Dalhousie Ot

[RH2OT]

I haven't heard anything yet from Dal OT waitlist...I've been waitlisted since April 3rd.... kind of losing hope at this point  

[HopefulNSOT]

On July 7, 2017 at 0:48 PM, RH2OT said:

I haven't heard anything yet from Dal OT waitlist...I've been waitlisted since April 3rd.... kind of losing hope at this point  

Also wanting to hear.. getting so impatient! As far as they could tell me, they are still calling people off of the list, and each has a few weeks to accept/decline.

[nbOThopeful]

On 2017-07-04 at 3:42 PM, HopefulNSOT said:

 

Still haven't heard back yet.....

[RH2OT]

Still waiting to hear ...................

I want to give Dal OT another shot for next year. I am hoping to take some courses to boost my GPA. I understand that the Fall semester can count towards the 2018 Dal OT application. Would any courses work? I guess I'm in a complicated situation where I've been accepted into a technical degree program and a just now into a masters SW program (although I want OT really really badly!!!!!!).  Do you guys think that in both cases I would be okay using the courses for Dal's OT admissions? Or would the radiation therapy degree program courses not count? Any thoughts?

[Hopplah]

@RH2OT Dal OT has specific requirements about what courses you can use for upgrading your GPA. https://www.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/faculty/faculty-health-professions/occupational-therapy/MScOT_Supplementary_Application_Form_2017.pdf Part III says that courses taken after graduating to upgrade your GPA must be at the 3rd or 4th year level. I did some Disability Management courses online through Dal and found them to fairly easy As, and they are all at the 3000/4000 level. Good luck! 

[HopefulNSOT]

On July 31, 2017 at 8:31 PM, Hopplah said:

@RH2OT Dal OT has specific requirements about what courses you can use for upgrading your GPA. https://www.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/faculty/faculty-health-professions/occupational-therapy/MScOT_Supplementary_Application_Form_2017.pdf Part III says that courses taken after graduating to upgrade your GPA must be at the 3rd or 4th year level. I did some Disability Management courses online through Dal and found them to fairly easy As, and they are all at the 3000/4000 level. Good luck! 

I would like to do one semester of courses to bump up the GPA a bit. Did you take a full course load of 5 courses? Or just a few. Would love any recommendation for courses you have as well  

[Hopplah]

@HopefulNSOT I did a whole fifth year, and delayed my graduation to do so, so I didn't use those courses for upgrading. However, I would definitely still recommend the disability management courses at Dal for the purposes of upgrading. Of the four courses, I found 4010 Case Management to be the most challenging, because it involves group work, which can be difficult to do over Skype with people in different provinces/time zones. The other three I would rank about equally - maybe 3-4 hours of work per week in order to engage in the discussions and complete the work. I was happy with the As I achieved, but I think A+s would be very achievable if you were to put in slightly more effort than I did lol. I have also done two of courses while working full time, to give you can idea of their demands (they're manageable). I would also highly, highly recommend getting the recommended text for those courses, if you do take them. I also found DISM courses to be highly relevant to OT practice/school, especially the legal aspects, and return to work planning. 

[RH2OT]

Thanks for the insight @Hopplah it's much appreciated!!!!! Could I please get your thoughts on the following:

1.) I did 4 practicum/co-op courses that do have credit hours associated with them and have a pass/fail grade. They do fall under the last 60 credits and I did read that such courses at Dalhosuie would be calculated into the GPA calculation. Any idea of how that works/what grade it would be equivalent to? Would a pass equal a B+/A? I can't find a clear answer anywhere. 

2.) I've applied to Dal OT twice and both times I've been put on waitlist....hopefully third times a charm. I was looking into upgrading my courses however, if I do take 5 courses for the purpose of boosting my GPA I've realized that my oldest 5 courses (within the 60 credits) would be replaced with the upgraded courses. The problem here is that my 5 oldest courses that would be replaced have a mix of all A/A-. My B- courses are right in the middle of the last 60 credits. Thus I feel that there's no point in upgrading my courses. Any thoughts? I'm assuming I've got it right that upgrading your courses will replace your oldest courses within the 60 credits.

3.) At this point I feel that my hands are tied in terms of ways to improve my application. Last year one of my references was an OT who was my supervisor and I felt that the letter was awesome. I've also got various volunteer and work experiences. Any suggestions on how to improve the application?

 

[HopefulNSOT]

7 hours ago, RH2OT said:

Thanks for the insight @Hopplah it's much appreciated!!!!! Could I please get your thoughts on the following:

1.) I did 4 practicum/co-op courses that do have credit hours associated with them and have a pass/fail grade. They do fall under the last 60 credits and I did read that such courses at Dalhosuie would be calculated into the GPA calculation. Any idea of how that works/what grade it would be equivalent to? Would a pass equal a B+/A? I can't find a clear answer anywhere. 

