OT student considering medical school -- looking for input

[lightredfloyd]

Hi, all

I'm a first year Occupational Therapy student considering medical school and I was looking for some input about the following issues:

1. Should I wait until after graduation to take the plunge or cut my losses and start now in order to save money and time?

2. I had a winding path to get to OT, let alone medical school (BA in psych -> gap year taking chemistry and anatomy/physiology at a community college). Should I try for a postbacc? Would the community college prerequisites work against me since they're chem and anatomy? Would any of my graduate school courses count/look good if I did well (I'm proud of my A in gross anatomy w/ cadaver lab lol; also hoping to get As in neuroanatomy & neurophysiology at the graduate level).

3. I have work/volunteer experience in the following roles: PT aide, OT volunteer (both outpatient), home health aide, social work intern in a hospital, intern at a community mental health center, and I have my mental health fieldwork rotation under my belt. I realize that I need hours shadowing a physician but would any of these experiences help me?

4. I have the following research experience: Research assistant in a psych lab in undergrad, "transcriber" for a study in grad school (a professor told me to use this but I'm still unsure of what that even means so idk how to count it), currently working on designing a research project as part of my grad school coursework (of course I'd lose this if I decided to drop out). Is this relevant? Should I look for more/more relevant research experience as a nontraditional applicant?

5. What general tips would you have for a nontraditional applicant?

I apologize for the voluminous nature of this post, but any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

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[mmchick]

I'll try to summarize via series of points-

1. Regarding whether to drop OT, not familiar with this track at all, so couldn't tell you implications on that side of things. What I will say is dropping one graduate program to jump ship to medical school rarely looks good as they will question whether you will do that for med school as you have done for OT. Also likely to question how sure you are of medicine considering you've already started another program and gone through all the trials/tribulations to get yourself there for that career.
2. Postbacc entirely depends on your uGPA. Generally, uGPA/sGPA 3.3-3.5 would be good candidates for DIY postbacc repair. uGPA 3.1-3.2 would be good for formal postbacc (especially if you still need pre-reqs/worry about performance/caliber of those). uGPA/sGPA <3.0 likely need SMP (preferably with med school linker).
3. Graduate GPA is considered outside of uGPA. Whatever you've gotten gGPA will be a different number and typically will not be used as repair/justification for a low uGPA (though DO schools are more relaxed about this than MD). But, gGPA is important if you have one and definitely excelling in these is super important as it hurts more to do poorly than helps to do well.
4. Taking pre-reqs at community college vs 4-year depends on situation.. since you received a BA and had pre-reqs to make up after graduation, taking these at cc is less likely to be an issue as it was the situation you were in. The bulk of your pre-reqs hopefully were taken at a 4-year just for safe's sake though.
5. Research is for bonus points. Unless you intend on T10 schools, the type, rigor, publication nature, etc. are not all too important. Clinical experience is by far more important which you seem to have a lot of, and diversified at that.
6. Yes, you'll definitely need MD/DO shadowing (DO necessary only if you're intending on DO route).

What I will say is your biggest hurdle (assuming your GPAs are sufficient and you do well on the MCAT) is likely to be convincing adcoms that you're actually meant for medical school and not OT/other medical related professions. You'll have to get a ton of physician shadowing to help create evidence for this and will need to start thinking of what your narrative will be to be thoroughly convincing on applications and in interview. They will not take the chance on someone who is just bemused about being a physician but still as unsure as you are now while considering flip-flopping related careers. Medical schools are super sensitive/protective S.O. in this regard and don't like the prospect of taking on a student who will possibly leave them for someone else.

I could probably give more advice regarding next step academically-wise if you give more information about your GPAs (uGPA/sGPA, gGPA) and prospects for MCAT. I would estimate, given that the stats pull through, you'll likely need 1-2 years to craft this narrative that shows your unhesitant newfound commitment to medicine.

 

[JDPT]

You're in kind of a similar situation I was in! I'm currently practicing as a PT who is starting medical school in the fall. I graduated PT school in 2017, been practicing in acute care and decided to go to medical school.

