Program-Specific Info / Q's St. Augustine Fall 2018

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JCMoT said:
Erin just reached out to me and the start date is January 2019. So basically choosing between OTD Fall 2018 and MOT Spring 2019. For those of you who chose the OTD path what advantages/differences over the MOT program made you choose to go that route? And if I’m not mistaken, the third year of the OTD program is completely online correct?
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I emailed her to find out if they are accepting a larger cohort in the spring because of this or not. Because that is technically not fair to spring applicants that there will now be less available spots to get into the spring MOT program
 
NatOT said:
I have been calling Erin at San Marcos to try and find out more information as well. It makes me nervous because they said we only had 45 days to turn in everything and we are still waiting for more information from them!
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It's driving me nuts that we haven't received anything yet! But it's 45 days from when they give us the info, I'm sure.
 
JCMoT said:
Erin just reached out to me and the start date is January 2019. So basically choosing between OTD Fall 2018 and MOT Spring 2019. For those of you who chose the OTD path what advantages/differences over the MOT program made you choose to go that route? And if I’m not mistaken, the third year of the OTD program is completely online correct?
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I'm not sure if the whole last year is online, but probably a good portion of it is, while you are writing your paper and such. I've always enjoyed research and since the AOTA is moving towards doctoral degrees in 2027, I rather be slightly ahead of the curve than behind.
 
I had the same issue with USA. They sent an acceptance, then rescinded it. A week later, I received a call which presented the following offer:
A: Attend fall 18 OTD (only a mere $35,000 extra from the MOT program I applied to)
B: Begin my education in spring 19
C: Move half way across the country to attend Austin
Honestly, this university seems like a poorly executed attempt to gain as much profit from students while offering as little guidance as possible. They practically herd applicants in through the door on interview day and rush them out just as quickly. All the while eager to get as many $115,000 student loans into their seats as possible
I laughed at Erin (who has returned maybe 10% of the inquiries I’ve sent her way) when she presented these options, and told her I’d be attending elsewhere.
APPLICANT BEWARE!!!
 
OT-riffic said:
I had the same issue with USA. They sent an acceptance, then rescinded it. A week later, I received a call which presented the following offer:
A: Attend fall 18 OTD (only a mere $35,000 extra from the MOT program I applied to)
B: Begin my education in spring 19
C: Move half way across the country to attend Austin
Honestly, this university seems like a poorly executed attempt to gain as much profit from students while offering as little guidance as possible. They practically herd applicants in through the door on interview day and rush them out just as quickly. All the while eager to get as many $115,000 student loans into their seats as possible
I laughed at Erin (who has returned maybe 10% of the inquiries I’ve sent her way) when she presented these options, and told her I’d be attending elsewhere.
APPLICANT BEWARE!!!
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It has been a very poorly constructed admissions process, I agree. Where will you be attending instead?
 
JCMoT said:
Erin just reached out to me and the start date is January 2019. So basically choosing between OTD Fall 2018 and MOT Spring 2019. For those of you who chose the OTD path what advantages/differences over the MOT program made you choose to go that route? And if I’m not mistaken, the third year of the OTD program is completely online correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right that the whole OTD part is online bc you're working on your project. I'm still trying to choose between the MOT and OTD program even thought I spoke with a faculty member in the OTD dept. From our conversation, I gather that the decision lies mostly upon what your end goals are: what you're wanting to do and where. I don't see myself teaching or doing research, however, I like the option of possibly doing research and testing out new devices or creating a brand new treatment method. I see myself working in a hospital or rehab facility and I'd like to have the option to move up to a management position. Therefore, I'm leaning more toward the OTD, but the tuition is a hard thing to swallow and the rewards would be reaped down the road- not right out of school. Yes, I could always go back to school to get my OTD, but I'm already 33 and want to start a family, thus going to a post-prof program doesn't seem realistic for me. Ultimately, neither MOT nor OTD is a wrong route, they just present themselves in different ways and in different times.
What are your thoughts, JCMoT?
 
Does anyone know if the teachers challenge the OTD students more than the MOT? I believe the classes are exactly the same except that OTD student start brainstorming Capstone projects in the 3rd trimester. Has anyone else heard anything about how the classes compare?
 
kdom94 said:
It has been a very poorly constructed admissions process, I agree. Where will you be attending instead?
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Im attending Shenandoah in VA. I’ll really miss San Diego, but when you crunch the numbers it’s truly a no brainer. I don’t want to be paying off loans any longer than I need to.
 
