General Admissions & OTCAS Left OT school and now regret it....

[OTnDogs]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking around SDN OTD for a while and thought I might share my current situation and past experiences for input.
About 5 years ago, I attended OT school for approx. 1.5 years as entry-level MSOT student. I left the school on good terms (no academic issue) and went back to previous career. Years later, I began volunteering and tasked with helping others with purposeful activities. These duties awoke my desire for OT again. This time, OT models in all practicality, finally made sense to me. I easily gathered tons of OT shadowing hours, along with years of experience working with cognitively challenged volunteers performing meaningful tasks, and decided to pursue OT again. I started where I left off and this school now only admits entry-level MSOT students ONCE a year (this is different from when I attended in the past)! One of the professors from the program told me I would need to apply this Summer for Fall 2016! This sounds incredibly unrealistic! This school is local to me and the sole reason I even reside in the area (I moved here to attend OT school years ago). I have other schools to consider, but they are 100 miles on way. I am considering the weekend programs too. Please note I can not easily relocate as I own my home.
My credentials are as follows:
-Undergrad in environmental science from long ago (I am mid-career)
-(2) Master's degrees, one in business and one in technology
-prereqs are completed
-Many years professional work experience at F500 corp in r&d and IT
-Several years implementing animal-assisted therapeutic interventions for volunteers with developmental challenges (this is my niche)

Any feedback is greatly appreciated as I am feeling defeated and trying not to lose faith. Thank you.

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[OTgirl29]

As someone who was recently rejected from almost every school I applied to (j have good stats too), I can say that the field has become very competitve to get into, significantly probably since you were in OT school. But if you feel OT is your calling, then you should get back into it! You will need to get creative and dig deep to find a way to demonstrate your renewed passion for the field and how you will explain that to them. With how many applications schools get, they don't want to see someone "floundering" in the field, they want to see someone who is 100 percent dedicated to becoming an OT and their program. Also, it's very common to have to relocate these days for school, as it's so competitve. So on that note, you may have to be patient with getting into the schools in your location if you can't relocate. Best of luck to you!

 

[weaver84]

Did you finish your prerequisites within 5 years of your application date this summer? A lot of schools require this of science classes like A&P. Also, to note, if you have 1 undergrad, 2 master's degrees, and an incomplete 1.5 master's, consider your debt. All the programs I've seen on average will cost $60-100k on tuition alone. You've probably blown through your loan limits (138,500 includes loans as undergrad too) federally and will have to borrow privately (wells fargo, citizens, SunTrust, etc.). If money isn't an issue, then welcome back OT is very rewarding and if you took the time to volunteer so much of your own time I think that's a great sign! p.s. I love animal assisted therapy!! PM me if you can share your experiences with this!

 

[Chanandler Bong]

You would definitely need to discuss why you left, why you decided to back, and why you wouldn't leave again.

I think it would be harder to make that kind of case to a school that you voluntarily left, no matter what your reason for leaving was. If there are faculty you've remained close to, maybe you have a chance. If one of them wrote you a letter of recommendation, I think that would help tremendously.

If you left due to lack of interest (I may be totally off base, but your post kind of alluded to that), I think it would be easier if you changed something -- ex., you found that you wanted a more research/teaching oriented program and are pursuing the OTD instead, or you found that you actually wanted to do PT instead of OT. There has to be a clear, non-emotional reason why you aren't going down the same path to do the same thing and make the same mistakes and decide it's all just not for you.

 

[OTnDogs]

Did you finish your prerequisites within 5 years of your application date this summer? A lot of schools require this of science classes like A&P. Also, to note, if you have 1 undergrad, 2 master's degrees, and an incomplete 1.5 master's, consider your debt. All the programs I've seen on average will cost $60-100k on tuition alone. You've probably blown through your loan limits (138,500 includes loans as undergrad too) federally and will have to borrow privately (wells fargo, citizens, SunTrust, etc.). If money isn't an issue, then welcome back OT is very rewarding and if you took the time to volunteer so much of your own time I think that's a great sign! p.s. I love animal assisted therapy!! PM me if you can share your experiences with this!

