions

1) When do you get things ready? I made an account on OTCAS and filled out my transcripts from schools. I also did the basic info. How far in advance.

2) Did you start your personal statement/ essays? I plan on starting mine once I wrap up these 2 classes.

3) Can you apply while still observing? I finally found a place to observe and am also doing some other work for an OT. Come July, I will have about 40 hoursish but plan on keep going for the remainder of the year. Can I add more hours even after I apply?

4) Any other tips? I feel like I want to be able to send everything out within the first day I can. Does it make a big difference to do it ASAP or slow down and aim to submit it by September?

Thanks!

Congrats on getting started! I hope that you will only need to apply once! I have experience applying to 2 schools both through OTCAS. Hopefully my answers to your questions will be helpful for you!

1.) The NEW OTCAS cycle will open around July 2017. DO NOT fill anything out right now or create an account. Everything will be gone once the NEW cycle hits. I HIGHLY recommend making your account and start filling in the info in July.

2.) I did my personal statement while in the process of completing my OTCAS app. I highly suggest making the OTCAS personal statement very broad (i.e. talk about why you want to become an OT/future goals you have in mind) and NOT make it school specific. For example, say you talked about USC and how you want to go there for their amazing faculty in your personal statement and uploaded it into the OTCAS personal statement section. EVERY school you submit an OTCAS app to will see this essay! You will see when you start selecting your specific schools you are applying to that they will ask for "supplement material" such as another personal statement, additional questions, etc. USC, for example, does not read the OTCAS personal statement and instead ask for a supplemental essay which has a very specific prompt. It really depends on the school you are applying to. I would research EACH school to see if they require a supplemental essay.

3.) Depending on the school you will apply to, most schools allow hours to be in progress. However, there are some schools that require 40-80 hrs to be done minimum before applying. Again, I would check specifically with the schools you are applying to. In addition, you CANNOT add additional hours to your OTCAS app once you have submitted an application. The way you "submit hours" is by submitting a time-sheet or any document that contains your hrs that is signed off by your supervising OT.

Basically, OT schools are not very uniformed in their deadlines so all schools have different deadlines. Once you submit one app to one school, you CANNOT make any further changes to the application as a whole, UNLESS it is a pre-req that is in "progress". But OTCAS will only allow 2x a year to make changes to your OTCAS app, which is usually when the school semester is over. (hopefully this makes sense) OTCAS gives ALOT of warnings regarding NO CHANGES can be made once you submit an application.

4.) Additional tips--- Like I said previously, OT schools ALL very in terms of deadlines, the type of admission, and pre-reqs. It makes it very difficult for us because their is no sense of uniformity. If you research that a school has "rolling" admissions, it is BEST to submit your application as early as humanly possible. For example, I know SJSU has rolling admissions, and the earliest you can submit your application is October 1st. Schools with rolling admission basically admit students in a "rolling" basis meaning they can get full even before their deadline, which why it is important to submit your application as early as possible. Other schools such as USC, have a hard deadline and do not do "rolling" admissions. They simply review all the applications at the same time a few weeks after the deadline.

Some other tips I have is to do your research thoroughly! You are applying to a lot of schools! OTCAS is really tricky to use, but their customer service is really helpful. Just read the FAQ in the OTCAS website and it will surely help you for this upcoming application season. Luckily, I didn't have any problems regarding OTCAS, so I am sure it will be fine as long as you read the directions carefully.

Hope this helps!

 

[NYY13251]

Congrats on getting started! I hope that you will only need to apply once! I have experience applying to 2 schools both through OTCAS. Hopefully my answers to your questions will be helpful for you!

1.) The NEW OTCAS cycle will open around July 2017. DO NOT fill anything out right now or create an account. Everything will be gone once the NEW cycle hits. I HIGHLY recommend making your account and start filling in the info in July.

2.) I did my personal statement while in the process of completing my OTCAS app. I highly suggest making the OTCAS personal statement very broad (i.e. talk about why you want to become an OT/future goals you have in mind) and NOT make it school specific. For example, say you talked about USC and how you want to go there for their amazing faculty in your personal statement and uploaded it into the OTCAS personal statement section. EVERY school you submit an OTCAS app to will see this essay! You will see when you start selecting your specific schools you are applying to that they will ask for "supplement material" such as another personal statement, additional questions, etc. USC, for example, does not read the OTCAS personal statement and instead ask for a supplemental essay which has a very specific prompt. It really depends on the school you are applying to. I would research EACH school to see if they require a supplemental essay.

3.) Depending on the school you will apply to, most schools allow hours to be in progress. However, there are some schools that require 40-80 hrs to be done minimum before applying. Again, I would check specifically with the schools you are applying to. In addition, you CANNOT add additional hours to your OTCAS app once you have submitted an application. The way you "submit hours" is by submitting a time-sheet or any document that contains your hrs that is signed off by your supervising OT.

Basically, OT schools are not very uniformed in their deadlines so all schools have different deadlines. Once you submit one app to one school, you CANNOT make any further changes to the application as a whole, UNLESS it is a pre-req that is in "progress". But OTCAS will only allow 2x a year to make changes to your OTCAS app, which is usually when the school semester is over. (hopefully this makes sense) OTCAS gives ALOT of warnings regarding NO CHANGES can be made once you submit an application.

