General Admissions & OTCAS What Are My Chances/Recommended Programs

[Headstart]

New to SDN. I'm a junior at UIC. Rehab Science major, Pre-OT, minor in disability Studies, honors student graduating a year early.

GPA: 3.89
Pre-req GPA so far: 4.0
Taking GRE soon.

Experience: Pre OT Club, 100 hours in ped clinic. 108 hours so far at a therapeutic pre-school w/ OT, PT, Speech, Social Work, and Developmental Therapy, 20 hours in hand therapy, 15 hours in patient hospice and nero. MS Gala volunteer. Coach for children with disabilities. I'll be starting more in patient hours in January.

What are my chances of getting? UIC would be the dream, but they have no preference for their own.

Prospective Programs right now: UIC, Downers Grove AZ, Tufts, UNC, Pacific, UC Dominguez Hills, Rush.

Am I reaching? Any programs you guys think should be on my list? Id like to get my doctorate right away.

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[NPULFC]

So you will get into most programs as long as you don't bomb the personal statement, interview, or GRE.

But just curious, why would you say UIC has no preference for their own? Wouldn't they want their own students?

 

[Headstart]

So you will get into most programs as long as you don't bomb the personal statement, interview, or GRE.

But just curious, why would you say UIC has no preference for their own? Wouldn't they want their own students?

The OT department head and all of our professors told us this day 1, and encouraged us to apply to several different programs, as UIC is insanely competitive (#4 nationally). I don't want to just assume I'll get in.

 

[nOTeworthy]

I'd say your chances are good. But there's people with perfect scores that don't get in and people with much less impressive stats that do. I think people underestimate the interview and personal statement. So make sure you do well there and I think you'll be more than fine.

 

[FutureKidOT]

New to SDN. I'm a junior at UIC. Rehab Science major, Pre-OT, minor in disability Studies, honors student graduating a year early.

GPA: 3.89
Pre-req GPA so far: 4.0
Taking GRE soon.

Experience: Pre OT Club, 100 hours in ped clinic. 108 hours so far at a therapeutic pre-school w/ OT, PT, Speech, Social Work, and Developmental Therapy, 20 hours in hand therapy, 15 hours in patient hospice and nero. MS Gala volunteer. Coach for children with disabilities. I'll be starting more in patient hours in January.

What are my chances of getting? UIC would be the dream, but they have no preference for their own.

Prospective Programs right now: UIC, Downers Grove AZ, Tufts, UNC, Pacific, UC Dominguez Hills, Rush.

Am I reaching? Any programs you guys think should be on my list? Id like to get my doctorate right away.

Hi! I got into Midwestern this year and I think you have a really good shot! They don't require the GRE, so they rely heavily on your GPA. We actually have pretty similar stats! My biggest recommendation is to apply SUPER early! I applied mid-August and was pulled for the first interview on Halloween. The earlier you apply, the better the chances that you have for schools who do rolling admissions. Please feel free to PM me with anymore questions. I am from the Chicago area too and would love to help you with more admissions stuff!

Also, you mentioned that you are getting more inpatient hours in January. Can I ask... are you volunteering at RIC?

 

[Headstart]

Hi! I got into Midwestern this year and I think you have a really good shot! They don't require the GRE, so they rely heavily on your GPA. We actually have pretty similar stats! My biggest recommendation is to apply SUPER early! I applied mid-August and was pulled for the first interview on Halloween. The earlier you apply, the better the chances that you have for schools who do rolling admissions. Please feel free to PM me with anymore questions. I am from the Chicago area too and would love to help you with more admissions stuff!

Also, you mentioned that you are getting more inpatient hours in January. Can I ask... are you volunteering at RIC?

Haha, I wish! UI Health. A lot of my classmates are doing RIC though and they love it.


Your message made me feel so much better! I'm not from Chicago though, just going to school there. Do you go to the IL or AZ campus? I hear Midwestern IL is very hard to get into.

Any advice on how to make myself more competitive?

 

[FutureKidOT]

Haha, I wish! UI Health. A lot of my classmates are doing RIC though and they love it.


Your message made me feel so much better! I'm not from Chicago though, just going to school there. Do you go to the IL or AZ campus? I hear Midwestern IL is very hard to get into.

Any advice on how to make myself more competitive?

UI Health will still be awesome! I got into Midwestern IL and will start in September! It is competitive, so that is why you definitely want to apply early! Honestly, it is hard to say what you could improve on since your stats look so good! Just study a lot for the GRE and write an awesome personal statement! You will do great!

 

[OccTherReady]

New to SDN. I'm a junior at UIC. Rehab Science major, Pre-OT, minor in disability Studies, honors student graduating a year early.

GPA: 3.89
Pre-req GPA so far: 4.0
Taking GRE soon.

Experience: Pre OT Club, 100 hours in ped clinic. 108 hours so far at a therapeutic pre-school w/ OT, PT, Speech, Social Work, and Developmental Therapy, 20 hours in hand therapy, 15 hours in patient hospice and nero. MS Gala volunteer. Coach for children with disabilities. I'll be starting more in patient hours in January.