I think the first thing you need to do is really reflect on why medical school instead of OT school. If you decide that medicine is where you want to be, there are 2 routes that you can take. Each of them have their pros and cons. First route: Quit OT school and start a post-bac. You'll save money and time by doing this, but you'll also have to find ways to get clinical experience outside of being an OT. Like what is said above, you'd need to do a ton of shadowing a physician and really tell your story well in order to convince adcoms why you quit OT school and are pursuing medicine instead.

Second route is to finish OT school, and practice OT for a couple of years. The drawback is that this is more expensive and stressful, but if you ultimately like occupational therapy then this would be a good option too. The nice thing about this route is that you can count your fieldwork experiences as clinical experiences for medical school as well as whatever length of time you spend as a practicing OT. During this time, you can take whatever courses you need to apply for medical school, while also studying for the MCAT. I was working fulltime while studying for my MCAT. It's difficult but doable.

Ultimately, only you can decide what to do. Just make sure you are ABSOLUTELY, 1000% SURE that medicine is the only career for you.

 

[CTPREMED24]

You're in kind of a similar situation I was in! I'm currently practicing as a PT who is starting medical school in the fall. I graduated PT school in 2017, been practicing in acute care and decided to go to medical school.

I think the first thing you need to do is really reflect on why medical school instead of OT school. If you decide that medicine is where you want to be, there are 2 routes that you can take. Each of them have their pros and cons. First route: Quit OT school and start a post-bac. You'll save money and time by doing this, but you'll also have to find ways to get clinical experience outside of being an OT. Like what is said above, you'd need to do a ton of shadowing a physician and really tell your story well in order to convince adcoms why you quit OT school and are pursuing medicine instead.

Second route is to finish OT school, and practice OT for a couple of years. The drawback is that this is more expensive and stressful, but if you ultimately like occupational therapy then this would be a good option too. The nice thing about this route is that you can count your fieldwork experiences as clinical experiences for medical school as well as whatever length of time you spend as a practicing OT. During this time, you can take whatever courses you need to apply for medical school, while also studying for the MCAT. I was working fulltime while studying for my MCAT. It's difficult but doable.

Ultimately, only you can decide what to do. Just make sure you are ABSOLUTELY, 1000% SURE that medicine is the only career for you.

I was in the exact same situation as well. I'm currently a PT (graduated in 2017) in the outpatient setting, starting med school in the Fall.

I definitely agree with your take on the two options. The second route is doable, even with taking classes and studying for the MCAT all the while continuing to work full-time. In a sense, I think having some experience as a PT helped me in in the application and interview process that wouldn't have been the case had I quit PT school and started a post-bacc. If you are committed and know it is what you want, you will find a way!

 

[lightredfloyd]

I'll try to summarize via series of points-

1. Regarding whether to drop OT, not familiar with this track at all, so couldn't tell you implications on that side of things. What I will say is dropping one graduate program to jump ship to medical school rarely looks good as they will question whether you will do that for med school as you have done for OT. Also likely to question how sure you are of medicine considering you've already started another program and gone through all the trials/tribulations to get yourself there for that career.
2. Postbacc entirely depends on your uGPA. Generally, uGPA/sGPA 3.3-3.5 would be good candidates for DIY postbacc repair. uGPA 3.1-3.2 would be good for formal postbacc (especially if you still need pre-reqs/worry about performance/caliber of those). uGPA/sGPA <3.0 likely need SMP (preferably with med school linker).
3. Graduate GPA is considered outside of uGPA. Whatever you've gotten gGPA will be a different number and typically will not be used as repair/justification for a low uGPA (though DO schools are more relaxed about this than MD). But, gGPA is important if you have one and definitely excelling in these is super important as it hurts more to do poorly than helps to do well.
4. Taking pre-reqs at community college vs 4-year depends on situation.. since you received a BA and had pre-reqs to make up after graduation, taking these at cc is less likely to be an issue as it was the situation you were in. The bulk of your pre-reqs hopefully were taken at a 4-year just for safe's sake though.
5. Research is for bonus points. Unless you intend on T10 schools, the type, rigor, publication nature, etc. are not all too important. Clinical experience is by far more important which you seem to have a lot of, and diversified at that.
6. Yes, you'll definitely need MD/DO shadowing (DO necessary only if you're intending on DO route).