Yea, gotta go wherever you can take out the least amount of loans. Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll do great out there!
 
midwest2west said:
Yes, you're right that the whole OTD part is online bc you're working on your project. I'm still trying to choose between the MOT and OTD program even thought I spoke with a faculty member in the OTD dept. From our conversation, I gather that the decision lies mostly upon what your end goals are: what you're wanting to do and where. I don't see myself teaching or doing research, however, I like the option of possibly doing research and testing out new devices or creating a brand new treatment method. I see myself working in a hospital or rehab facility and I'd like to have the option to move up to a management position. Therefore, I'm leaning more toward the OTD, but the tuition is a hard thing to swallow and the rewards would be reaped down the road- not right out of school. Yes, I could always go back to school to get my OTD, but I'm already 33 and want to start a family, thus going to a post-prof program doesn't seem realistic for me. Ultimately, neither MOT nor OTD is a wrong route, they just present themselves in different ways and in different times.
What are your thoughts, JCMoT?
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I have the luxury of knowing people in the OT field, both with and without doctorate degrees, and they all advised me that it was ultimately my decision. They said if I had interest in research and teaching in the future, then I should go for it. At this moment I am looking forward to working more hands on with patients and the extra year of school & tuition doesn’t appeal to me, so I am going to stick with getting my MoT for now. That may change later down the road, and from what I’ve researched online, it may be a money saving alternative to try and get and OTD through continuing education rather than going for it outright.

As for UoA itself, I agree that the admissions office has been slipping during this process, but the faculty and the school seemed awesome during the interview. I know one therapist who received their degree here and they didn’t mention anything negative about their time attending this school.
 
Did anyone else that interviewed on March 16 get ANOTHER admission email/ phone call today? 😵
 
mbmili said:
Did anyone else that interviewed on March 16 get ANOTHER admission email/ phone call today? 😵
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Interesting.. what did they say?
 
OT925 said:
Interesting.. what did they say?
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I received two admission letters again one for Fall OTD and another for MOT. And in the voicemail I got, it stated I was admitted to the Fall MOT.

Later she returned my call & I guess I'm off the waitlist for the Fall MOT and I accepted my seat!
 
Thats so exciting! Congrats!!! I'm still hoping to be moved off the waitlist for the Fall. Fingers crossed!!
 
Has anyone gotten any confirmation after making their decision and responding to the Decisions CASM email? I emailed Erin my decision as well but haven't heard back...After the whole recall situation, I feel like I can't be sure of anything
 
OThi said:
Has anyone gotten any confirmation after making their decision and responding to the Decisions CASM email? I emailed Erin my decision as well but haven't heard back...After the whole recall situation, I feel like I can't be sure of anything
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What email did you get from Decisions CASM? I haven't gotten any correspondence since my admissions email over a month ago. Ive also called Erin a few times and haven't gotten any calls back.
 
kdom94 said:
What email did you get from Decisions CASM? I haven't gotten any correspondence since my admissions email over a month ago. Ive also called Erin a few times and haven't gotten any calls back.
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I was part of the group that got the recall email from Decisions CASM stating that I needed to pick one of three options and respond by the 16th. I responded to the email and emailed Erin, but haven't gotten any sort of confirmation. I called Erin today, but it went her voicemail.
 
OThi said:
I was part of the group that got the recall email from Decisions CASM stating that I needed to pick one of three options and respond by the 16th. I responded to the email and emailed Erin, but haven't gotten any sort of confirmation. I called Erin today, but it went her voicemail.
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Ohhhh okay I see. Which option did you end up going with? The lack of communication is really frustrating.
 
OThi said:
I was part of the group that got the recall email from Decisions CASM stating that I needed to pick one of three options and respond by the 16th. I responded to the email and emailed Erin, but haven't gotten any sort of confirmation. I called Erin today, but it went her voicemail.
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Hey so just thought I'd let you know since you've had some trouble getting in contact with Erin as well--I sent Susan Lawes an email and she responded to me and answered my questions almost immediately. She said that the admissions paperwork is still backed up, but hey, at least it was a response. So maybe she'll be able to help you confirm your program admission?
 
I got a call from Erin the Monday after the recall email, she gave me the options and I responded via phone call. I haven’t gotten any follow up emails regarding deposits/enrollment but she did confirm my spot for Spring and also a spot on the waitlist for fall 2018.
 
After my interview, I was accepted for Fall 2018 OTD yesterday. But with this issue going on, is my spot set and will I ever get the forms I need to submit before September? Should I also call them or just wait?? I honestly have no clue whats going on right now.
 
mbmili said:
I received two admission letters again one for Fall OTD and another for MOT. And in the voicemail I got, it stated I was admitted to the Fall MOT.

