How can I improve my application?

[GeckoJones]

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I graduated in May of 2011 with a B.S. in Exercise Science and I have been working part-time as an OT aide since then.

This year I applied to University of Florida (my top choice), Eastern Carolina University, NOVA Southeastern, and Towson University. I received "denied" letters from all 4 universities.

I've only received generic responses from these universities regarding how I can improve my application for the future. Can you please provide an insight as to where the weakest part of my application might be, so that I can improve it for 2014?

I know one of my problems was that I was "last-minute" for all of my applications, meaning I turned it in the last week or two that applications were being accepted instead of the first week or two.

• My overall GPA is 2.95 and my last 60 hours GPA was around a 3.1.
• I've taken the GRE twice, with my best scores being 143 Verbal, 148 Quantitative, 3.5 Analytical.
• I have over 1200 hours of experience between 3 different OT clinics/hospitals, including 160 hours from 2 internships. So experience definitely isn't my problem; in fact, I thought these kinds of hours would really benefit my application?
• I have over 350 hours of volunteer work.
• I was a member (and captain my senior year) of a varsity sport for all 4 years of undergrad.
• My personal statement/essays generally focused on:
  • How I initially had pursued a PT path, but what drew me to OT and what differences I identified between the two.
  • How important hands-on learning is, which I experienced during my 1200+ hours of OT experience.
  • How I would like to raise awareness of the OT field.

Thanks for any insight that can be provided!

 

[mlc54]

Is there any way you can boost your GPA? My suggestion would be to retake pre-req classes since many schools want AT LEAST a 3.0 as a minimum GPA, other programs may want it higher. The more you are able to do to boost it, the better of you will be! (Although I'm not sure how that "last 60 hours" thing works since none of the schools I applied to have it).

Also, who did you get to write you letters of recommendation? Make sure you got people who know you on a personal basis and can REALLY assess your abilities (versus just asking a professor you had for a class that you got an 'A' in...while this is okay, unless you've had multiple conversations with them, the most they can say about you is "This student earned an 'A' in my class").

Lastly, all of the admissions counselors from different schools that I talked to said that they mostly look to make sure you have at least the minimum amount of observation hours they require and that they don't typically give people with more any sort of "special consideration". My suggestion would be to talk about your experience(s) with OT in your personal statement or any personal connection you were able to make with the field since (as I'm sure you already know) each program wants to know that you're serious about OT as a career choice.

Make sure that you apply early next time around! Feel free to message me if you have any questions or anything...I didn't apply to any of the schools you did, but maybe I can still help. Good luck! 🙂

 

[GeckoJones]

Thanks so much for your thorough reply!

Is there any way you can boost your GPA? My suggestion would be to retake pre-req classes since many schools want AT LEAST a 3.0 as a minimum GPA, other programs may want it higher. The more you are able to do to boost it, the better of you will be! (Although I'm not sure how that "last 60 hours" thing works since none of the schools I applied to have it).

So your recommendation is that my GPA is the currently my weakest "factor" in my application? That does make sense, I'll see what classes I can cram in between now and next year's applications.

Do you think that retaking the GRE would help me, or is it not worth taking the time, energy, and money away from improving something else on my application (including all those classes for my GPA)?

 

[mlc54]

Do you think that retaking the GRE would help me, or is it not worth taking the time, energy, and money away from improving something else on my application (including all those classes for my GPA)?

I think you're fine with the 2 times since (in my opinion) after you take it the 2nd time your score might not improve much (if at all). Plus, your scores seemed right around the middle range, which I think many schools are looking for that.

The GRE is only 1 factor of many that schools look at, and I think that many look more at your GPA, letters of recommendation, observation hours, etc. So I don't think taking the GRE again would be worth your time or money since you did well already! 🙂

 

[dobber]

I would take the GRE again, take fluff classes to get your GPA over a 3.0 and go from there

 

[OTBro]

Simple:

1. Retake the general OT prereqs at your local community college and get A's in them, especially A&P I and II

2. Take some time to really study for the GRE. Go through a GRE prep book and cram as much "GRE vocab" into your brain as possible. There are tons of lists online for words commonly found on the GRE..learn them all. I found it useful to memorize word groups that can be associated together and will help with memorization. Also, for the math section just keep doing problems over and over and over again, you will start to see patterns in what ETS is looking for in solving certain types of problems.

3. Lots of OT hours are great; now try to diversify your hours and get exposure to different types of OT settings that you haven't observed yet

4. If I were you, I wouldn't devote more than a sentence or two of your personal statement on how you were first interested in PT. Schools might feel like you are only doing OT because you couldn't get into PT. Make it really clear you are passionate about OT and this is indeed the field your really want to be in!

Good luck!

 

[GeckoJones]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Between all the answers from you guys and from the schools, it looks like GPA is the biggest thing I can work on, so I'm enrolled in two summer classes now.

In undergrad, I took Human Physiology and Anatomy as two separate standalone courses, instead of A&P I & II.
If I chose to take A&P I now, would it benefit me at all without taking part II?