What I will say is your biggest hurdle (assuming your GPAs are sufficient and you do well on the MCAT) is likely to be convincing adcoms that you're actually meant for medical school and not OT/other medical related professions. You'll have to get a ton of physician shadowing to help create evidence for this and will need to start thinking of what your narrative will be to be thoroughly convincing on applications and in interview. They will not take the chance on someone who is just bemused about being a physician but still as unsure as you are now while considering flip-flopping related careers. Medical schools are super sensitive/protective S.O. in this regard and don't like the prospect of taking on a student who will possibly leave them for someone else.

I could probably give more advice regarding next step academically-wise if you give more information about your GPAs (uGPA/sGPA, gGPA) and prospects for MCAT. I would estimate, given that the stats pull through, you'll likely need 1-2 years to craft this narrative that shows your unhesitant newfound commitment to medicine.

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!!! There's clearly a lot for me to consider and a long road ahead. I appreciate you highlighting the narrative aspect of my application, and I will be considering this more as I move forward. Thinking it through, I don't think I'm going to drop out of the program. You're right, it doesn't look very good if I drop out, plus graduating with a Master's degree is a good backup plan since acceptance certainly isn't guaranteed.

Regarding physician shadowing by the way, how much would you generally recommend? For OT school the general recommendation was something to the tune of 100 hours, ideally across multiple practice settings. Should I shoot for something similar when shadowing physicians? Also, do you think the clinical fieldwork experiences I will be doing as a part of my OT education should be reflected as clinical hours? Or would they not count since they were part of my degree requirements?

Regarding my stats: From my rough calculations my uGPA is around a 3.67, my sGPA is around a 3.9 (though the sample size is small here -- I've only taken A&P 1 and 2, Chem 1, and Bio 1), and my gGPA is 3.95. One thing I'm worried about is that my A&P 1 and 2 and Chem 1 were taken at a community college. This was intended to fill in my gaps for OT school when I didn't have as much of an interest in medicine so I'm wondering if/how that would count against me.

Based on my GPA I think I'd be a decent applicant for a postbacc program where I'd hopefully get some MCAT prep along the way. Speaking of which, what is considered a "good" or "competitive" score for the MCAT? I know next to nothing so far about this exam.

Again, thanks so much for your consideration!

 

[lightredfloyd]

You're in kind of a similar situation I was in! I'm currently practicing as a PT who is starting medical school in the fall. I graduated PT school in 2017, been practicing in acute care and decided to go to medical school.

I think the first thing you need to do is really reflect on why medical school instead of OT school. If you decide that medicine is where you want to be, there are 2 routes that you can take. Each of them have their pros and cons. First route: Quit OT school and start a post-bac. You'll save money and time by doing this, but you'll also have to find ways to get clinical experience outside of being an OT. Like what is said above, you'd need to do a ton of shadowing a physician and really tell your story well in order to convince adcoms why you quit OT school and are pursuing medicine instead.

Second route is to finish OT school, and practice OT for a couple of years. The drawback is that this is more expensive and stressful, but if you ultimately like occupational therapy then this would be a good option too. The nice thing about this route is that you can count your fieldwork experiences as clinical experiences for medical school as well as whatever length of time you spend as a practicing OT. During this time, you can take whatever courses you need to apply for medical school, while also studying for the MCAT. I was working fulltime while studying for my MCAT. It's difficult but doable.

Ultimately, only you can decide what to do. Just make sure you are ABSOLUTELY, 1000% SURE that medicine is the only career for you.

