General Admissions & OTCAS Current students: what's your schedule like?

[mcatcar]

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Hey guys! I'm just trying to get a general idea of what life will be like as an OT grad student. Obviously it's different for every program and every person, I'm just curious.

So I wanna know your school, program type, and what year you're in. Do you get to have much of a social life? Do you work? Basically I just want a kind of "day in your life" view.

Thanks!


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[RUNNING_OT]

Hey guys! I'm just trying to get a general idea of what life will be like as an OT grad student. Obviously it's different for every program and every person, I'm just curious.

So I wanna know your school, program type, and what year you're in. Do you get to have much of a social life? Do you work? Basically I just want a kind of "day in your life" view.

Thanks!


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I am currently in my 2nd semester at Sacred Heart. The first semester was really tough to have a job, but I know some people did. It all depends on you, though. Some people can handle it and others can't. It also depends on the job. I know a classmate teaches Barre classes, so it was her workout and a way to get her money all at once. This semester is so much easier to manage. My classes start no earlier than 11am except on Fridays. I am usually done by 5 and 7 on Monday and Tuesdays, on Wednesday I am done by 3, and Fridays I am done by 2:30. This makes it perfect for my babysitting job. Thursdays I don't have classes so I use that as mu day to get much of my work done.

 

[julianac4]

Like you said, it totally depends on the program! I think it depends on not only the program but also how you function as a student. I think I do better when I have more scheduled because I can better prioritize and plan out. The busier I am the more focused I am when I have some free time to get things done. I personally held 2 jobs over my first two semesters and worked everyday during the week and used my weekends to get my homework done. My classes are morning heavy and it left the afternoons open to work and study. I know most of my peers don't work and spend a lot of time studying. I definitely devote a lot of time outside of class time to school work but I also keep myself in check and try to plan fun things to do outside of school, I don't want it to consume my life. My biggest piece of advice is to get out of the undergrad mentality of "I need to get an A to maintain a good GPA to get into grad school" and focus more on understanding the material. I found when I focused less on getting straight A's and more about understanding I retained the schoolwork better and it allowed more time for me. I've noticed the people who care a lot about grades still are the ones who are absorbed in grad school life and don't take care of themselves. Learn the information, do your best, but don't let grad school being the only occupation you attend to!

 

[FloridaOT23]

Second year OT student here at Nova. I have class Monday 9am-4pm, Tuesday 9am-3pm, Wednesday we go to Level 1 Fieldwork from 8am-5pm, Thursday 9am-12pm, and off on Fridays. We have a lot of time off this semester because we are also in our Leadership class and have to complete 28 hours of Leadership Fieldwork at the site that we were placed at and we have to schedule that in to our weeks on our own. Plus, we are all in research groups and spend a lot of time outside of class working on our research project. We have SO MANY group projects in our program, so all times that we are not in class, we are working with our groups on various projects. So we do end up being on campus pretty much all day every day. I do have a small job with Special Olympics where I co-teach a nutrition class to adults with intellectual disabilities on Fridays, so I am also busy with that. I held a more regular job during my first year, but with the added scheduling of Level 1 Fieldwork and Research in the second year, it was too difficult to keep my job. There are others in my class who have managed to keep a job but it has to be a job that doesn't start until 4 or 5pm each evening or on weekends.

 

[2016OTHopeful]

Hi! I'm a first year student at USC. We are split into 3 cohorts, and the cohorts have fieldwork on different days of the week, but my schedule this semester goes: Classes from 9-4 (1 hour lunch) Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Then fieldwork on Thursdays, 9-4 or so (this totally depends on your CI's schedule, and what setting you're in). I have chosen to keep working during the program, which does limit how much socialization I can fit in. But, I find there are plenty of opportunities to socialize with classmates, and always something going on around town.

Balancing school and work takes some patience, and a couple of glasses of wine when midterms time rolls around 🙂 But, it's not awful. It totally depends on the person - I know others who also work during the program, and some who tried but weren't able to find a balance that worked for them. I currently work around ~10 hours a week, which lets me maintain my sanity (mostly). I will likely quit that job this summer, though, as I anticipate it being too much when level II fieldwork starts this summer.