Attend or not?

[aPaperMoon]

I was accepted to a combined BS/MS OT program and am practically set to transfer and begin this fall. Months ago I was super excited, so maybe its just nerves kicking in, but the closer the semester gets the more I feel unsure about attending.

Everyday I find myself more and more drawn to the idea of pursing a Physician Assistant career. In no way does this mean I have completely decided against OT, simply that I crave different kinds of medical knowledge.

I don't know if it's a good plan to go through OT and get some valuable clinical experience then later apply to PA school if it's still a nagging thought

OR

wait to make a move, finish the two years of my bachelors degree and the PA prereqs then decide what path to take later

Is there any advantage to either option? Is there something I'm not considering?

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[CurlyHairedGirl]

Have you done much shadowing of either PA's or OT's? That's the biggest thing I'd recommend in order to make up your mind.

Can you continue on at your current school this coming year? Will you get any of the PA pre-reqs in at the OT school? Can you stop at a bachelor's once you get to the combined program?

 

[aPaperMoon]

ave you done much shadowing of either PA's or OT's? That's the biggest thing I'd recommend in order to make up your mind.

Can you continue on at your current school this coming year? Will you get any of the PA pre-reqs in at the OT school? Can you stop at a bachelor's once you get to the combined program?

I've shadowed both, more of OT though.

It's not too late to stay at my current school since I haven't officially transferred out yet. I actually still am registered for the schedule I would've continued with had I not gotten into the OT program, just have to pay the balance.

I think students must complete the entire program to be eligible to sit for the NBCOT.

 

[CurlyHairedGirl]

I meant more whether you could get the bachelors degree, leave the OT program without getting OT certification and then go into the PA program. Paying off student loans for two different master's degree programs would be hard.

I think most PA programs do want you to have experience working in the health care field before you enter the program. They would probably mean *working* as opposed to getting a degree in other health care field. I don't know what they would think of OT experience. Why don't you contact some PA programs and find out?


Keeping your options open for another two years generally doesn't hurt.

 

[WinginIt]

If you aren't 100% sure and have any nagging doubts, I think it is only fair to yourself and another potential student to take a pass on the OT program. My entering class admitted 30 and 3 dropped out because they had "other things come up." I personally think that's a travesty for the many students who want to get accepted and may be just a tad below your stats and could've gotten in if you had declined your position.

 

[aPaperMoon]

CurlyHairedGirl,

I'm sure I could leave the program with the bachelors in OT, but that would leave me in the awkward place of not having the requirements for PA and not having OT certification. In regards to cost: the OT degree will actually be a relatively small amount, thanks to scholarships.

Yeah, many PA programs require some kind of prior health care work. Experience in emt, nursing, speech/occ/phys therapy are all quite common, from what I've read.

Keeping my options open sounds appealing. I just was hoping to get a move on things. But I guess there's no rush. How soon did you start your OT program?


Winginit,

I share the same concern, hence why I'm giving this some serious thought. It's just that this is more of a conflicting interest than a nagging doubt. I want to do the OT program. I am, however, also very interested in PA. Was there anything else you also had an interest in before beginning OT school? Is it what you thought it would be?

 

[CurlyHairedGirl]

How soon did you start your OT program?

Assuming I get in for this upcoming application cycle and start in 2013, I will have spent about 14 years in between the first time I considered being an Occupational Therapist to when I start the program.

It will only be three years from the time when I definitively decided I wanted to be an OT.

In my first few years out of college, I was doing various things within Information Technology. Programming, Unix Systems Administration. I thought that there would come a point when I would be forced to stop being purely technical and go into management. I was pretty sure I wouldn't like that so then I would probably try to find another career. I figured that I would probably get forced into Management around age 40. Teaching was the most likely second career I was interested in.

When I started taking evening classes for a masters in Computer Information Systems, I decided to take some of those career aptitude and interest tests that the Career Center had offered when I was an undergrad. I'd never taken them, because I was so sure I was going to be a scientist, or computer person or something like that. The career tests said that I was a Myers-Briggs ENFP, and that my Holland Code was an ISA or SIA or something like that. So I was way too extroverted to be sitting at a computer all day. And I was a caring person and need to feel like I'm making the world a better place. They gave me a long report of all the things that I might fit with. Occupational Therapy was one of them, but I'd never heard of it before. When I researched it, OT sounded really interesting.

But I still went ahead and got my masters in CIS. I realized at the end of the program that I didn't like the courses in computer programming, and wondered why I was getting a degree in it again? But I was too insecure to leave computers, because the economy was bad, and IT is a high paying and moderate growth field.

I was in a long design meeting a couple years ago doing planning for our next project. I realized that the people in the meeting were all enthused about the technologies involved, and I couldn't care less. I asked myself, "Is this what I want to be doing in 5 years?", and the answer was "Hell no!". I asked if we could take a break from the meeting, and immediately went to my computer and tried to sign up for taking A&P, to get the pre-requisites out of the way.

I've been taking pre-reqs for 2 years while working full time at my computer job. The place I'm at now is looking increasingly like a dead end job.

Alice

 

[babycheeks]

So you know financial aid has lifetime limits of 138,500. Just heads up!

 

[gymnastau]

There must be a way people make loans work for a 2nd professional degree. There have been a lot of people on this board who have gone the same route.

 

[babycheeks]

It's a lifetime limit of 138,500 that includes undergrad and graduate. Some people who get a 2nd professional degree haven't reached the amount and still have money left they can use on it but some have used it all and once your financial aid runs out it runs out...what you have left is a private loan and plus loan that is the option. Nothing wrong with a 2nd masters degree but just be aware of the limit that way you know in advance if you will need to look at a private and plus loan.