Congrats on starting your journey!! It's weird, only since starting OT school I've seen a good number of rehab practitioners take the jump to medical or PA school so it's comforting to know that I'm not alone in considering this transition. I appreciate your input on my situation, and based on yours and the other commenters' I've come to the conclusion that it would be best to stick with my program and work on my application after I graduate, starting with shadowing.

I do have a question about your situation -- did you have to complete any prerequisites after finishing your program? If so, how did you do them? I know PT program prerequisites are much more science-heavy than OT ones but if there were any courses you still needed to complete I'm curious as to how you might've done them as a practicing PT.

Thank you!

 

[Grapesurgery]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!!! There's clearly a lot for me to consider and a long road ahead. I appreciate you highlighting the narrative aspect of my application, and I will be considering this more as I move forward. Thinking it through, I don't think I'm going to drop out of the program. You're right, it doesn't look very good if I drop out, plus graduating with a Master's degree is a good backup plan since acceptance certainly isn't guaranteed.

Regarding physician shadowing by the way, how much would you generally recommend? For OT school the general recommendation was something to the tune of 100 hours, ideally across multiple practice settings. Should I shoot for something similar when shadowing physicians? Also, do you think the clinical fieldwork experiences I will be doing as a part of my OT education should be reflected as clinical hours? Or would they not count since they were part of my degree requirements?

Regarding my stats: From my rough calculations my uGPA is around a 3.67, my sGPA is around a 3.9 (though the sample size is small here -- I've only taken A&P 1 and 2, Chem 1, and Bio 1), and my gGPA is 3.95. One thing I'm worried about is that my A&P 1 and 2 and Chem 1 were taken at a community college. This was intended to fill in my gaps for OT school when I didn't have as much of an interest in medicine so I'm wondering if/how that would count against me.

Based on my GPA I think I'd be a decent applicant for a postbacc program where I'd hopefully get some MCAT prep along the way. Speaking of which, what is considered a "good" or "competitive" score for the MCAT? I know next to nothing so far about this exam.

Again, thanks so much for your consideration!

Have you not taken other basic science prereqs? You will also need Physics 1 and 2, Bio 2, Chem 2, Ochem 1, Biochem 1 at least. Several schools also require Statistics or Calculus, and several humanities courses. If you are worried about a stigma against community colleges you should aim to have these done at a 4 year university. You are right, it is very possible but will be a journey. Sounds like you will have clinical volunteering covered with OT school, but you will need some non-clinical as well.

The average MCAT for the past cycle for matriculated students was 511-512, about 80th percentile. It seems you don’t have most of the prereqs done that are absolutely essential for the MCAT so it will be a while before you have to really start grinding on the MCAT studying, but at least the topics will be fresh on your mind when you are ready to take.

 

[TheApex]

I'm currently a practicing occupational therapist and will be starting medical school in the fall as an older student. I have been practicing occupational therapy for about 3 years, during which I took the missing prereqs I needed (mainly Ochem, physics, etc.) and took the MCAT. My advice would be to definitely finish OT school, it will add to your resume, especially the A in anatomy. Trying to rush through it will be tough in my opinion. I tried to get through the prereqs and take MCAT as early as I could and ended up having to retake. Previous posters have given some good advice as well. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to help!

 

[mmchick]

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!!!

I think that's wise to finish through OT - the extra experience can only help and it'd likely be easier to sell the story of your jumping ship narrative once you've thoroughly exhausted that career option and still decided it was not for you for reasons XYZ. As far as your clinical experience, I think any post-graduate clinical hours will count, and certainly be heavy-weighted at that. I do not think your hours you acquire as part of your curriculum will count, sadly. As you alluded, these are for OT-specific education, so they wouldn't hold much merit when trying to describe your newfound passion for medicine. Remember, clinical hours are to show one's proof that they've explored this career as much as they can to convince adcoms this is right for them. You should gain experience with that in mind.

