General Admissions & OTCAS OTCAS observation

[OT2Be17]

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Under the OTCAS documents, it lists a place after the personal statement where you can put your observation hours (I'm guessing the paper they sometimes give you), however, not all of my places gave me the list and some I can't find. Is it a huge deal if I don't upload them? I marked that schools could call the places I observed if necessary.

Thanks!

 

[RUNNING_OT]

Under the OTCAS documents, it lists a place after the personal statement where you can put your observation hours (I'm guessing the paper they sometimes give you), however, not all of my places gave me the list and some I can't find. Is it a huge deal if I don't upload them? I marked that schools could call the places I observed if necessary.

Thanks!

You don't have to upload all of them. Last year I just gave them the information to contact the locations I didn't provide a document for. You should be fine. Make sure you know what the programs you are applying to are requiring. Some programs like Touro and Loma Linda wanted hours documented on their own spreadsheets.

 

[WillBeOT]

I contacted the OTs I had shadowed and let them know the situation. I then made a sheet on Microsoft word that I mailed to the OTs. I sent each shadowing location/OT an individual sheet. Each sheet listed the name of the facility, population type (i.e. SNF, Peds, etc), about a 3-4 sentence description of what I observed, number of shadowing hours, and had a line for the OT to sign off on. Plus...

I also used this as an opportunity to get more letters of rec! I wrote "Additional comments" at the bottom of each sheet, and had a bunch of lines for the OT to write anything she had to say about me. Each OT wrote a great short paragraph about me, which I think served as extra letters of recommendation, if nothing else! I'm sure the schools liked seeing this right next to each of my shadowing experiences and number of hours. Even though making worksheets is yet another thing to do during this tedious process, take advantage of this opportunity and be creative!