Prepare for Occupational Therapy School – Pre-Health/Pre-Law Advising Center

What do you need to be a strong candidate for occupational therapy school?

3 key factors that occupational therapy schools are looking for:

Strong academic performance: high GPA in prerequisite and upper-division science coursework can show occupational therapy schools that you are prepared for their curriculum.
Evidence of experience and personal development: experience in the healthcare field can help you determine whether occupational therapy is the right fit for you. Your experiences (both related and unrelated to health) can also show occupational therapy schools that you have the qualities they are looking for in a future occupational therapist.
Strong entrance exam scores: like your GPA, your entrance exam score can suggest that you are ready for the rigor of occupational therapy school.

More information on each factor can be found within their respective sections below.

Prerequisites Experience and Personal Development Researching Schools Entrance Exam Tracker Templates

Prerequisites

Most importantly, remember that requirements vary from school to school! Applicants must research to create a list of all the prerequisites they will need to apply to the schools they are interested in attending.

Occupational Therapy Program Information: We compiled some information on the OT programs in the US. Please note that we still recommend you to do your own research alongside this guide.
School Directory from the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE): A complete list of OT programs and their requirements (healthcare experience hours, standardized exams, prerequisite coursework, GPA, etc.) by viewing the respective school's website links.

More than 25% of the programs in this field require the following UHM courses for admission:

BIOL 171/171L and possibly 172/172L	Introduction to Biology I and possibly II*	8 cr.
ENG 100 and possibly 200	Composition I and possibly II*	6 cr.
HLTH 110 or 125 at KCC	Medical Terminology	1 or 2 cr.
PHYL 141/141L and 142/142L (or PHYL 301/301L and 302/302L)	Human Anatomy and Physiology I and II	8 or 10 cr.
PHYS 151/151L	College Physics I	4 cr.
PSY 100	Survey of Psychology	3 cr.
BIOL/BOT 220** or PSY/SOCS 225 or ECON 321	Statistics	3 cr.
PSY 371	Abnormal Psychology	3 cr.
HDFS 230 (formerly known as FAMR 230) and/or PSY 240	Human Development and/or Developmental Psychology***	3 cr.
SOC 100/ANTH	Introduction to Sociology or Anthropology*	3 cr.

Please note that the corequisite for BIOL 171/171L and BIOL 172/172L is CHEM 131 or CHEM 161.

*Please check with each school for specific requirements. Some schools may require additional biology and English courses.

**Students pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Biology or Marine Biology beginning in Fall 2021 and on are required to take BIOL 220 as a major requirement.

***Please check with each school for specific requirements. Some schools may require the development course to cover life from birth to death, so multiple courses may have to be taken to satisfy this prerequisite.

Please note that the corequisite for BIOL 171/171L and BIOL 172/172L is CHEM 131 or CHEM 161.

If students are planning on taking a chemistry or math course for the first time, please make sure to fulfill the placement exam requirement prior to registration.

Additional requirements include courses in communicology, chemistry, kinesiology, other humanities, and other social sciences. It is also recommended that non-science majors take additional upper-division or advanced science electives beyond the prerequisites listed above.

For a list of other general recommended pre-health courses, clickhere.

Please note that if you are retaking courses because OT schools may not accept Advanced Placement (AP), online, or community college credit, your financial aid and/or scholarship status may be affected.

To calculate the OTCAS GPA, please see the OTCAS GPA Calculation website and PAC's OTCAS GPA Calculation spreadsheet for more help. This guide is for reference. Please do not enter any estimates calculated from this guide into your application. Enter course information as it appears on transcripts only.

Sample Four-Year Academic Plan

Experience and Personal Development

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Nation-wide Engagement Opportunities

PAC's OTCAS Achievement / Experience / Observation / License Log Template

In addition to test scores and GPA, OT applicants must also demonstrate that they exude the core competencies through experiences and interviews. Thus, make sure that the chosen opportunities provide ways to establish and strengthen these competencies.

Direct contact with people with disabilities, illness, or other disadvantages may be required or recommended. Most if not all schools require shadowing or volunteer work directly under an occupational therapist, with hours varying considerably from school to school.

Experience opportunities are available at hospitals, nursing homes, senior centers, shelters, rehabilitation facilities, etc. Here are 3 common ways you can obtain these types of experiences.

Shadowing: To gain a deeper understanding of the field and determine if it is the right fit for the applicant. Schools may also request that one of the letters of recommendation come from a licensed occupational therapist. Shadowing or working under an occupational therapist can be a great way to build a relationship and get a strong letter of recommendation.
- Email the Pre-Health Career Corps for shadowing opportunities at phcc@hawaii.edu
Volunteer work: To demonstrate a genuine interest in helping others and the larger communities.
- Clinical Volunteer: To gain experience in the health professional field in which they are interested in; aids in figuring out if that is the field they want to work in.
  - KRS Volunteer Sites - Clinical volunteer opportunities for pre-OT students
- Community Service: Not necessarily related to health, but demonstrates qualities that health professional schools are looking for.
Jobs: Another way to be well rounded and grow personally and professionally.

