Hi Dobber,
I've been looking at some schools that are in the late stage of being accredited but I'm still unclear on the implications for sitting in for the OT exam. I thought that in order to take the certification exam one had to graduate from an accredited school. If you can clarify at which point one can take the exam, please do! For example, if one is in a 3-year program and as long as the school is accredited before graduation, can one sit in for the exam?
EDIT:
I just got off the phone with AOTA and I'm finally clear on the process. The final review is usually done 6 months before the first class graduates...that means that the very first cohort is the class with the biggest risk.
Hey guys! I am from Maryland right outside of Washington, D.C., I went to University of South Carolina, majored in Biology, graduated with a 3.7, and got a great score on the Dental Admission Test. I was pre-dental all of undergrad and while I was applying to dental schools, I worked as a dental assistant. Long story short, I obviously realized I did not want to be a dentist. So by the time I figured out that Occupational Therapy was my passion, I had a limited time to get OT observation hours, take the GRE, finish pre-reqs for OT school that I did not need for dental school, get recommendation letters, and submit my applications to OTCAS. I ended up working in a PT clinic as a tech while I was getting all of this done. I think I had about 5-10 hours total of actually shadowing an OT, however, I had worked with children with autism using ABA for years, I worked as a tutor for people at a community college with disabilities ranging from mild ADHD to a student that had mitochondrial myopathy. She was deaf (but had cochlear implants), low vision, complete loss of function in her lower extremities (paraplegia), and limited upper extremity function. I was involved in a lot of volunteer and other extracurricular activities in college, and I was awarded a summer research fellowship in a Biochemistry lab at NIH the summer after my sophomore year. I got a pretty good grade on the GRE, and I was told that my personal statement was extremely unique and well written.
I applied to Towson, Howard, Temple, NYU, LIU, and Le Moyne, just barely meeting all of their deadlines. I don’t remember exactly which ones rejected me, but I do remember Towson told me that they didn’t even look at my application because I did not meet their required observation hours. I got an interview with Le Moyne, and honestly, I almost didn’t take it because it was my last choice.
I am so glad I ended up doing that interview. I am currently in my Spring semester of my first year at Le Moyne. It is truly the best thing that could have happened to me. I finally feel like I’m learning things that will help change the world. It is very non-traditional. My advisor and favorite teacher is a DPT, another favorite teacher is an anatomist at Upstate Hospital. There is a focus on neuroscience and mental health, and a push to make our place in primary health care. We go out in the community and work with various populations for fieldwork during the first semester. Most other programs just observe during their level 1 FW, but we got to do a lot more hands on work with ours which was fun. For the second and third semester you'll get two FW rotations at different types of sites to expose you to all of the different types of setting OTs work in. The professors are really cool and they're always willing to go out of their way to make sure everyone succeeds. Lots of things to do around the city like the NY state fair, there's always bars, school activities, and you'll probably end up hanging out with your classmates/my classmates most of the time. Our director is great and she's written a lot of OT curriculums so she definitely has the experience. We were recently officially accredited, with flying colors.
I just wanted to let you guys know that if you get an interview at any school, you should see what the school is asking from you, what they see in you. Because I quickly learned that Le Moyne valued my various experiences, and I could be very honest about all the twists and turns that led me to OT. Other schools were quick to dismiss me because of my dental background but they actually saw a lot of significance in my unique experiences. Let me know if you have any questions!