1 - Physician shadowing.
I think normally the general advised amount is anywhere from 60-150 hours which typically hit the range of "adequate to excellent" depending on what other supplementary experiences you have that involved working around physicians (e.g. if you were a scribe at some point, maybe less shadowing hours would be sufficient as you had other experience elsewhere). In your case, I would aim for higher than lower, think 150 or so and spreading this between different specialties. Think primary (super important), ER, inpatient specialty, etc. And for your situation, I would certainly recommend adding DO schools in your final list because of your unique non-traditional situation of jumping ship. There are ways to mitigate this, which we are discussing, but ultimately, DO schools are more kind towards these types of applicants and it'd be a short-sell to not include at least some for yourself. So with that said, make sure you also shadow DOs.

2 - Pre-reqs.
Great GPAs, actually stellar. Especially that sGPA, that's a gold mine and keep that momentum going. If you have a killer sGPA like that and an sorta higher average-ish cGPA at 3.6-3.7, you're in gold territory for most MDs. In your situation... I would recommend a formal postbacc program (which normally I wouldn't with your stellar GPAs), but given the amount of pre-reqs you have left to go and that you took some already at a CC, I think ultimately a formal program would be the most bang for your buck. They would allow you to pay one fee for an all-inclusive package that includes all the pre-reqs you pretty much need anywhere, allow you to take these a 4-year university (usually not too hard to get into a prestigious one too), and would afford you access to invaluable assets like a pre-med advisor and a committee to write you a health comm letter. The latter is a composite letter written by pre-med boards from 4-year universities you attended and most schools strongly prefer that you have this. It's only bonus points that you're able to get one as a non-trad. Lastly, I do believe some postbacc programs throw in MCAT-prep, so that is another well-worth asset that likely is to be cheaper grouping together with a postbacc than paid for on it's own ($2000+) and worth it for resources/guidance as a new taker.

Now you may do some research and see that DIY postbacc (finding classes to register on your own at a 4-year) could be slightly cheaper, but I'm hesitant given the amount you need and the additional bells and whistles I mentioned I think are worth the extra money you'd end up spending with a formal program.

3 - MCAT.
As someone mentioned, with your GPA, MD competitive MCAT, you'd want at least a 512+. 515+ for T20s. For DO, you'd need at least a 505+. Don't worry about studying for this until you complete all pre-reqs and have 4-6 months to study. I would recommend, if anything, briefly reviewing MCAT topic books alongside the postbacc classes you're taking - this could start to take off small bites and reiterate important MCAT information, saving you time and headache later.

In my opinion, I don't know what your goals are, but you have the potential for climbing the ladder as high as you want to go. I think the most important thing is determining how high you see that ladder and setting your goals from there. I would seriously recommend doing some reconn now and looking at what MD and DO schools generally require for pre-reqs/experience. Most of all I've said is from my own research, so I feel pretty confident on backing it with my full word, but some schools have particular requirements that are unique and no point in shortchanging your options from lack of research.

You've got a great road ahead, a long one, but a definite doable one.

 

[LeaveNoTrace]

515 is a bit low for top-20 schools. I'd recommend north of 518, preferably 520, to be competitive.

 

[lightredfloyd]

Have you not taken other basic science prereqs? You will also need Physics 1 and 2, Bio 2, Chem 2, Ochem 1, Biochem 1 at least. Several schools also require Statistics or Calculus, and several humanities courses. If you are worried about a stigma against community colleges you should aim to have these done at a 4 year university. You are right, it is very possible but will be a journey. Sounds like you will have clinical volunteering covered with OT school, but you will need some non-clinical as well.

The average MCAT for the past cycle for matriculated students was 511-512, about 80th percentile. It seems you don’t have most of the prereqs done that are absolutely essential for the MCAT so it will be a while before you have to really start grinding on the MCAT studying, but at least the topics will be fresh on your mind when you are ready to take.

Regarding those prerequisites I also do have Statistics and maybe Physics 1 but I'd likely have to take everything you listed. My BA was in psychology so I likely have the humanities covered. Do you have any recommendations for non-clinical volunteering?

