General Admissions & OTCAS Credits From Community College

[Rmaurer754]

Hi all,
I am in my fourth year at an accredited university. I will be moving on to apply for my master's in occupational therapy soon, however I am lacking a few course prerequisites required for schools I would like to apply to. I would also like to retake my courses in anatomy and physiology if possible. Can I combine my credits from community college along with my 4-year university credits in order to apply? For example, if I need anatomy, developmental psychology, and abnormal psychology--but I am missing one of those courses--can I fill in the gap at a community college? Will my overall GPA be affected by my new community college credits? I'm very new to this process if you can't tell... Thanks for any help you can give me.

-Rob

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[FINGERS_CROSSED]

It doesn't matter where you take prerequisites as long as the school is accredited. Your overall gpa will be calculated again based on those outstanding credits. Good luck

 

[PlayWithClay]

Hi Rob. I have a bachelors in business administration from UMASS from decades ago. When I decided I wanted to become an OT a few years back I needed to take (and/or retake) all the prerequisites and I took them at a community college, including the classes you mentioned. But first I contacted the MSOT admissions department of the school I was most interested in to see if the community college courses would be acceptable. She told me that as long as the course description looks pretty much the same as the description for the same undergrad course at her school that it would be fine. To be certain, I emailed her the course descriptions for review. (I should also mention that the community college I attended had a good reputation for the biological sciences.) But don't take my experience as the rule. Definitely ask a few of the schools you are interested in. And go ahead and compare the course descriptions in the meantime. (p.s. I got accepted to the MSOT program!)

 

[occupationalguy]

Schools do not care where you took the classes. Take them at the cheapest place you can find, which is usually your local community college. Some schools reject core courses (like A&P) taken online, others are stringent about lab requirements. Inquire with the schools you are interested in prior to applying.

 

[Rmaurer754]

It doesn't matter where you take prerequisites as long as the school is accredited. Your overall gpa will be calculated again based on those outstanding credits. Good luck

Hi Fingers (and everyone else!)
Thanks for the replies, they're extremely helpful. My one remaining question is--when you say my overall GPA will be calculated again based on those outstanding credits--do you mean the community college credits would need to be transferred to my current university and THEN affect my GPA, OR is my GPA affected despite credits not transferring over? In simpler terms, is the OT school I am applying to looking at all my courses, community college included, and then weighing my GPA themselves? The only reason I ask is because my university does not take community college credits... Again, thanks for the help. Fingers crossed this works out

 

[Rmaurer754]

Hi Rob. I have a bachelors in business administration from UMASS from decades ago. When I decided I wanted to become an OT a few years back I needed to take (and/or retake) all the prerequisites and I took them at a community college, including the classes you mentioned. But first I contacted the MSOT admissions department of the school I was most interested in to see if the community college courses would be acceptable. She told me that as long as the course description looks pretty much the same as the description for the same undergrad course at her school that it would be fine. To be certain, I emailed her the course descriptions for review. (I should also mention that the community college I attended had a good reputation for the biological sciences.) But don't take my experience as the rule. Definitely ask a few of the schools you are interested in. And go ahead and compare the course descriptions in the meantime. (p.s. I got accepted to the MSOT program!)

Hi Clay,
Thanks so much! I'm glad there's someone else that was in my boat. I will definitely look into quite a few places and check out what they're asking of me. The school near me seems like a safe bet. Thanks again!

-Rob

 

[Rmaurer754]

Schools do not care where you took the classes. Take them at the cheapest place you can find, which is usually your local community college. Some schools reject core courses (like A&P) taken online, others are stringent about lab requirements. Inquire with the schools you are interested in prior to applying.

Thanks for the reply. I'll be wary of those online courses...glad you said something because I was considering a few of them myself.

-Rob

 

[FINGERS_CROSSED]

Hi Fingers (and everyone else!)
Thanks for the replies, they're extremely helpful. My one remaining question is--when you say my overall GPA will be calculated again based on those outstanding credits--do you mean the community college credits would need to be transferred to my current university and THEN affect my GPA, OR is my GPA affected despite credits not transferring over? In simpler terms, is the OT school I am applying to looking at all my courses, community college included, and then weighing my GPA themselves? The only reason I ask is because my university does not take community college credits... Again, thanks for the help. Fingers crossed this works out

Your community college credits will NOT be transferred to your current university. They are separate and OTCAS treats them that way. Your overall GPA will be calculated by OTCAS when you send in official transcripts (from both your current university and community college) and after you input all the courses and grades you received. OTCAS will let you fill in course and grade information for separate colleges attend. For example, I received my undergrad from one college but took prerequisites from three other colleges. I was able to input all of them separately. THEN, OTCAS will take all of that and calculate your overall GPA. Your current 4-year college will have nothing to do with it.

If you apply to schools that don't use OTCAS, you will most likely send your official (sometimes unofficial depending on the school) directly to the school.

Hope that helps!

 

[Rmaurer754]

Your community college credits will NOT be transferred to your current university. They are separate and OTCAS treats them that way. Your overall GPA will be calculated by OTCAS when you send in official transcripts (from both your current university and community college) and after you input all the courses and grades you received. OTCAS will let you fill in course and grade information for separate colleges attend. For example, I received my undergrad from one college but took prerequisites from three other colleges. I was able to input all of them separately. THEN, OTCAS will take all of that and calculate your overall GPA. Your current 4-year college will have nothing to do with it.

If you apply to schools that don't use OTCAS, you will most likely send your official (sometimes unofficial depending on the school) directly to the school.

Hope that helps!

This is supremely helpful! Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.

-Rob

 

[occupationalguy]

Your community college credits will NOT be transferred to your current university. They are separate and OTCAS treats them that way. Your overall GPA will be calculated by OTCAS when you send in official transcripts (from both your current university and community college) and after you input all the courses and grades you received. OTCAS will let you fill in course and grade information for separate colleges attend. For example, I received my undergrad from one college but took prerequisites from three other colleges. I was able to input all of them separately. THEN, OTCAS will take all of that and calculate your overall GPA. Your current 4-year college will have nothing to do with it.

If you apply to schools that don't use OTCAS, you will most likely send your official (sometimes unofficial depending on the school) directly to the school.

Hope that helps!

You are right they are calculated separately by OTCAS. However, the school he applies to may elect to look at those calculations in different ways; how they interpret the grades is their choice. AKA, only looking at the last 60 credit hours earned, etc.