General Admissions & OTCAS OTCAS Personal Statement

[agingold]

Hello everyone!

After a crazy journey of trying to get into one specific OT program last year, I am focusing and preparing for this upcoming cycle (and casting my nets both near and far-literally and physically).

Right now, I'm editing my personal statement and wanted some opinions.

For those applying through OTCAS to multiple programs, are you writing it on a general basis? I know some programs I'm looking at have specific topics they want addressed, but trying to answer them all would make my statement far too long and would force me to eliminate my "personal" component (a little insight into my choosing of the profession, etc).

I want to make sure I keep my writing fresh and unique (I'm extremely blessed by having it as one of my academic strong points), but don't want to overlook what programs are looking for.

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[RUNNING_OT]

Hello everyone!

After a crazy journey of trying to get into one specific OT program last year, I am focusing and preparing for this upcoming cycle (and casting my nets both near and far-literally and physically).

Right now, I'm editing my personal statement and wanted some opinions.

For those applying through OTCAS to multiple programs, are you writing it on a general basis? I know some programs I'm looking at have specific topics they want addressed, but trying to answer them all would make my statement far too long and would force me to eliminate my "personal" component (a little insight into my choosing of the profession, etc).

I want to make sure I keep my writing fresh and unique (I'm extremely blessed by having it as one of my academic strong points), but don't want to overlook what programs are looking for.

Good for you for trying again! I know some people who decided not to after being rejected the first time. I was also rejected and made sure the second time I did things differently. I am now getting ready for my program in the fall

The essay submitted through OTCAS should be a general statement. There are specific questions you should address and you can weave other points in there. Many school also have a supplemental application in which you need to address more specific questions for the program by either answering questions or providing another essay.

 

[MusicalOT14]

Hello everyone!

After a crazy journey of trying to get into one specific OT program last year, I am focusing and preparing for this upcoming cycle (and casting my nets both near and far-literally and physically).

Right now, I'm editing my personal statement and wanted some opinions.

For those applying through OTCAS to multiple programs, are you writing it on a general basis? I know some programs I'm looking at have specific topics they want addressed, but trying to answer them all would make my statement far too long and would force me to eliminate my "personal" component (a little insight into my choosing of the profession, etc).

I want to make sure I keep my writing fresh and unique (I'm extremely blessed by having it as one of my academic strong points), but don't want to overlook what programs are looking for.

When I applied last year the OTCAS gave a prompt to respond to. Make sure to cover what it asks of you in the prompt. For schools that were not part of the OTCAS and for any supplemental material submitted I addressed the questions of the specific school I was sending it to. You certainly want to keep your personality and what makes you unique. Last month I started a blog and have covered the topic of personal statements among other things you can check that out: https://rn2ot.wordpress.com/ if you are interested. When I applied my essay was between 3-4 pages as none of the OTCAS schools I was applying to gave a word / character limit and that was the length I needed to be able to fully answer the questions. Most of the time even though the topics they want you to cover seem a bit different you can answer it as you said in a slightly more general way as to answer multiple questions at once. I would leave in your personal component though, because it may be just that that will give you the edge over some of the other applicants. If you have a professor you are in touch with, an OT or even family or friend have them read it over and ask if they think you have fully answered the question and if no which question do they think was not. It can really help to have another opinion. If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Best of luck!

 

[Bokonomy]

While my personal statement was general, I did kind of tailor it a bit too look good to my top choice school. I got an interview at the 3 schools I applied to that did interviews, so I don't think it hurt me too much.

Honestly, while stats definitely matter, there is a degree of luck to this... You might have just not has a great year. My neuro professor told me he applied to 7 grad schools and got accepted only into his top choice and a safety master's program. So like Running _OT said, keep it up!

 

[ClimbGirlClimb]

Hey everybody, reviving this thread to ask a question about the personal statement. Do you think it's ok to just refer to occupational therapy once in the introduction with an (OT) behind it, and the refer to OT or OTs for the rest of the essay? Or should I be spelling it out every time I mention it? Really nervous about the personal statement, if anyone has any advice on this or about the statement more generally, I would really appreciate it! Thanks! Also, I'm sorry if this question has already been answered elsewhere, I was having trouble finding it.

 

[wiscOT]

Hey everybody, reviving this thread to ask a question about the personal statement. Do you think it's ok to just refer to occupational therapy once in the introduction with an (OT) behind it, and the refer to OT or OTs for the rest of the essay? Or should I be spelling it out every time I mention it? Really nervous about the personal statement, if anyone has any advice on this or about the statement more generally, I would really appreciate it! Thanks! Also, I'm sorry if this question has already been answered elsewhere, I was having trouble finding it.

I spoke with a pre-health advisor and a board member of the OT program at my university about this question, and both said introducing occupational therapy (OT) and then using OT throughout the rest of the paper would be acceptable. This is especially useful if you are running low on characters!