Later she returned my call & I guess I'm off the waitlist for the Fall MOT and I accepted my seat!
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Omg exciting congratulations !

I’m worried about being able to get in for spring now that everyone for fall was offered admission for spring. I brought it up to Erin twice and she didn’t respond to it
 
kongoppa said:
After my interview, I was accepted for Fall 2018 OTD yesterday. But with this issue going on, is my spot set and will I ever get the forms I need to submit before September? Should I also call them or just wait?? I honestly have no clue whats going on right now.
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Honestly, I would wait at least a week before calling. I talked to Susan Lawes on Wednesday and she said that they are having issues with some links (which helps us find where we need to complete the drug tests and such), so it's causing the delay. However, she did say that our "45 days" starts from the receipt of the second email (with all of that information).
 
Does anyone have any information as far as how students in the same cohort are connected, such as a facebook page or student portal? Right now I am planning on attending for Spring 2019 (still hoping to move off the Fall 2018 waitlist) but I would be looking for roommates and such since I do not know anyone in the area. I was wondering what the cost of living might be? If anyone has any information that would be awesome. 🙂
 
lexluther11 said:
Does anyone have any information as far as how students in the same cohort are connected, such as a facebook page or student portal? Right now I am planning on attending for Spring 2019 (still hoping to move off the Fall 2018 waitlist) but I would be looking for roommates and such since I do not know anyone in the area. I was wondering what the cost of living might be? If anyone has any information that would be awesome. 🙂
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Theres a USAHS Housing/Roommates FB Group
 
Hey all, I was previously waitlisted for the USAHS MOT Fall 2018 a week ago, but just received an updated admissions letter of acceptance! Do you have any updates or things I should be aware of? There seems to have been some miscommunication going on and I would just like to be on the same page as everybody else. Any info would be appreciated, thank you and congrats to all accepted!
 
Hi, I just received the procedure for how make tuition deposit for the Fall 2018 OTD program at San Marcos campus, but I found the letter to be a little bit confusing in term of which campus I should put the deposit to and it didn't state how much of the deposit I need to put. Anyone find it to be a bit confusing too?
 
FutureOT91 said:
Hey all, I was previously waitlisted for the USAHS MOT Fall 2018 a week ago, but just received an updated admissions letter of acceptance! Do you have any updates or things I should be aware of? There seems to have been some miscommunication going on and I would just like to be on the same page as everybody else. Any info would be appreciated, thank you and congrats to all accepted!
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That’s great congrats!! I was part of the “recall” group of admitted students and I finally received an admission email off the waitlist too for the Fall MOT last Thursday. I received both an email and phone call from Susan.

Yesterday, Tuesday, I received the instructions for the deposit, background check, & etc. If they haven’t sent that to you yet, I’d say to look out for that email within the next week. Reading off of earlier forum entries, it seems like people that were admitted earlier in March have been waiting over a month for links to their paperwork because Admissions was having IT issues with their links for the email. But since most people have received their documents yesterday I’d also expect that you would be receiving them soon too!
 
otbygrace18 said:
Hi, I just received the procedure for how make tuition deposit for the Fall 2018 OTD program at San Marcos campus, but I found the letter to be a little bit confusing in term of which campus I should put the deposit to and it didn't state how much of the deposit I need to put. Anyone find it to be a bit confusing too?
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Hey, so I also received my prodcedure email yesterday and the email stated in bold that it was for the San Marcos MOT Fall cohort. The first link in the email I received called, “Enrollment Agreement,” instructed to deposit “500.00” in our myUSA portal

I’m not sure if this is the same amount required for the OTD cohort but hope this helps 🙂
 
Hi guys,
I emailed them today declining my admission so letting know whoever was wait-listed! This is for the MOT Fall 2018 program (Miami).
 