Other Experiences:

Internships/Fellowships: To gain experience in the health professional field in which the applicant is interested in.
Enrichment: To be more well rounded and gain experience communicating with others from different backgrounds.
Research: To ensure that they will be prepared for the research that will be included in the health professional school/program curriculum.

Personal Development:

It is not enough for admissions committees to see that applicants have completed experiences. They also need to share with admissions committees what they gave and got out of the experiences.

Gave = What and how did you contribute to the organization and/or the people through the organization? How did you make an impact?

Got = What did you get out of the experience? What skills did you gain or establish? What knowledge did you gain?

Admission committees seek students who demonstrate certain qualities that will make them strong practitioners, such as empathy, compassion, a commitment to public service, high ethical and moral standards, a conscientious work ethic, and maturity. These qualities should be demonstrated through the previous experiences mentioned. If this is not the case, then find other experiences from which they can grow.

Keep in mind that: it’s not about what you’re doing, it’s why you're doing it. Why are these things important for you to dedicate your time to?

Networking:

Networking with peers and professionals enables applicants to meet people with similar interests. They can find a mentor to help lead them in the right direction, or find a study buddy for their prerequisites and entrance exam!

UH Connect: UH students or alumni can find a professional mentor through the UH Connect website. Different search and matching tools can be used to find UH alumni who are working in a field that they are interested in within the site.
Clubs and Organizations
Pre-Health Undergraduate Mentoring Program

Experience Log:

When applying for professional school, applicants will be asked to list and describe the experiences they have gained in preparation for the profession of their interest. Rather than having to recall from memory all your experiences, having an experience log will allow you to fill out the application with more ease. Students can use their C.V. as a record of these experiences. However, an experience log can include additional beneficial information, such as employer’s contact information and a reflection portion of what the applicant learned.

PAC's OTCAS Achievement / Experience / Observation / License Log Template

Researching Schools

There are currently over 200 accredited OT programs in the US, each unique in its mission, philosophy, criteria, and strengths.

Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE): list of accredited OT Doctoral and Master’s Level Programs

Although there are resources that “rank” schools, the rankings are rarely pertinent for individual applicants. More important is whether there is a good match between applicant and school.

To find schools that are a good fit for you (PAC peer advisors can help with this process):

Assess individual strengths and weaknesses, professional interests, learning style, and personality;
Start by considering all schools, which usually includes all 150+ schools;
Create your “Long List” by omitting the schools that do not match their professional interests, learning style, and personality;
Create your “Short List”. The short list includes the schools to which they will most likely apply. They will need entrance exam scores and/or current cumulative GPA to narrow and sort their school choices. We strongly recommend applying to schools for which entrance exam score and/or current cumulative GPA are within the ranges of those who were accepted into that program. Ideally, applicants will apply to schools for which both their entrance exam score and cumulative GPA fall within the ranges of accepted applicants.
Also consider other factors when categorizing schools like prerequisites, pass rate on boards/ licensing exams, areas of specialization, and cost/ aid. When deciding how many schools to apply to, consider how many schools to which the applicant can afford to apply. Finally, consider if they really want to attend the school if/when accepted even if it is the only school the applicant has been accepted.

If possible, visit the schools to see their facilities, talk to admissions directors, and chat with students.

Notes for international applicants:

Health professional schools in the U.S. may process applications of international students differently than those U.S. citizens and permanent residents due to institution, state, and federal requirements.
Some schools do not admit any international student, so you will be limited in the number of schools to which they can apply and need to research schools.
There may be additional requirements such as showing proof that they will be able to afford the costs of health professional school as financial aid opportunities are very limited for international students.

2015-2016 Admission Cycle Application Statistics

	Applicants	Applications	Matriculants	Percentage of Applicants that Matriculated
National Applicants	8,848	35,311	2,610	30%

From the 2015-2016 cycle:

Average number of applications per applicants is 3.99

Based on data acquired by the National Association of Academic Advisors for Health Professions (NAAHP).

Entrance Exam

Many occupational therapy programs require applicants to take a standardized test called the Graduate Record Examination (GRE). However, some programs do not require the GRE. Make sure that applicants research programs to see if they need to prepare for and take the GRE.

Overview of the GRE

GRE Scoring:

Competitive scores for occupational therapy programs are around
- 56th percentile for Verbal
- 47th percentile for Quantitative
- 60th percentile for Analytical Writing

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