Interested in OT with a few questions

[undergradx]

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Hi. I'm going into my sophomore year of undergrad at UM ann arbor and wondering if OT is right for me. I know for sure I want to do something therapy related (PT, OT, etc). - I am very passionate about helping people one-on-one.

The problem is, I'm not sure if I have a shot at it. My freshman year was NOT good, and I got quite a rude awakening (3.2ish gpa). My first question is, will that be a problem?

Second, I have done research but I can't find any clear cut prerequisites that I must take - that would be very helpful.

Third, and I don't mean to come off rude, but how come a lot of people's prerequisite gpa is significantly higher than their actual gpa? It seems like the prerequisites themselves are tougher classes. My prerequisite gpa is probably quite lower. Is there any way to improve your prerequisite gpa?

Anyways, if I work really hard, might OT be for me? Thanks, any help is appreciated!

 

[otsomeday]

1. I got accepted to a program with a cum 3.2ish gpa so your fine .

2. The pre-reqs are slightly different for each school so choose some schools and research their websites as they are always online.

3. The Pre-reqs are pretty easy classes. Psychology/arts classes/med terminology boost the gpa. Anatomy/physiology are a little tougher.

Just do some volunteering and narrow it down to what you want to do and keep your gpa above 3.2 and you will be fine.

 

[Toby Tulsa]

the reason many students prereq gpa is higher than cum gpa is that many were taken after we graduated from college with an unrelated major. (I graduated with an outdoor rec degree and had to take 3 semesters of prereqs, which I did at local community college) So, this time we are more mature and motivated. Also agree that a 3.2 as a base is just fine and would expect that you will do better these next 3 years. UM Ann Arbor is also an excellently regarded school so your gpa looks even better coming from there.

 

[CurlyHairedGirl]

In my case, my pre-requisite GPA will be much higher than my undergraduate GPA because I was making D's in Assembly Language Programming, Junior Physics Lab and stuff like that. 🙂 But that was 15-20 years ago. However, I'm doing myself a disservice because I'm headed toward a B in one of the pre-reqs now.

Since you have lots of time, you can probably take classes that meet the pre-requisites at a variety of grad schools.

For OT, almost all schools (maybe 90% of the ones I've looked at) seem to require:
- Intro to statistics or Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences (taught in the Psych dept)
- 1-2 semesters of developmental psych. Developmental Psychology across the Lifespan is one possible title. I'd play it safe and take a 2 semester sequence or one course in childhood development psych and one course in adult lifespan.
- Abnormal Psychology (some undergrad schools require that you have to take intro to psych before taking abnormal psych, and sometimes it is required as a pre-req so take it)
- 2 semesters of a progressive Anatomy and Physiology course, or 1 semester of Anatomy and 1 semester of Physiology. Some schools will say that you have to take it with an in-person lab instead of online.

About half the schools want you to show coursework in English Composition, Technical Writing or other work that shows you have a solid grasp on the writing you will need to do in grad school.

Other courses frequently mentioned are:
Introduction to Psychology
Introduction to Sociology
Cultural Anthropology, which is sometimes taught out of the Sociology department.
Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences
Kinesthesiology
Neuroscience, Neurobiology, Physical Psychology or something like that that focuses on the interaction of Psychology with the Biology of the Brain.
Medical Terminology 1-3 credits. Not all schools require this to be a for-credit class and will let you take a test to prove your knowledge. But since you have 3 years left, why not take a class.
Some sort of "Occupation" course which involves social interaction, doing things with your hands that requires some thinking. Dance performance, woodworking... Check out University of N. Carolina to see one example of what they want.

A few OT schools, and more of the PT schools want you to take
2 semesters of Chemistry for science majors with lab, for 8 hours
2 semesters of Biology for science majors with lab, for 8 hours
1-2 semesters of Physics, although sometimes they say Kinesthesiology is interchangeable with the Physics requirement.


My personal suggestion would be to work on becoming reasonably comfortable in Spanish (if you took 2 years in high school, take another 1-2 years + a Medical Spanish class)

Do tons and tons of observation hours in occupational therapy and physical therapy to help you decide which you want to do. I'd also look at shadowing audiologists/speech therapists and physician's assistants because those are also common careers.

 

[Sunny324]

I did my undergrad at UofM too!

A 3.2 GPA may be "bad" at UofM but it's pretty good in the real world. 🙂 Stay focused on your studies and it'll only go up. I didn't know I wanted to do OT until after I graduated, but thankfully I took many of the OT prerequisites there because I majored in psychology. Here's some of what you can take at UofM that'll cover many of the prerequisites at OT schools:

Intro Psychology PSYCH 111
Abnormal Psychology PSYCH 270
Developmental Psychology (it covers the lifespan) PSYCH 250
Research Methods in Psychology PSYCH 303
Intro Sociology SOC 100 and/or Intro Anthropology ANTHRCUL 100
Statistics STATS 350
Anatomy w/lab MOVESCI 230 (not sure if UofM has a lab for this)
Physiology w/lab PHYSIOL 201 + PHYSIOL 404

CurlyHairedGirl's post above covers the rest.

 

[undergradx]

Sunny, do you know if the lower level/upper level writing requirment classes would satisfy the english composition/technical writing requirement? Even if they aren't specifically classes within the english department?

Other than that, thanks for so much useful info - this will really help me get started!! I'm excited I finally have something to be passionate about and work towards. Thanks!

 

[Sunny324]

That is a good question. The schools I'm applying to (GVSU and WMU) do not require an english composition course, so I haven't looked into it. If you were interested in a grad school with that requirement you could call an advisor there and ask. If you explain the whole ULWR thing to them they might count it.