There is now a Facebook Page for those accepted into the 2019 Spring OT Program at the University of St. Augustine San Marcos Campus called:
The University of St. Augustine, San Marcos OT Spring 2019
 
H10Soon2beOT said:
There is now a Facebook Page for those accepted into the 2019 Spring OT Program at the University of St. Augustine San Marcos Campus called:
The University of St. Augustine, San Marcos OT Spring 2019
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Is it even worth still applying to Spring 2019 for me?.. how many spots are already taken? I am about to submit my application and now I'm thinking I should consider moving out of state to a different campus if San Marcos is already full
 
OT925 said:
Is it even worth still applying to Spring 2019 for me?.. how many spots are already taken? I am about to submit my application and now I'm thinking I should consider moving out of state to a different campus if San Marcos is already full
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I would call and ask one of the enrollment advisors. I'm sure they would make special considerations for the Spring 2019 class, perhaps a larger cohort? But also you do submit your secondary campus, in case your primary one fills up, so that's always an option too 🙂
 
NatOT said:
I would call and ask one of the enrollment advisors. I'm sure they would make special considerations for the Spring 2019 class, perhaps a larger cohort? But also you do submit your secondary campus, in case your primary one fills up, so that's always an option too 🙂
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Thanks for your input! I appreciate it.

I’ve emailed Erin twice regarding this topic and been flat out ignored she even replied to one email and ignored that part of it. I sent her another email regarding this today so I’m hoping she actually has some information she can give me
 
Hello everyone,

I got an email for an interview on June 2nd for the Flex MOT program at the Austin campus. I was wondering if anyone could give some information on what type of questions they ask or any information at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
 
Beatriz Hernandez said:
Hello everyone,

I got an email for an interview on June 2nd for the Flex MOT program at the Austin campus. I was wondering if anyone could give some information on what type of questions they ask or any information at all would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
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1. Explain who you are
2. Why you chose OT and why you chose USAHS?
3. What would be the most difficult part of the program for you?

Very light-hearted conversational interview. I think they watch you throughout the orientation to get a feel of what kind of person you are.
 
kdom94 said:
1. Explain who you are
2. Why you chose OT and why you chose USAHS?
3. What would be the most difficult part of the program for you?

Very light-hearted conversational interview. I think they watch you throughout the orientation to get a feel of what kind of person you are.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much!
 
OT925 said:
Thanks for your input! I appreciate it.

I’ve emailed Erin twice regarding this topic and been flat out ignored she even replied to one email and ignored that part of it. I sent her another email regarding this today so I’m hoping she actually has some information she can give me
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So Erin replied, they are only offering 20 spots for the MOT and 30 for OTD. So I am now considering the OTD or a different campus
 
OT925 said:
So Erin replied, they are only offering 20 spots for the MOT and 30 for OTD. So I am now considering the OTD or a different campus
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oh wow they really upped the OTD cohort number
 
kdom94 said:
oh wow they really upped the OTD cohort number
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what was the number before for OTD and MOT? I am having a hard time deciding what my best option is going to be. I was really set on San Marcos MOT because I live in CA and am more familiar with the area than FL or TX. But I also don't want to apply if i don't have great chances of getting in now there there are limited spots.
 
Can you change the campus after you have accepted the acceptance?
 
kongoppa said:
Can you change the campus after you have accepted the acceptance?
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That I am not sure about. I assume if there is room for you at a different campus you can. I see that the Miami campus is not accredited so I’ve cleared that option out
 
OT925 said:
So Erin replied, they are only offering 20 spots for the MOT and 30 for OTD. So I am now considering the OTD or a different campus
Click to expand...
OT925 said:
what was the number before for OTD and MOT? I am having a hard time deciding what my best option is going to be. I was really set on San Marcos MOT because I live in CA and am more familiar with the area than FL or TX. But I also don't want to apply if i don't have great chances of getting in now there there are limited spots.
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Wow...It was like 15 for OTD before and like 35 for MOT. I don't really know how to feel about this. I was looking towards a slightly smaller class too...
 
NatOT said:
Wow...It was like 15 for OTD before and like 35 for MOT. I don't really know how to feel about this. I was looking towards a slightly smaller class too...
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Today she emailed me and said they are still taking applications to fill the fall OTD for San Marcos .. super weird that it’s not full by now
 
Does anyone know if the San Marcos Summer 2018 Booklist on the MyUSA portal will be relatively the same for Fall and Spring? I would like to at least start looking and ordering books.
 
I have paid my tuition deposit through a phone call because my web portal did not work. Even though I have sent my enrollment agreement form, and essential function form, I only received my enrollment agreement form receipt and nothing else.... Have anyone of you guys who accepted their offer received any notice??
 
Hey guys, I just gave up my spot (MOT Fall 2018) as I got into my top choice school! Fingers crossed for anyone on the waitlist 🙂
 
NatOT said:
Wow...It was like 15 for OTD before and like 35 for MOT. I don't really know how to feel about this. I was looking towards a slightly smaller class too...
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well if you think about it, OTD and MOT take majority of classes together until the capstone and the overall cohort size is still 50; just distributed differently.
 
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