How to get into Occupational Therapy School

Steps to get into OT school:

1. Bachelor's Degree

In order to apply to OT school, you will need to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. You can still apply to OT schools if you are in the process of finishing your degree, as long as you will graduate before the OT program start date. The most common bachelor's degrees for OT students include Exercise Science, Psychology, Human Development and Family Studies, Education, and other Health Science degrees. I got my bachelor’s degree in Anthropology which really stood out to OT schools when I applied, so sometimes it can also be beneficial to choose a major outside of the “norm!” Most OT schools ask for the same prerequisite courses. However, some schools have additional courses they ask for, so if you have a particular OT school in mind, double check what courses are required.  Also, make sure that your degree covers prerequisite courses for OT school, and if it does not, then take these additional courses! 

2. GPA

You need at least a 3.0 GPA to apply to OT school. However, most OT school applicants average around a 3.6-3.7 GPA. OT schools look at both your overall GPA and your GPA for prerequisite courses. It is important that both are high, but if you do have a lower overall GPA, make sure you get a very high GPA for prerequisites to make up for it! I only had a 3.0 GPA when I applied to OT school, but I did have around a 3.8 GPA in my prerequisite courses. Keep in mind that a low GPA will significantly decrease your chances of getting into school, so you will need to really spice up your application to make up for it! Also, OT schools will use repeated course grades into your overall GPA, don't forget this!

3. GRE

In my opinion, the GRE was not a huge factor in getting accepted into OT school. Only some schools require it, so make sure you check which ones do! The OT school that I am currently attending was the only school that required the GRE of the schools I applied to. When I took the GRE, I scored a 154 on the verbal section (60th percentile), a 152 on the quantitative section (36th percentile), and a 4.5 on the written section (81st percentile). These scores were slightly higher than the average of my OT cohort when we all applied. If you do plan on taking the GRE, I recommend paying for an online course to help study for it!

4. Shadowing/Observation Hours

This is a really important component of your application! When I applied, I had a total of 181 hours of shadowing experience with OTs. I would recommend getting around 150-200 hours of shadowing experience for your application. It also matters that these hours are from a variety of 2-3 different OT facilities/clinics. You will also want them to be in different practice settings. (ex: outpatient pediatrics, outpatient older adult, inpatient pediatrics, outpatient hand therapy clinic, etc.,) Most of my shadowing hours (131 hours) came from a hand therapy clinic where I both shadowed & worked as an OT aide. This looks amazing on applications to get promoted from a volunteer position to a paid position at a clinic and is a great way to rack up hours! I also shadowed at a pediatric outpatient clinic (18 hours) and an outpatient clinic for older adults (32 hours). Make sure you make an impression on the OTs you shadow as they will write your letters of recommendation! 

5. Letters of Recommendation

I am not sure how heavily letters of rec are weighted in the OT school application process, but I do know that they are important. I received amazing letters of rec from 1 professor in the department of Anthropology from my University as well as two OTs I shadowed or worked under! (They did such a good job writing them!! :) ) Most of the applications I filled out required that I have one letter of recommendation from a professor, and two from occupational therapists. This is important to keep in mind as you start to shadow OTs as they will pay attention to how you interact with their clients/patients and this will go straight into your letters of recommendation! 

6. Personal Statement 

Personal essays are super important!! Your personal essay is what lets OT schools get a glimpse into why you are applying to OT school and if you possess the skills to be a great therapist one day. Make sure you include a story or experience in your personal essay that showcases how you are going to handle the rigor of occupational therapy school. In my personal essay, I shared an experience about learning the Quichua language in Amazonian Ecuador through a program and scholarship called Foreign Language Area Studies. (FLAS) It was a very rigorous and amazing language program I did for two years, and I was able to share experiences from it to demonstrate my ability to handle OT school. The bulk of your essay should be about your shadowing experiences and why you chose occupational therapy. In terms of the formatting and editing of your essay, you want really good writers to review it for you and make suggestions! Between Jacob (my husband) and I, we have lots of amazing writers in the family, so I was able to take their advice into consideration during the editing process. The most helpful tip I received from family is that you really want to grab your reader’s attention in that first paragraph, so make sure it is interesting! I will share my intro paragraph from my OT school application essay below. 

“In June of 2019, I spent the summer in an area of Amazonian Ecuador studying the Quichua language and learning about indigenous healing practices. I will never forget the profound experiences that left such an impact on my desire to heal others. I spent many weeks watching Quichua women care for their young and others in the community. Each woman was highly respected for her knowledge of plant medicine, wound care, and her “chagra,” or medicinal garden that she cared for daily. I was inspired by the strength and empathy that these women possessed through their ability to care for others. I was also impressed by their holistic approach to healing as it was not just the body, but also the mind and soul that they considered throughout their treatments. When I traveled back home after this summer experience, I was left with a profound desire to find a profession that would allow me to heal others in a more holistic way. I had the opportunity to shadow at three different occupational therapy facilities following my Ecuador trip, and it was through these experiences that I came to know that occupational therapy was the perfect fit for everything I had been searching for in a health care profession.”

7. Resume

Make sure your resume looks very professional and is not too lengthy, or the important parts will not be read by OT schools. My resume was barely over 1 page long. Topics I included in my resume were my personal information, work experiences, volunteer/shadowing experiences, education and training, and scholarships and awards. The job titles I was able to include on my resume included occupational therapy aide, medical assistant, and recreational therapy aide. 

8. My Insights

Despite my lower-than-average overall GPA, I was able to get into every single OT school I applied to, including reach schools with acceptance rates around 7%. I will never know for sure what specific parts of my application helped me to get in, but I do have some ideas based on comments made in my OT school interviews by the interviewers! I believe that I really stood out among other candidates because of my Anthropology degree and my experiences as a student at the Andes and Amazon Field School in Ecuador learning an indigenous language. Every time I interviewed, the professor interviewing me was so excited to talk about my degree in Anthropology and mentioned how they have never received a candidate with this background. I also think that my personal essay, shadowing hours, and letters of recommendation all additionally helped my application stand out or at least strengthen my application!