To answer your questions; some of my prereqs were completed as an undergrad many moons ago and some were completed while in the entry-level MSOT program. I have no student debt One of my graduate degrees was funded from my employer. The others I paid out of pocket. Only debt is my mortgage. Yes, animal-assisted therapy is my thing as I've spend several years coordinating and managing a dog walking program at the locl Humane Society. I train all new volunteers in safely walking our dogs and socializing our cats. Many of our volunteers have challenges and I work hard to identify their obstacles to being the most productive, purposeful volunteers! Plus, the enrichment provided by the volunteers helps the animals get adopted. Win/win all around And yes, my volunteer hours and tasks equate to being staff

 

[OTnDogs]

You would definitely need to discuss why you left, why you decided to back, and why you wouldn't leave again.

I think it would be harder to make that kind of case to a school that you voluntarily left, no matter what your reason for leaving was. If there are faculty you've remained close to, maybe you have a chance. If one of them wrote you a letter of recommendation, I think that would help tremendously.

If you left due to lack of interest (I may be totally off base, but your post kind of alluded to that), I think it would be easier if you changed something -- ex., you found that you wanted a more research/teaching oriented program and are pursuing the OTD instead, or you found that you actually wanted to do PT instead of OT. There has to be a clear, non-emotional reason why you aren't going down the same path to do the same thing and make the same mistakes and decide it's all just not for you.

Yes, the entire experience is identified and discussed thoroughly in my personal statement. Lack of interest, maybe..more like unable to connect the dots between theoretical concepts of the classroom and what tasks I would actually be paid to perform in the workforce. I did no shadowing of OT prior to being accepted. At that time, this was not a requirement. I had little practical understanding of OT concepts and school focused on theory. This time around, I have the shadowing and now know being an OT in practicality is nothing like being an OT student. Also, I had to burn out in IT to learn from the experience and grow as a person and let go of materialism.

 

[FutureOT10]

To answer your question about applying, you will most definitely want to apply over the summer/by September in order to have a shot for Fall 2016. Not sure if this was in effect when you first applied, but now most schools go through a centralized application service (OTCAS) and that can take some processing. Even if your school doesn't use OTCAS, it is so competitive that you want to get your application in ASAP. If you aren't willing to relocate, you will most definitely want to get your application in by early fall at the latest.

 

[CAots]

It seems like it gets more and more competitive each year just to get an acceptance to OT school, and that is especially true if it is one of the handful of affordable programs out there. Even though you first entered OT school just 5 years ago, the admissions climate is very different today. I personally know some people that have applied multiple times over a few years just to get an acceptance. At my school, they did away with the bs to ms program, and the number of applications coming in jumps each year. I think there is a really good quality of student entering the program, but I also wonder if it just favors those with good grades/test taking ability at the expense of some potentially really great OTs. Personally, I think it has become ridiculous. It seems like it is only going to get worse when the transition is made to requiring an entry level doctorate. It will be even more time and effort and money to enter this profession. If you decide to go for it again I wish you the best of luck. You must know better than most what's ahead of you!

 

[Confusedandlostone]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking around SDN OTD for a while and thought I might share my current situation and past experiences for input.
About 5 years ago, I attended OT school for approx. 1.5 years as entry-level MSOT student. I left the school on good terms (no academic issue) and went back to previous career. Years later, I began volunteering and tasked with helping others with purposeful activities. These duties awoke my desire for OT again. This time, OT models in all practicality, finally made sense to me. I easily gathered tons of OT shadowing hours, along with years of experience working with cognitively challenged volunteers performing meaningful tasks, and decided to pursue OT again. I started where I left off and this school now only admits entry-level MSOT students ONCE a year (this is different from when I attended in the past)! One of the professors from the program told me I would need to apply this Summer for Fall 2016! This sounds incredibly unrealistic! This school is local to me and the sole reason I even reside in the area (I moved here to attend OT school years ago). I have other schools to consider, but they are 100 miles on way. I am considering the weekend programs too. Please note I can not easily relocate as I own my home.
My credentials are as follows:
-Undergrad in environmental science from long ago (I am mid-career)
-(2) Master's degrees, one in business and one in technology
-prereqs are completed
-Many years professional work experience at F500 corp in r&d and IT
-Several years implementing animal-assisted therapeutic interventions for volunteers with developmental challenges (this is my niche)

Any feedback is greatly appreciated as I am feeling defeated and trying not to lose faith. Thank you.

Well, at least you left on good terms......some of us were forced to withdraw due to "unfavorable" circumstances LOL