4.) Additional tips--- Like I said previously, OT schools ALL very in terms of deadlines, the type of admission, and pre-reqs. It makes it very difficult for us because their is no sense of uniformity. If you research that a school has "rolling" admissions, it is BEST to submit your application as early as humanly possible. For example, I know SJSU has rolling admissions, and the earliest you can submit your application is October 1st. Schools with rolling admission basically admit students in a "rolling" basis meaning they can get full even before their deadline, which why it is important to submit your application as early as possible. Other schools such as USC, have a hard deadline and do not do "rolling" admissions. They simply review all the applications at the same time a few weeks after the deadline.

Some other tips I have is to do your research thoroughly! You are applying to a lot of schools! OTCAS is really tricky to use, but their customer service is really helpful. Just read the FAQ in the OTCAS website and it will surely help you for this upcoming application season. Luckily, I didn't have any problems regarding OTCAS, so I am sure it will be fine as long as you read the directions carefully.

Hope this helps!

Wow! Thanks. Good to know to not add anything else to OTCAS. I already did the transcripts, but I guess I will be doing it over come July. Yeah, I did notice that some schools want a personal statement and some have specific questions. I will make sure I submit the correct one to each school!

So if a school has rolling admissions through OTCAS and lets say it starts July 1st and I want to apply to just that school since it is rolling admission, can I? Or do I submit everything through OTCAS at once?


For the schools that have rolling admission, I want to apply as soon as I can. I am hoping to have the minimum hours by the time application opens. I may even take off of work for a few days to get some long days in.

 

[OT2BE2017]

Wow! Thanks. Good to know to not add anything else to OTCAS. I already did the transcripts, but I guess I will be doing it over come July. Yeah, I did notice that some schools want a personal statement and some have specific questions. I will make sure I submit the correct one to each school!

So if a school has rolling admissions through OTCAS and lets say it starts July 1st and I want to apply to just that school since it is rolling admission, can I? Or do I submit everything through OTCAS at once?


For the schools that have rolling admission, I want to apply as soon as I can. I am hoping to have the minimum hours by the time application opens. I may even take off of work for a few days to get some long days in.

Yea I do not understand why OTCAS gets rid of everything every new cycle especially transcripts from institutions. I had to upload and purchase 5 transcripts because I got my undergrad and pre-reqs all from different schools.

To answer your question, yes, if an OT is rolling admission and it "opens" in july then you can submit that application alone via OTCAS. But remember, once you submit that app you generally cannot change or update ANYTHING in your application for the rest of the schools you apply to (i.e. once you add all your class via the transcript they cannot be changed)

Also, I forgot to mention in the previous post BUT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, it takes 4-6 weeks for your application to become verified!! I've never had it really take that long, but I can imagine it will take a while during peak application season. Say your schools deadline is Dec 10th, you need to keep in mind the 4-6 week app verification so ideally you would submit the app 6 weeks prior to Dec 10th. This is why you will generally not see any schools with a super early deadline when a new cycle hits. If I am not mistaken, I believe your app has to be verified with each school you submit it to. For example, if NYU is the FIRST school I will submit my OTCAS app to, I would do it 4-6 week or even earlier before the deadline. Then my 2nd school, say USC, would have to get verified again, but generally it is faster since the majority of the app is already verified. The longest I ever had to wait was about 3-4 days and this was when I submitted my first application in October for SJSU.

OTCAS is really good about notifying you via automated email that your transcripts or GRE have been received or when your application has been verified. But it is up to you to verify that everything looks good. ALWAYS ALWAYS verify with both OTCAS and the schools to which you are applying to, especially if you see any discrepancies or if you just want a peace of mind!! Since you are applying to multiple schools, I highly recommend triple checking and verifying with the schools that they have received everything and that your application is complete.

I'm sure you'll have enough hours by the time schools with rolling admissions open! Generally, they open around Sept-Oct, I know it may sound confusing since OTCAS opens in July, but I believe it is so that students are given sufficient time to get all the info/docs required and to get verified on time.

 

[student4life101]

1. I created a folder for each school and gathered all needed documents (i.e. transcripts, hours forms) a few months before OTCAS opened. I also made an excel spread sheet and for each program noted down their deadlines, cost for their supplemental apps, and any special requirements. I started preparing my personal statement using notes I took after I shadowed as a guide (i.e. what interventions interested me, what I learned, my reflections about the clients, etc.)

2. I would begin working on your statement asap. Have the first draft read by an OT you shadowed and anyone you trust to give quality feedback. I had my statement done before July so that I could focus on the school specific supplemental essay questions that come at a later date.

3. You can shadow/volunteer all through the application process. Hours are one of a few things you can add after submitting and getting verified. However, be sure to submit the first time enough total hours to satisfy the requirements for each program. There is also a place to indicate future anticipated hours (i.e. volunteering at a conference, shadowing at a new clinic) which is another opportunity to show programs how involved you are.

4. From my experience, you only have to submit, pay, and get verified once. However, if you submit, pay and OTCAS finds that you have formatted something incorrectly or other, then they will make you fix it and re-submit. This is why I recommend to start as soon as OTCAS opens. Also, if you intend to try for a fee waiver, those are first come first serve. And once granted, the waiver must be used within a short time frame when you submit. If you have any questions, their help desk is very fast at responding to emails. Also, If you don't already have your letters of recommendation lined up, I would start thinking about those, and inform the people you want to write them of your deadlines well ahead of time. Lastly, hand written thank you letters are the way to go, both for your letter writers and program admissions committees.