General Admissions & OTCAS Online prerequisites

[Islasoleil]

I'm a career changer and currently work full time in a job that's not related to OT at all. I only have one prerequisite done from undergrad so I will need to take a whole lot of community college classes in the future. I was wondering how schools feel if you take all of your prereqs online. I know that I will have to take A&P in the classroom because of the labs but I have found online classes for everything else. Looking around websites I only saw one school that specifically said no online classes but that made me worried that others feel the same way they just dont advertise it as much. I am just looking for some advice from people who have already gone through the admissions process. My life would just be so much easier if I could do as much as possible online.

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[mgeagle]

I did not do any prereqs online but from what others who have been through the process have shared with me is that it isn't much of an issue unless it's AP because of the labs. I believe on most transcripts it will just have the course name and number anyways so from what I understand they would not know it was online unless you told them outright.

 

[RedHeadOT]

I took a few of my classes online and I didn't have any problems during the admissions process. The only problems I can think of would be classes that have labs or if a school specifically states they do not accept online courses. I haven't seen any schools that don't accept online classes, but mgeagle has, so there might be a few out there.

 

[c2902]

Like you, I was a career-changer working nearly full time and also with a very disparate educational background that required me to take a boatload of prereqs, and so I applied to schools that accepted online coursework with the exception of A&P and Physics (not all schools want Physics, though); they were all clear that other than those courses, online classes were fine. I did come across at least one school that would not take any online classes (Tufts, specifically - I went to college in Boston, and was interested in moving back there if necessary), but it was clearly stated. If you have questions, you can always check with the admissions coordinator for the department, but otherwise, the schools seemed to be good about indicating what they would and would not accept. I did all of my courses at the local community college and still got into OT school, so they don't necessarily hold that against you! It's an attractive second career for many people, so you're definitely not the only one!

 

[dobber]

I don't think it's a big deal unless schools say "NO ONLINE CLASSES (aka Tufts)". Heck, some schools even accept A&P online, you know?

 

[bethygean]

I know LSU doesn't accept them and I'm pretty sure that Vanderbilt and meharry don't either. I'm kind of in the same boat but I have come across several that don't accept online courses

 

[Islasoleil]

Ok Tufts was the school that I saw too! Alright if they are the one of the only schools then screw it I'm taking classes online. I'm coming back from a not too hot undergrad gpa (3.1) so I want to take classes slowly one by one and online to make sure I do as well as possible. Thanks guys!

 

[Islasoleil]

Do Vanderbilt and meharry even have OT programs?

 

[dobber]

Do Vanderbilt and meharry even have OT programs?

I don't think so - but she may also be considering PT programs as well lol

 

[MarieChilds]

I took all of the pre-reqs except for A&P online, and I got into programs. So I took all of the psychology, medical terminology, statistics, sociology, etc. online. It was not a problem. It just has to be from an accredited college (community college is fine).