 

[c2902]

Thanks everyone for the responses! Between all the answers from you guys and from the schools, it looks like GPA is the biggest thing I can work on, so I'm enrolled in two summer classes now.

In undergrad, I took Human Physiology and Anatomy as two separate standalone courses, instead of A&P I & II.
If I chose to take A&P I now, would it benefit me at all without taking part II?

Well, it depends on how the school breaks up the two courses in terms of content. At the community college where I did my prereqs, A&P I was the course where you did bones and muscles, plus cell biology and a couple of systems (cardiac and respiratory). A&P II was all the rest of the systems, including neurology, which is important to OT. If you did poorly in both of your previous classes, I would just take both over again and try get an A in each.

 

[c2902]

Also - I know that at Towson, they look at the "numbers" first - ie, your GRE, etc - and then weed people out automatically (friend who applied there was told this by the admissions person). I also know that they got over 600 applications this year, when only two years ago, they only got 200. If you are concerned about getting in somewhere, you might want to do what a lot of us did for undergrad and throw in a "safety" school - a place where you'd still want to go, but might not be so hard to get into. To be quite honest, EVERYONE I talked to about applying to OT programs said that "prestige" does not matter - go where you can afford, where is convenient, where you can feasibly get in, etc.

 

[prodigiousflame]

none of the community colleges around here have A + P 1 and 2, just the stand alone classes which is what I took. I thought that was okay?

 

[GeckoJones]

none of the community colleges around here have A + P 1 and 2, just the stand alone classes which is what I took. I thought that was okay?

That is absolutely ok, that's what I did too - I wasn't saying it was wrong. I'd like to improve my grade in those sections, and where I am located now only offers the A&P I & II, and I'm wondering if I need to take both 1 and 2 in order for it to really replace my scores from the stand alone courses I took.

 

[c2902]

none of the community colleges around here have A + P 1 and 2, just the stand alone classes which is what I took. I thought that was okay?

I'm sure it's fine - the schools generally just want 6-8 credits, no matter how it's broken up. My point was more that if the OP is looking to retake classes to replace poor grades in previous iterations, they may want to make sure they the re-take the same material, since the school might want to see good grades in all of the A&P coursework.

 

[RedDevilOT]

Also - I know that at Towson, they look at the "numbers" first - ie, your GRE, etc - and then weed people out automatically (friend who applied there was told this by the admissions person). I also know that they got over 600 applications this year, when only two years ago, they only got 200. If you are concerned about getting in somewhere, you might want to do what a lot of us did for undergrad and throw in a "safety" school - a place where you'd still want to go, but might not be so hard to get into. To be quite honest, EVERYONE I talked to about applying to OT programs said that "prestige" does not matter - go where you can afford, where is convenient, where you can feasibly get in, etc.

c2902- I was under the impression Towson didn't look at GRE scores (at least that's what the website says). Do you mean though that cGPA, prereq GPA, and such are most important to them? Can you or your friend give anymore insight into Towson's review process? It's my #1 at the moment but there's not a whole lot of information on these threads about it. Thanks!

 

[c2902]

c2902- I was under the impression Towson didn't look at GRE scores (at least that's what the website says). Do you mean though that cGPA, prereq GPA, and such are most important to them? Can you or your friend give anymore insight into Towson's review process? It's my #1 at the moment but there's not a whole lot of information on these threads about it. Thanks!

My friend who applied, and who spoke to the admissions person, told me that they told her that they look at the numbers first (the GPAs, I'm guessing, and no, she did not say which ones mattered more to them) - and only after that point, do they take into account anything else. I did not apply there as I had no interest in moving to the Baltimore area (I'm in NOVA). But the sense I get from talking to a lot of people who have gone through this process is that some schools are really fixated on the "numbers", and while their minimum might state one thing, that's not really where they make the cut-off. That was kind of the sense I got from talking to my friend who applied to Towson. Sorry I don't have more info for you. But I do know that their application pool jumped IMMENSELY in the past two years, whereas that was not the case with some other schools. So I think they got very, very competitive very quickly.

 

[RedDevilOT]

My friend who applied, and who spoke to the admissions person, told me that they told her that they look at the numbers first (the GPAs, I'm guessing, and no, she did not say which ones mattered more to them) - and only after that point, do they take into account anything else. I did not apply there as I had no interest in moving to the Baltimore area (I'm in NOVA). But the sense I get from talking to a lot of people who have gone through this process is that some schools are really fixated on the "numbers", and while their minimum might state one thing, that's not really where they make the cut-off. That was kind of the sense I got from talking to my friend who applied to Towson. Sorry I don't have more info for you. But I do know that their application pool jumped IMMENSELY in the past two years, whereas that was not the case with some other schools. So I think they got very, very competitive very quickly.

That makes sense. Maybe I'll start calling admissions at some schools to get a feel for what they're looking at first...that way I can determine where I might have a chance. Thanks for the info!