2.) I've applied to Dal OT twice and both times I've been put on waitlist....hopefully third times a charm. I was looking into upgrading my courses however, if I do take 5 courses for the purpose of boosting my GPA I've realized that my oldest 5 courses (within the 60 credits) would be replaced with the upgraded courses. The problem here is that my 5 oldest courses that would be replaced have a mix of all A/A-. My B- courses are right in the middle of the last 60 credits. Thus I feel that there's no point in upgrading my courses. Any thoughts? I'm assuming I've got it right that upgrading your courses will replace your oldest courses within the 60 credits.

3.) At this point I feel that my hands are tied in terms of ways to improve my application. Last year one of my references was an OT who was my supervisor and I felt that the letter was awesome. I've also got various volunteer and work experiences. Any suggestions on how to improve the application?

 

I think it's the last 20 credits Dal looks at, so you would be upgrading the oldest of that? There are sessions mentioned in your letter when you were accepted to the waitlist, you could attend those or make a phone appointment for advise on improving your application. For me, grades are okay, but have relevant volunteer experience so I will be looking into some other schools this year as I have been put on the waitlist for Dal twice as well.

[Hopplah]

It's so hard to say what it takes to improve an application - even after I got in, we were completely clueless about average entering GPA etc. I would definitely email the school directly about your concerns with upgrading your courses, especially because you do have such good grades in that semester that would be bumped out. I do know that academic references count for a lot, and that non-academic references are considered more highly if you have been out of school for several years (Carmel said this to me at a recruitment session the year I was applying). My two references were unrelated to my BSc undergrad, and were not professors I had done research with, but they were still able to speak to my academic ability and suitability for OT. There is a recruitment session coming up, that I saw posted on the Da OT FB page: 

Join us for the Dal@OT recruitment information sessions, Thursday and Friday, August 17 and 18th, 2017 
via email: otadmissions@dal.ca
Our recruitment officer, Carmel O'Keefe, will be in the School of OT at Dal, second floor of the Forrest Building, and devoted to answering your questions regarding the application process, meeting with you personally for 15-minute appointments, or directing you in finding out more about our profession. To complement this 2-day session, view the recruitment video (see attached), explore our website occupationaltherapy.dal.ca, or peruse our Facebook page <Dal School of OT> 
We will be holding similar sessions to answer your questions on:
November 29, 2017
December 1, 2017
January 19 and 22, 2018
We look forward to hearing from you!

What I learned from this session when I went was that they look at 1) GPA 2) Pre-req GPA 3) References. And, that amongst your references, academic > non-academic, except for people 5+ years out of school. They revise their admissions process every year, so I would definitely go again even if you have been in the past, to see if anything has changed and how you can update your application. Good luck! I really hope you get in, applying is stressful!

[peppermintglow]

On 8/17/2017 at 0:55 PM, Hopplah said:

It's so hard to say what it takes to improve an application - even after I got in, we were completely clueless about average entering GPA etc. I would definitely email the school directly about your concerns with upgrading your courses, especially because you do have such good grades in that semester that would be bumped out. I do know that academic references count for a lot, and that non-academic references are considered more highly if you have been out of school for several years (Carmel said this to me at a recruitment session the year I was applying). My two references were unrelated to my BSc undergrad, and were not professors I had done research with, but they were still able to speak to my academic ability and suitability for OT. There is a recruitment session coming up, that I saw posted on the Da OT FB page: 

Join us for the Dal@OT recruitment information sessions, Thursday and Friday, August 17 and 18th, 2017 
via email: otadmissions@dal.ca
Our recruitment officer, Carmel O'Keefe, will be in the School of OT at Dal, second floor of the Forrest Building, and devoted to answering your questions regarding the application process, meeting with you personally for 15-minute appointments, or directing you in finding out more about our profession. To complement this 2-day session, view the recruitment video (see attached), explore our website occupationaltherapy.dal.ca, or peruse our Facebook page <Dal School of OT> 
We will be holding similar sessions to answer your questions on:
November 29, 2017
December 1, 2017
January 19 and 22, 2018
We look forward to hearing from you!

What I learned from this session when I went was that they look at 1) GPA 2) Pre-req GPA 3) References. And, that amongst your references, academic > non-academic, except for people 5+ years out of school. They revise their admissions process every year, so I would definitely go again even if you have been in the past, to see if anything has changed and how you can update your application. Good luck! I really hope you get in, applying is stressful!

Do you know anything about how they calculate prereq GPA for students still doing the courses? i'm finishing my ANAT/PHYL courses in about two weeks and wondering if that's working against me as they've already sent out some acceptances..

[Hopplah]

Good question @AlexFox. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the answer digging through the Dal website. When I was admitted, I had also not completed my 6 credit physiology course. I did my undergrad at Dal, so a lot of this is dependent on your school. I had a grade for the first semester of my physiology course on my transcript (I believe...It's been a while) even though I had not completed the course. And this was used with my anatomy grade to calculate my pre-req GPA. When I was accepted (prior to completing the course), it said my acceptance was conditional on maintaining a B- average in my physiology course (or pre-req GPA, or something like that). 

[HopefulNSOT]

As I understand it, a conditional acceptance just means pending your graduation and a B grade in the prerequisites by the June deadline for transcripts. I was accepted off the waitlist two years ago but could not go because I couldn't finish my Physiology in time.