New to this, do I stand a chance?

[aczerniak]

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I just graduated undergrad in June with a B.A. and am working full time right now at Northwestern doing clinical research (unrelated to OT) until I apply in the fall. Any advice on what I should do at this point or how to improve my application would be VERY much appreciated!!! Thank everyone!

Major: Psychology, Minor in Sociology
Overall GPA: 3.19
Pre-req GPA: Unsure (Still need to take A&P I&II, Med. Term, Human Development and a cadaver lab)
GRE: 148 Verbal, 142 Quantitative, 4.0 Writing (Probably will retake)
Observation: None yet
Applying to: UIC, Midwestern-IL, Rush, Chicago State, Governors State

Thanks guys! This forum is awesome! 🙂

 

[mgOT]

Hi aczerniak,

I am applying to OT schools for 2013-2014 and can offer some tips. Your overall GPA should improve if you do very well on your remaining pre-req courses. It will look more interesting if you try to gather 100+ observation hours in 3-4 settings. Try to shadow an OT long enough to write your LORs. Start early so you can use the experience for your personal statement. Visit the schools, if possible. Good luck! 🙂

 

[aczerniak]

Do you think all that can be done before the next application cycle or would I be pushing it?

 

[mgOT]

I don't know much about IL schools but I think Chicago State are still accepting applicants. I would double check. Your chances would be higher if you start early in time for next application cycle. Many schools have started sending out decisions by now. It is a good idea to work on improving your application now and start filling out applications over the summer as soon as they are open. For some schools, I submitted my application close to the deadlines but they are not on a rolling basis (they look at the applications after the deadline has passed). Another thing is that my GPA is close to yours but my pre-req GPA is much higher plus I have about 125 OT hours in 4 settings. One of the schools I applied to calculated my GPA based on completed courses since I was retaking/taking half of their pre-reqs, yet I got rejected since my pre-req GPA was not competitive at the time. In other posts, some schools, like Midwestern, have taken applicants with high GPA. Also, I am applying to schools that do not require GRE because I did not take it. So improve your pre-req GPA, GRE scores, gather a lot of OT hours - this will keep you busy 🙂