 

[lightredfloyd]

I'm currently a practicing occupational therapist and will be starting medical school in the fall as an older student. I have been practicing occupational therapy for about 3 years, during which I took the missing prereqs I needed (mainly Ochem, physics, etc.) and took the MCAT. My advice would be to definitely finish OT school, it will add to your resume, especially the A in anatomy. Trying to rush through it will be tough in my opinion. I tried to get through the prereqs and take MCAT as early as I could and ended up having to retake. Previous posters have given some good advice as well. If you have any specific questions I'm happy to help!

Wow congratulations on your acceptance!! It's cool to see another OT, thank you for your insight! May I ask how you completed your outstanding prerequisites? Did you do a postbacc or just take the classes you needed? Also did you work while taking your classes and doing MCAT prep? If so, how was that for you?

 

[mmchick]

515 is a bit low for top-20 schools. I'd recommend north of 518, preferably 520, to be competitive.

Normally; but with a presumed sGPA of 3.9-4.0 and cGPA >3.8 assuming OP gets all A's in rest of pre-reqs, there is more leniency with the MCAT.

 

[lightredfloyd]

I think that's wise to finish through OT - the extra experience can only help and it'd likely be easier to sell the story of your jumping ship narrative once you've thoroughly exhausted that career option and still decided it was not for you for reasons XYZ. As far as your clinical experience, I think any post-graduate clinical hours will count, and certainly be heavy-weighted at that. I do not think your hours you acquire as part of your curriculum will count, sadly. As you alluded, these are for OT-specific education, so they wouldn't hold much merit when trying to describe your newfound passion for medicine. Remember, clinical hours are to show one's proof that they've explored this career as much as they can to convince adcoms this is right for them. You should gain experience with that in mind.

1 - Physician shadowing.
I think normally the general advised amount is anywhere from 60-150 hours which typically hit the range of "adequate to excellent" depending on what other supplementary experiences you have that involved working around physicians (e.g. if you were a scribe at some point, maybe less shadowing hours would be sufficient as you had other experience elsewhere). In your case, I would aim for higher than lower, think 150 or so and spreading this between different specialties. Think primary (super important), ER, inpatient specialty, etc. And for your situation, I would certainly recommend adding DO schools in your final list because of your unique non-traditional situation of jumping ship. There are ways to mitigate this, which we are discussing, but ultimately, DO schools are more kind towards these types of applicants and it'd be a short-sell to not include at least some for yourself. So with that said, make sure you also shadow DOs.

2 - Pre-reqs.
Great GPAs, actually stellar. Especially that sGPA, that's a gold mine and keep that momentum going. If you have a killer sGPA like that and an sorta higher average-ish cGPA at 3.6-3.7, you're in gold territory for most MDs. In your situation... I would recommend a formal postbacc program (which normally I wouldn't with your stellar GPAs), but given the amount of pre-reqs you have left to go and that you took some already at a CC, I think ultimately a formal program would be the most bang for your buck. They would allow you to pay one fee for an all-inclusive package that includes all the pre-reqs you pretty much need anywhere, allow you to take these a 4-year university (usually not too hard to get into a prestigious one too), and would afford you access to invaluable assets like a pre-med advisor and a committee to write you a health comm letter. The latter is a composite letter written by pre-med boards from 4-year universities you attended and most schools strongly prefer that you have this. It's only bonus points that you're able to get one as a non-trad. Lastly, I do believe some postbacc programs throw in MCAT-prep, so that is another well-worth asset that likely is to be cheaper grouping together with a postbacc than paid for on it's own ($2000+) and worth it for resources/guidance as a new taker.

Now you may do some research and see that DIY postbacc (finding classes to register on your own at a 4-year) could be slightly cheaper, but I'm hesitant given the amount you need and the additional bells and whistles I mentioned I think are worth the extra money you'd end up spending with a formal program.

