Program-Specific Info / Q's CSUDH OT PERSONAL ESSAY

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OTYoga

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Hi, I'm applying for 2016 cycle and wanted to know if a personal statement is required for the university. The department does not require it and slot to input the essay on CSUMentor seems like a generic form. I've already submitted the university application without the essay. Does anyone know if the department reads essays if it's in the application packet?
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Hi @OTYoga I didn't write one last year and I was accepted. It's definitely not required.
 
Smartpig25 said:
Hi @OTYoga I didn't write one last year and I was accepted. It's definitely not required.
Click to expand...

Do you know if your fellow cohorts wrote one? I was not planning to submit one since the department says that the essay does not influence the selection process. If you don't mind, can you please post your stats and the average stats of your cohorts? Besides for 100 hours volunteer, I don't have any work experience in related fields. I'm worried that this will negatively affect my chances.

Thanks, Smartpig25!
 
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OTYoga said:
Do you know if your fellow cohorts wrote one? I was not planning to submit one since the department says that the essay does not influence the selection process. If you don't mind, can you please post your stats and the average stats of your cohorts? Besides for 100 hours volunteer, I don't have any work experience in related fields. I'm worried that this will negatively affect my chances.

Thanks, Smartpig25!
Click to expand...

When/where did the department say that the essay does not influence the selection process?
 
Like I said in the other discussion, my only knowledge of whether to submit one or not is from an email response that I received last year that said, "You will not need to submit your statement of purpose as it is not a basis of admissions, but you may include it if you like." I know that other people in my cohort submitted one and they think that it was what made them stand out and be accepted. It is a personal choice on whether to submit one or not. I was submitting my application with only a couple days left til the deadline and I didn't want to submit one unless it was perfect. I didn't feel like writing one last minute would benefit me at all, but if you have one that you feel will help your application, do it! @OTYoga If you look at CSUDH Discussion on this site, you can see a bunch of stats of people that made it and didn't make it last year and in previous years. The stats really varied in all areas and there is no perfect set of stats that will guarantee admittance.

I'll re-post my stats here for you:

Undergrad GPA: 3.78
Prereqs: All A's, except for one B in stats
GRE: V-148 Q-150 AWA-4
Volunteer Hours: 82 at a pediatric clinic
3 great LORs

I also didn't have any other work related experience, so don't worry too much and just hope for the best!
 
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Smartpig25 said:
Like I said in the other discussion, my only knowledge of whether to submit one or not is from an email response that I received last year that said, "You will not need to submit your statement of purpose as it is not a basis of admissions, but you may include it if you like." I know that other people in my cohort submitted one and they think that it was what made them stand out and be accepted. It is a personal choice on whether to submit one or not. I was submitting my application with only a couple days left til the deadline and I didn't want to submit one unless it was perfect. I didn't feel like writing one last minute would benefit me at all, but if you have one that you feel will help your application, do it! @OTYoga If you look at CSUDH Discussion on this site, you can see a bunch of stats of people that made it and didn't make it last year and in previous years. The stats really varied in all areas and there is no perfect set of stats that will guarantee admittance.

I'll re-post my stats here for you:

Undergrad GPA: 3.78
Prereqs: All A's, except for one B in stats
GRE: V-148 Q-150 AWA-4
Volunteer Hours: 82 at a pediatric clinic
3 great LORs

I also didn't have any other work related experience, so don't worry too much and just hope for the best!
Click to expand...
I feel the same way about the essay. Since I haven't been working on one, don't want to submit a sub-par one.
Wow, your GPA is great! What was your undergrad degree in? I'm curious as to whether the type of majors influence admittance. My BA was in Art and I wonder if kines/bio degrees are more preferable. Also, my AWA was a 4, which I think should be at least a 4.5 since my GPA is not as high as yours. So nerve wrecking!!!

Thanks, Smartpig25, for the advice and stats!!! :)
 
OTYoga said:
I feel the same way about the essay. Since I haven't been working on one, don't want to submit a sub-par one.
Wow, your GPA is great! What was your undergrad degree in? I'm curious as to whether the type of majors influence admittance. My BA was in Art and I wonder if kines/bio degrees are more preferable. Also, my AWA was a 4, which I think should be at least a 4.5 since my GPA is not as high as yours. So nerve wrecking!!!

Thanks, Smartpig25, for the advice and stats!!! :)
Click to expand...
My BS was in Psychology. There are a lot of psych majors, some kines, bio, business, history, Japanese, music, etc. I wouldn't say that one degree is more preferred over another. I think that there may be commonalities in majors because of the types of people interested in OT.
 
OTYoga said:
Hi, I'm applying for 2016 cycle and wanted to know if a personal statement is required for the university. The department does not require it and slot to input the essay on CSUMentor seems like a generic form. I've already submitted the university application without the essay. Does anyone know if the department reads essays if it's in the application packet?
Click to expand...

@OTYoga I just tried to submit it without an essay, and it doesn't let me continue to the next page unless something is written. How did you do it? Thanks
 
cindylu said:
@OTYoga I just tried to submit it without an essay, and it doesn't let me continue to the next page unless something is written. How did you do it? Thanks
Click to expand...
To bypass the essay, you must write something like, "Essay submitted to department" in the allotted space. The directions are provided on the page. Good luck, Cindy! Hope to join you in next year's cohort!
 
Smartpig25 said:
My BS was in Psychology. There are a lot of psych majors, some kines, bio, business, history, Japanese, music, etc. I wouldn't say that one degree is more preferred over another. I think that there may be commonalities in majors because of the types of people interested in OT.
Click to expand...
How is your experience with the program so far? Is the work load manageable? Besides cost, what are some of the reasons why you chose CSUDH?
 
Did you guys apply through OTCAS? If you did, where on the application did you say that it was sent through OTCAS.
 
OTYoga said:
To bypass the essay, you must write something like, "Essay submitted to department" in the allotted space. The directions are provided on the page. Good luck, Cindy! Hope to join you in next year's cohort!
Click to expand...

Thanks OTYoga, hope we both get in! It's just that they don't require an essay in the application packet, and I won't be putting one in, so I don't want to write, "essay submitted to dept."
 
I called CSUDH last week and they said that although the CSU Mentor statement is not required, admissions does have the option to look at it so it may or may not help. They advised me to write one just in case! Hope this helps!
 
journeytoOT said:
I called CSUDH last week and they said that although the CSU Mentor statement is not required, admissions does have the option to look at it so it may or may not help. They advised me to write one just in case! Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Thanks, can I ask what was the number you used to reach them?
 
Hi! Have any of you submitted your packets yet?

I wrote an essay just in case, and took their Intro to OT class and got a really great LoR from the professor. My GPA is not great though. Fingers crossed for everyone!
 
OTYoga said:
How is your experience with the program so far? Is the work load manageable? Besides cost, what are some of the reasons why you chose CSUDH?
Click to expand...
I'm not going to lie, it is a tough program. While I was in the first couple semesters I was really stressed, but when I think back it doesn't seem as bad. The work load is manageable but it will seem harder when you are in it. Other than cost (which was the main factor), I chose CSUDH because of the setup of the program and the passion that I saw in Terry at the info session. Any program is going to get you to a degree, so make the best of your experience at whichever school you choose.

@cindylu Last year I wrote something like, "department does not require personal statement" in order to bypass it.
 
Thanks everyone!
 
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