General Admissions & OTCAS Questions about the OTCAS process

[OTledo]

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The new application cycle begins in 3 weeks and I am really excited to apply. I have a few questions about the whole OTCAS process. If someone could enlighten me, that'd be awesome.

1. Once you submit your application to a school, is that when it is placed in line to be verified?
2. Do you receive all your calculated GPA's (OTCAS, pre-req) once you've been verified?
2. Do your letters of recommendation have to be in before you submit? Or can you be verified prior to a recommender finishing their letter?
3. Pre-reqs vary by school and I'm not sure how one school will know the course equivalent that I took at my institution. Do you specify which courses meet each requirement in the application? How does that work?

Thanks in advance! Also if any other applicants have questions, feel free to ask them here because I'm probably wondering the same thing. 🙂

 

[thebiggestsky]

The new application cycle begins in 3 weeks and I am really excited to apply. I have a few questions about the whole OTCAS process. If someone could enlighten me, that'd be awesome.

1. Once you submit your application to a school, is that when it is placed in line to be verified?
2. Do you receive all your calculated GPA's (OTCAS, pre-req) once you've been verified?
2. Do your letters of recommendation have to be in before you submit? Or can you be verified prior to a recommender finishing their letter?
3. Pre-reqs vary by school and I'm not sure how one school will know the course equivalent that I took at my institution. Do you specify which courses meet each requirement in the application? How does that work?

Thanks in advance! Also if any other applicants have questions, feel free to ask them here because I'm probably wondering the same thing. 🙂

1. Yes.
2. Once you're verified, you should be able to see a copy of the application that OTCAS submits to the school. On the application it will show an overall GPA, a science GPA, etc. It doesn't have specific pre-req GPAs for each program, however. But those are usually pretty easy to calculate yourself.
3. If I remember correctly, you must have at least three references listed. I *think* they can still be in the process of submitting, but I don't remember! I personally waited until all of my letter writers had their letters submitted before I sent my application for verification.
4. It depends on the program. On OTCAS, each school has their own application page with instructions. Some schools don't have any requirements beyond having the basic application done. Others will want you to match up courses you've completed with their prerequisites and will have a page designated for that on the OTCAS website. If you search through this forum, you can find more information about that.

Good luck! It's awesome you're getting started early.

 

[scubagator87]

Don't be afraid to get after people to finish their letter of recommendation. Set a deadline for them several weeks before your actual deadline and discuss with them how long they think they'll need to complete it. I had to remind every one of my recommenders more than once.

 

[OTledo]

1. Yes.
2. Once you're verified, you should be able to see a copy of the application that OTCAS submits to the school. On the application it will show an overall GPA, a science GPA, etc. It doesn't have specific pre-req GPAs for each program, however. But those are usually pretty easy to calculate yourself.
3. If I remember correctly, you must have at least three references listed. I *think* they can still be in the process of submitting, but I don't remember! I personally waited until all of my letter writers had their letters submitted before I sent my application for verification.
4. It depends on the program. On OTCAS, each school has their own application page with instructions. Some schools don't have any requirements beyond having the basic application done. Others will want you to match up courses you've completed with their prerequisites and will have a page designated for that on the OTCAS website. If you search through this forum, you can find more information about that.

Good luck! It's awesome you're getting started early.

Thank you! That was really helpful.

 

[OTledo]

Don't be afraid to get after people to finish their letter of recommendation. Set a deadline for them several weeks before your actual deadline and discuss with them how long they think they'll need to complete it. I had to remind every one of my recommenders more than once.

I actually just gave all my recommenders a heads up about the application yesterday. I know it's really early but I want to make sure I'm not waiting around for them to be finished before submitting. Especially considering my top two choices are either rolling admissions beginning in September or have a deadline on the 1st of October.

 

[tabsabs]

How early do most people generally submit their applications? I'm concerned about getting my app verified early enough for schools with rolling admission. Should we start requesting transcripts from our schools now?

 

[thebiggestsky]

How early do most people generally submit their applications? I'm concerned about getting my app verified early enough for schools with rolling admission. Should we start requesting transcripts from our schools now?

Wait until OTCAS opens their application for this coming cycle (in July usually). Your transcripts will need to be sent with OTCAS cover letters (which helps OTCAS process your transcripts faster). And transcripts have to be sent straight from your schools to OTCAS. For rolling admissions, August-September is good to aim for. Verification can take a few days to a few weeks. Although, honestly, I didn't send in my applications until early November (6-7ish days to verify) and still got into one rolling admissions school (although I wouldn't necessarily recommend you do the same). But from lurking around this forum, it *seems* like the people who started early had more success with getting interviews and such.

The one downside (and this only applies to you if you expect to apply to several programs) to submitting early is that if you *do* get accepted into a program, you'll have to shell out cash (non-refundable) to hold your seat at one program while waiting to hear back from schools that might not do rolling admissions or that don't notify the applicants until far into autumn/winter. It all kinda takes a long time and costs a lot.

 

[cwilly1226]

Hi,
Im applying this cycle up and I also have a question. You only need to send your transcripts to OTCAS correct? Which means you do not have to send your transcripts to every school unless they do not use the OTCAS application process?

 

[scubagator87]

Hi,
Im applying this cycle up and I also have a question. You only need to send your transcripts to OTCAS correct? Which means you do not have to send your transcripts to every school unless they do not use the OTCAS application process?

You need to look up the requirements for each university you're applying to. Some I was looking at required you to send them transcripts as well. UF has you do two applications, one OTCAS and one to their graduate school. I had to send transcripts to both OTCAS and UF's graduate admissions office.

 

[OTledo]

The new application cycle begins in 3 weeks and I am really excited to apply. I have a few questions about the whole OTCAS process. If someone could enlighten me, that'd be awesome.

1. Once you submit your application to a school, is that when it is placed in line to be verified?
2. Do you receive all your calculated GPA's (OTCAS, pre-req) once you've been verified?
2. Do your letters of recommendation have to be in before you submit? Or can you be verified prior to a recommender finishing their letter?
3. Pre-reqs vary by school and I'm not sure how one school will know the course equivalent that I took at my institution. Do you specify which courses meet each requirement in the application? How does that work?

Thanks in advance! Also if any other applicants have questions, feel free to ask them here because I'm probably wondering the same thing. 🙂

Just thought of another question. Could anyone tell me if you're able to update your application after you submit it/become verified? For example, am I able to update the amount of hours I put in at a job? I plan to have put in many more hours after submitting, and I want to be sure schools have up-to-date info

 

[RUNNING_OT]

Just thought of another question. Could anyone tell me if you're able to update your application after you submit it/become verified? For example, am I able to update the amount of hours I put in at a job? I plan to have put in many more hours after submitting, and I want to be sure schools have up-to-date info

There are certain aspects of your application you can update after submitted. When you are entering the amount of hours for a location, they do ask for completed hours and then planned/in-progress hours. Just calculate how many hours you are planning to do because after submitting you application, you may only enter NEW experiences, but you cannot edit already submitted information.