3 - MCAT.
As someone mentioned, with your GPA, MD competitive MCAT, you'd want at least a 512+. 515+ for T20s. For DO, you'd need at least a 505+. Don't worry about studying for this until you complete all pre-reqs and have 4-6 months to study. I would recommend, if anything, briefly reviewing MCAT topic books alongside the postbacc classes you're taking - this could start to take off small bites and reiterate important MCAT information, saving you time and headache later.

In my opinion, I don't know what your goals are, but you have the potential for climbing the ladder as high as you want to go. I think the most important thing is determining how high you see that ladder and setting your goals from there. I would seriously recommend doing some reconn now and looking at what MD and DO schools generally require for pre-reqs/experience. Most of all I've said is from my own research, so I feel pretty confident on backing it with my full word, but some schools have particular requirements that are unique and no point in shortchanging your options from lack of research.

You've got a great road ahead, a long one, but a definite doable one.

Thank you so much for the encouragement and detailed advice!!! I greatly appreciate the kind words. I'm sure a long road is an understatement, but it's comforting to know that it's plausible at the very least.

I'll definitely add shadowing DOs to the mix along with MDs, that's a wonderful suggestion. It's also good to know that DO programs are more lenient for non-traditional applicants, I'll keep that in mind.

In the meantime I'll look into postbaccs and try to keep my gGPA as high as I can. Thanks again for the thoughtfulness and thoroughness of your advice

 

[TheApex]

Wow congratulations on your acceptance!! It's cool to see another OT, thank you for your insight! May I ask how you completed your outstanding prerequisites? Did you do a postbacc or just take the classes you needed? Also did you work while taking your classes and doing MCAT prep? If so, how was that for you?

Thanks! It was definitely a rough journey, but absolutely worth it. Luckily my wife was able to work and support us for the majority of my postbacc. I worked around 12 hours a week in an outpatient peds clinic and took around 8-10 hours of classes a semester. Overall it took me around 2 years of postbacc work, which I did on my own (not formal). It was difficult balancing work, school, and MCAT. I set my patients to see on the off days I did not have class. On the days I had class, I spent half the day studying for MCAT and the other half in class/doing coursework. My first MCAT I took before some prerequisites were finished which was a big mistake, would not advise unless you have prior background. If I were to do it all over again, I would focus on the prerequisites and working on the side, once all prerequisites were finished I would have set around 2 months of nothing but MCAT studying and preparing my application. Happy to answer any more questions you have! Good luck, and happy OT month!

 

[lightredfloyd]

Thanks! It was definitely a rough journey, but absolutely worth it. Luckily my wife was able to work and support us for the majority of my postbacc. I worked around 12 hours a week in an outpatient peds clinic and took around 8-10 hours of classes a semester. Overall it took me around 2 years of postbacc work, which I did on my own (not formal). It was difficult balancing work, school, and MCAT. I set my patients to see on the off days I did not have class. On the days I had class, I spent half the day studying for MCAT and the other half in class/doing coursework. My first MCAT I took before some prerequisites were finished which was a big mistake, would not advise unless you have prior background. If I were to do it all over again, I would focus on the prerequisites and working on the side, once all prerequisites were finished I would have set around 2 months of nothing but MCAT studying and preparing my application. Happy to answer any more questions you have! Good luck, and happy OT month!

Happy OT month!!!

I've definitely been there regarding balancing work, school, and standardized tests, I was right there with you when I was applying to OT school. Not necessarily in a rush to get back to that lifestyle but hey you gotta do what you gotta do. Did you find it difficult arranging your schedule with your employer?

I also did a bit more research on post-bacc programs and I didn't realize just how expensive they could get so now I'm weighing my options doing it DIY like you did. One of the other posters above mentioned some of the perks that come with a post-bacc such as the potential for a committee letter, linkage programs to medical schools, volunteer experiences, MCAT prep, etc. Do you think you would have wanted those while you were applying?

