I am posting here, because everyone looks at this page...From one current 2nd year OT Student to you future OT's here are a few tips for applying that I can give to you with deep honesty no bullcrap.
#1
Don't pay attention to the US News & World Report Rankings, they don't matter. They were made in
2012 and are outdated anyway. "All the health rankings are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline. So essentially, it's a popularity contest amongst deans, people with a ton of power who make too much money, who vote highly for their friends.
---Do look at
NBCOT Pass Rates for schools. This will tell you how many pass OT school, and actually pass the exam OT students have to take in order to become an OT. It's all great and dandy if you can pass OT school, but if you can't pass the exam...then you wasted a ton of money for a terrible education. Just look at Tuskegee University if you don't believe me.
#2 Tuition is expensive, but so too is housing/cost of living in certain places in the US. Obviously at San Jose State University in the Bay Area of California, the rent will not be cheap...But in other places like rural TN or ND rent may be as low as $400 a month for a single bedroom w/no roommates.
Look into instate public schools as well.
UW-LaCrosse for example if you're from MN or WI, offers Tuition for
$5,400 a semester...$38,000 for the program? Not bad at all. Especially when you compare to other places like outrageous places like...
Creighton is super expensive their own website assumes the program will cost you roughly
$210,000, and in Nebraska!!!!!!...That's medical school debt for not the salary of a doctor. so do your research before you apply to specific schools...
#3 Look at the requirements of your school you are applying to and read them carefully. Here is one I gathered from Jefferson College of Health Sciences...
- An earned Baccalaureate degree with a recommended! GPA of 3.0 or higher
- Completion of the following pre-requisite coursework:
- 6-8 credits in courses pertaining! to anatomical systems such as human anatomy, kinesiology, human physiology, and exercise science. This means essentially that if you did awful at anatomy, they can look at your A's in exercise science and kinesiology classes.
- A minimum of 50 documented hours of observation (is preferred not REQUIRED)!
---And then of course you have your other programs that require 2 Chemistry's and 1 Physics class. We are not going to apply to Medical School...If you have them, great, go ahead and apply, otherwise it's a waste of your undergrad money to spend on expensive 4-5 credit classes.
Ask questions at your interview, can you see yourself there? Yes, if it's the only school you get into then it is hard to choose. But you are interviewing them too, they want to see an interest in their program. My program let's us choose where we do our Level II clinical Sites anywhere in the US as long as they can get an agreement in two years...child's play. It's nice, I can essentially get a job in the area I want to be in.
---Some places place you and you don't get a choice.
That's all for now. Sorry for the rants. Hope you actually read it all. Good luck folks!