What are my chances of getting? UIC would be the dream, but they have no preference for their own.

Prospective Programs right now: UIC, Downers Grove AZ, Tufts, UNC, Pacific, UC Dominguez Hills, Rush.

Am I reaching? Any programs you guys think should be on my list? Id like to get my doctorate right away.

Honestly, yours stats are amazing! You already have more hours than I had when applied this cycle, and the variety in your hours is most impressive.

Someone else mentioned this earlier, but I would really start focusing on your personal statement. I'm not sure if OTCAS will keep the same prompt as they have the last several years, but realistically, you could start to outline/write a draft based on this prompt in the next couple months, and have a lot of time to work on crafting your statement. Even if the prompts change, you will likely be able to drawn on themes you wrote about or use a few pieces (depending how you write), for the essay(s) required for your various schools. Start critically thinking about the following: 1) what are my professional goals? 2) why OT? 3) what is OT to me? and 4) what will I bring to a program? Being able to verbalize all the positive internal feelings you have about OT will be an asset to you moving forward, even if just to encourage you to keep pushing during applications!

I didn't have to attend an interview based on the schools I applied to, but depending on your comfort level with interviews, you could reach out on your campus for mock interview resources, so that you can practice a few times before an interview (some schools start interviewing as early as September/October!).

Also... You probably already have something set up, but about a year before I started to apply, I made a spreadsheet that had the following including: school/location/estimated tuition cost/deadlines/interview requirements/details from talking to their admissions people/potential scholarships/etc. It really helped me keep the pertinent details of each school organized throughout the application process. I also used this to save all my supplemental application usernames/passwords. It seems really simple, but having one specific location to access all the information I had on programs relieved a lot of stress for me.

I can tell you that the application process will definitely test you, no matter how prepared or qualified you are. That said, start early! Also, you will want to compare yourself to others... Try not to do that! You'll bring a unique set of skills, experiences, and goals. Focusing on how you can best demonstrate those to an admissions committee will be your best bet.

Good luck in the next steps. Receiving an acceptance is worth all the hard work!

 

[occupationalguy]

Recommended program: The cheapest way you can get an OT degree.

Where you go to school has no bearing on your employment. Only students ask this question.

 

[OTmomma]

Honestly, yours stats are amazing! You already have more hours than I had when applied this cycle, and the variety in your hours is most impressive.

Someone else mentioned this earlier, but I would really start focusing on your personal statement. I'm not sure if OTCAS will keep the same prompt as they have the last several years, but realistically, you could start to outline/write a draft based on this prompt in the next couple months, and have a lot of time to work on crafting your statement. Even if the prompts change, you will likely be able to drawn on themes you wrote about or use a few pieces (depending how you write), for the essay(s) required for your various schools. Start critically thinking about the following: 1) what are my professional goals? 2) why OT? 3) what is OT to me? and 4) what will I bring to a program? Being able to verbalize all the positive internal feelings you have about OT will be an asset to you moving forward, even if just to encourage you to keep pushing during applications!

I didn't have to attend an interview based on the schools I applied to, but depending on your comfort level with interviews, you could reach out on your campus for mock interview resources, so that you can practice a few times before an interview (some schools start interviewing as early as September/October!).

Also... You probably already have something set up, but about a year before I started to apply, I made a spreadsheet that had the following including: school/location/estimated tuition cost/deadlines/interview requirements/details from talking to their admissions people/potential scholarships/etc. It really helped me keep the pertinent details of each school organized throughout the application process. I also used this to save all my supplemental application usernames/passwords. It seems really simple, but having one specific location to access all the information I had on programs relieved a lot of stress for me.

I can tell you that the application process will definitely test you, no matter how prepared or qualified you are. That said, start early! Also, you will want to compare yourself to others... Try not to do that! You'll bring a unique set of skills, experiences, and goals. Focusing on how you can best demonstrate those to an admissions committee will be your best bet.

Good luck in the next steps. Receiving an acceptance is worth all the hard work!

I just wanted to echo @OccTherReady 's sentiments. I too made a spreadsheet and it was really helpful for keeping everything straight during the admissions process. I also have a high GPA but not a ton of extracurriculars so I felt like I needed to rock my personal statement and GRE to remain competitive. I wrote my first draft in March and uploaded my final draft in OCTOBER. Yes, I spent nearly 6 months editing my statement and in my estimation that was the amount of time I needed to get in the best shape possible (granted, I didn't work on it daily, but here and there I'd chip away at it and it was never stressful because I knew I had time on my side). I also had a handful of people review it -some for content and some for grammar - and give me their advice which I think really helped. My biggest advice to anyone going through this process is to do your best to stay organized and jump into OTCAS asap so you have time to recover from any transcript verification hiccups and you're not chasing people down for their LORs. I asked my folks over the summer and then sent them the OTCAS email 6-8 weeks before my fall deadlines so they had plenty of time to complete it. I usually tend to procrastinate but I did my best to stay on top of everything well in advance to make the process as least stressful as possible and it's the best gift I could have given myself. Good luck, you're to be commended for all the work you've done thus far - I'm sure you'll get in somewhere!