I'm also curious about where you did your physician shadowing and your experiences. Did you find it easier to find a physician to shadow as an OT? Do you feel that being an OT helped you learn from the doctor/help them teach you? Did you do any non-clinical volunteering before applying? Finally, I'm also curious about where you might have gotten your LORs from.

Sorry for the barrage of questions, I'm just very interested to hear from an OT lol. Thank you!!!!

 

[TheApex]

No worries, I'm happy to help!

In terms of scheduling with my employer, I went in completely transparent. In outpatient peds, especially being PRN, I was pretty much able to schedule my own kids and be pretty independent in that point. I don't think anyone will knock you for wanting to further your education, but some places might not be open to only having an employee for a year or so. I would definitely do some research in terms of what population you want to work, but PRN typically offers the best options if you can get health insurance through another entity. For me that was my wife, which absolutely helped out. Like I said in my previous post, I am also working another PRN in an acute hospital setting and have been for almost a year. Once again I was completely transparent and the head of therapy was more than happy to work with me on scheduling my time at the hospital around my time in the peds clinic. Just have to weigh out some options!

About postbacc, I believe its all about how you approach it. I did my DIY at a smaller university (~60) in each classroom where I was able to meet and interact with the professors and staff on a daily basis and most had open door policies. I was able to TA under a biology professor for 3 semesters as well. With that said, it was not very difficult to find staff/professors for a committee letter, though the school I was accepted did not even require a committee letter. My school did not offer much on the front of MCAT prep, which I pretty much took on myself. Looking back I wish I would have had more of that.

From the volunteering aspect, I had quite a bit of experience from undergrad that I continued doing throughout occupational therapy school and into postbacc. That volunteering allowed me to work alongside and form rapport with a few doctors who later let me shadow for clinical experience. I have been blessed throughout my life to have been able to work closely with doctors in a variety of settings, so shadowing hours came fairly easily. I did find that I was able to understand a lot more while I was shadowing having my background in OT. My advice would get as much volunteer hours as possible. While doing my postbacc and studying, I probably did around 6-8 hours a week of non-clinical volunteering, leadership experience, etc. The majority of mine I did through a non-profit organization for kids and young adults with developmental disabilities. There are always programs like this that are in need of volunteers! Pretty much just get involved with various outlets and gain some experience, hours, and network with other healthcare professionals. That being said, prioritize doing well in all the classes and MCAT. Being an OT will absolutely open some doors and help ground some clinical knowledge that will help you during this process!

I'm here if you have any more questions!

 

[walnutfloor]

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[ot.forever]

Hi, all

I'm a first year Occupational Therapy student considering medical school and I was looking for some input about the following issues:

1. Should I wait until after graduation to take the plunge or cut my losses and start now in order to save money and time?

2. I had a winding path to get to OT, let alone medical school (BA in psych -> gap year taking chemistry and anatomy/physiology at a community college). Should I try for a postbacc? Would the community college prerequisites work against me since they're chem and anatomy? Would any of my graduate school courses count/look good if I did well (I'm proud of my A in gross anatomy w/ cadaver lab lol; also hoping to get As in neuroanatomy & neurophysiology at the graduate level).

3. I have work/volunteer experience in the following roles: PT aide, OT volunteer (both outpatient), home health aide, social work intern in a hospital, intern at a community mental health center, and I have my mental health fieldwork rotation under my belt. I realize that I need hours shadowing a physician but would any of these experiences help me?

4. I have the following research experience: Research assistant in a psych lab in undergrad, "transcriber" for a study in grad school (a professor told me to use this but I'm still unsure of what that even means so idk how to count it), currently working on designing a research project as part of my grad school coursework (of course I'd lose this if I decided to drop out). Is this relevant? Should I look for more/more relevant research experience as a nontraditional applicant?

5. What general tips would you have for a nontraditional applicant?

I apologize for the voluminous nature of this post, but any input is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Oh, wow! First of all, You're amazing and you must be a very passionate person If time and money is not problem for you, I would finish OT schools then apply Having an another degree might look good on your application.