I sent LORs from one OT, a coworker, and a principal at a behavioral school that employs OTs. I had two other LORs from professors, but OTCAS only wants 3. The other 2 weren't nearly as strong as the other 3, and you only want to send in the best ones. "Best" meaning the content of the LOR, not who wrote it. Don't send in generic ones if you can avoid it.
I only had ~40 hours of OT shadowing. They don't give you brownie points for getting more than required. They've stated that. So don't feel you have to get hundreds of hours. The shadowing is solely for you to understand what you're signing up for. So yes, one place is fine. But if you're able to, try to get at least two different concentrations like geriatrics vs pediatrics. If you're able to drive to The Woodlands, I know of two (pediatric and geriatric) centers that readily accept OT students looking for shadow hours. One for sure. The other is a private practice. I shadowed at both and only submitted my LOR from the private practice.
As far as advice, heed what I said about generic LORs. Also, don't be that person who sends in 10 LORs if they only ask for 2. Chances are, they'll only read 2. So that's why I said only submit your best. You don't want them to read two generic LORs and never read the good ones. Do well on your personal statements. I'd say not to write a novel, but they have a word limit, so you won't be able to submit anything lengthy. Be unique in your answers. Also remember that the person who can express their thoughts and sell themselves in a paragraph looks better than the person who needed two pages to do it. There's a lot of writing in OT, no one has time to read essays on every client meet. I'm sure they're also using this limited word count to assess how well you'd write a client summary. Despite your GRE verbal or writing score, this is a second opportunity to prove you CAN write. And apply early. They don't have rolling admissions, but who knows what their process really is. Apply EARLY.
