It depends on what kind of program you go to, but I went to a hybrid program (1 day a week in person, not counting fieldwork and other experiential requirements, with the rest online), and here are my thoughts:
-Amount of free time? Your miles may vary. I was able to work part time (about 18-24 hours a week, including weekends), but busted my butt the rest of the hours of the day doing homework and studying. But, I also went to a very rigorous undergraduate program (a million years ago), so 'free time' is a relative term for me. Needless to say, I had less free time in OT school that I did during my first graduate degree.
-Social life? Once again, your miles may vary. I will say, having completed a graduate program long before going back for OT school, graduate school is not like undergrad in that you're not living on campus or even spending much time on campus, and everyone does their own thing. You will have classmates with families or jobs and of varying ages. You will make friends, but it's not like college with automatic and easily accessible friends, due to growing life responsibilities.
-Education more rigorous? Depending on where you went to undergrad, the answer is most likely YES. OT school is no joke, even at the less highly ranked programs (like mine - and ranking doesn't generally mean as much as some people like to think, so keep that in mind as well). It's A LOT of information and a lot of different types of information that may be more or less accessible to how you learn and how you process information.
-Friendships? - See social life. I was a fully formed adult when I went back for OT school, so I already had established friends from various experiences. However, the amount of time I spent with them suffered severely due to my need to fill all non school-related hours with working to support myself.
-Opportunity to work with OT professionals? Yes, at minimum through fieldwork, which is required. You will be required to do clinical rotations, aka fieldwork at varying sites of interest/availability. You might have awesome fieldwork supervisors, you might have less-than-awesome ones, and you might be in a clinic or hospital with a bunch of other staff members and different disciplines, or a smaller sites with only a few people. Regardless, you will get exposure no matter where you go.
!
