General Admissions & OTCAS OTA to OT or Back to school?

[GSUEagleEye]

Hello everyone, I have not posted here yet but have been following the boards for quite some time. I need guidance from people with experience in the OT industry. I am 25 years old and graduated from college with a 3.01 on the dot with a BS in Biology. Unfortunately, this is not competitive in applying to OT schools and I am now faced with 2 options.

1 Enroll in a community college and take prerequisite classes (18 hours total) as well as take 40 additional hours in similar fields to raise my GPA to a 3.3 (58 credit hours total) then being to apply to schools with the lowest admission requirements.

Or....

2 Enroll in a COTA program and after successful completion of the practice as a COTA for a year then apply to MOT bridge programs.

I am unsure if the MOT bridge programs are as competitive as the direct enroll entry level MOT programs are. Or which route would give me the best chance of entry to a program. Time is not the most important thing as I still consider myself young and will be happy as long as I achieve my goal of OTR by the time I'm 35.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated

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[Erhe]

Hmmmm.... you could consider a 3rd option.
Get a master's in health systems management, healthcare administration, or just about anything you find interesting or that will help you in the future. Then apply to OT school. Many OT programs will only factor in your graduate school GPA.

Edit: only issue with this is cost and time.

 

[MusicalOT14]

As far as I know there is nothing that prevents you from applying to multiple schools for different things. I know I have seen schools that state they want a gpa of 3.0 or higher which you have, also a lot of the schools only look at your last 60 credits gpa. Also if you have an even higher gpa with your pre-reqs then that is all the better! So I say bulk up on OT volunteer hours, get your pre reqs done and apply for OT school if that is your ultimate goal. Stats are important but they are not everything when it comes to applying for schools. If you are still unsure you could always apply for some OTA programs as back up. Whatever you do don't give up or get discouraged just keep moving forward toward your goal!

 

[OTAKelly]

I think the COTA program to MOT Bridge program sounds like a good option for you. You could meet your goal of OTR by 35 and gain working experience and income along the way while breaking up your educational time and financial commitments.

Here is a list of bridge programs from the AOTA: http://www.aota.org/education-careers/find-school/bridge-weekend/otas-seeking-ot.aspx

Just my 2 cents as a COTA. Hope this helps.

Good luck!