Pt/ot Accepted/waitlisted/rejected For 2015 Cycle

[hopefulptstudent14]

In the previous years, applicants for both OT and PT have posted a brief summary of their ORPAS application. This gives us an idea of the competition and allows us to get information for this years Sub-GPA and Cum-GPA cut-offs when the Universities have made their decision. As a community we can post immediate information when it becomes available to us. 

 

For those who want to participate, follow the template below to keep the information organized:

 

Applied:
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: (cum and sub)
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

[hopefulptstudent14]

Applied: UofT, Western, Mac, Queens (All PT)
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: (cum and sub): Sub GPA: 3.79 / Cum GPA: 3.37
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: I have volunteered at 3 different PT clinics as a physiotherapists assistant, where I gained experience with conditions related to the musculoskeletal and neurological areas. I have 2 reference letters (1 Prof and 1 Physiotherapist). I took part in the MMI interview last year at McMaster and hope to improve from that. 

[PTapplic]

Applied: UofT, Western, Mac, Queens, Alberta
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: subGPA: 3.85, cumGPA: 3.64
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: Volunteered in 2 studies directly related to physical therapy, 200 hours volunteer work in a physical therapy clinic, 1000+ hours employment in an orthopedic clinic as a Registered Kinesiologist. References from clinic manager and a prof who I also volunteered for. This is my 3rd year applying so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Good luck everyone!

[hopefulOT]

Applied: Queen's OT
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected: Queen's OT
GPA: cGPA 3.12 2.91, sGPA 3.08 3.18 edited Feb 10/2015 when ORPAS gpa posted.
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

Essays: I flip on this daily, let's say medium strong? Well edited, at least, and hopefully to Queen's liking as I included a lot of volunteer/personal experiences. My main worries are that the focus on my sports past is going to have them think I want PT and that it wasn't personal enough... I thought my trends essay was the strongest of the two (I talked about assistive technology and the aging population, if I were to rewrite this I would do it on mental health).

Extracurriculars: volunteered with Autism Ontario helping kids with sports for a season, volunteered with a special needs hockey team for a summer, kids triathlon volunteer, yoga practice/becoming a yoga teacher, 10 years competitive soccer, 7 years of competitive hockey, captained a few teams, 2 part time jobs while a full time student (one at a gym, other in a grocery store), school SciFi Club member

References: I only saw one (my boss) and I thought it was pretty good, very kind. My academic one comes from a prof who I've had twice, once for a research practicum, and I did well in his classes so I hope Queen's likes it. 

 

My biggest downfall is my GPA, I know. It's why I'm not applying to other schools, but even if I was applying multiple places it would still choose Queen's first. I'm currently 5th Psychology (BSc Hons) student and I spent a lot of last year trying to make up for 3rd year mistakes, and making some new ones along the way. I failed one class 3rd year and it's hurting me hard, I retook and still didn't do well (should not have done the retake, it's holding down my 4th year). This year is going well though (3.87 in my fall semester) and I'm determined to become an OT, so I am completely prepared to take a 6th year (and do a joint major/boost my grades) and try again if need be. I've started an application to volunteer at my hospital just in case I have to stick around another year in limbo.

 

Edit: my cGPA was lower than expected, posted on Feb 10th. Feeling like my chances are pretty much nothing since I don't make the 3.0 cut off now. There goes $292. 

[PLZPT2015]

how did you guys calculate your subGPA and cumGPA? 

[OTfanatic]

Applied: U of A (OT)
Accepted: U of A
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: (cum and sub): sGPA: 3.94 update: found out my cGPA: 3.51
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: I have 7 months experience as a volunteer for an OT and 2 years working with children who have disabilities. I have 2 references, but I'm not sure how strong they are, because I'm not very close with either of them and I wasn't able to read them. I'm just hoping my GPA will pull me through..

 

I don't know my cGPA because I've attended a few universities, but it will be MUCH lower because I failed 2 courses in first year and got one D. (..Anyone know if they will take these early grades into account at all towards my application?)

[PThopeful99]

Applied: Mac, UofT, Queens, Western

Accepted:

Waitlisted:

Rejected:

GPA: (cum and sub) sGPA: 3.81 cGPA: 3.52

Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

[OT2015]

Applied: U of A (OT)

Accepted:

Waitlisted:

Rejected:

GPA: (cum and sub): sGPA: 3.94

Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: I have 7 months experience as a volunteer for an OT, 2 years working with children who have disabilities and almost one year working as an autism support worker. I have 2 references, but I'm not sure how strong they are, because I'm not very close with either of them and I wasn't able to read them. I'm just hoping my GPA will pull me through..

 

I don't know my cGPA because I've attended a few universities, but it will be MUCH lower because I failed 2 courses in first year and got one D. (..Anyone know if they will take these early grades into account at all towards my application?)

You'll have to check the U of A's specific requirements for their program in terms of what grades they look at. They should be pretty explicit as to whether they look at your whole undergrad (cumulative GPA) or just the past 20 credits. 

[Brody]

Your GPA is crazy I would be very surprised if you didn't get in the only issue with your cGPA would be if it wasn't over 3.0 as that is the minimum for most grad schools.

[Brody]

That last comment was for OTfanatic

[Brody]

Applied: U of T, Queens, Western, McMasters, U of A (All OT)

I have a very strong letter from an OT I have been working with, I am not sure about my academic letter but I don't think it will be bad. My personal statement was strong and my other one was okay. I somehow read the question wrong and wrote my essay about trends in healthcare and not leadership, so it was changed last minute to fit in with leadership but its definitely not my strongest work. I also wrote it more like an academic essay rather then a personal one, I am not sure if that matters. As for volunteer experience I think that's the strongest part of my application. I have 6 months working with 2 OT's, 6 months working with 2 speech pathologists. I have also worked with a speech pathologist in the school district. In addition I have spent over 750 hours working with 4 autistic children on OT related skills. At one point I was trained by an OT so I could implement her strategies and techniques. In addition I also have 3 years volunteering in residential and acute care. Plus 7 years volunteering in schools. I also was a research assistant in an autism research camp, and have been working as a research assistant for a new language program for the last few months.

[PLZPT2015]

Your GPA is crazy I would be very surprised if you didn't get in the only issue with your cGPA would be if it wasn't over 3.0 as that is the minimum for most grad schools.

 

 

You'll have to check the U of A's specific requirements for their program in terms of what grades they look at. They should be pretty explicit as to whether they look at your whole undergrad (cumulative GPA) or just the past 20 credits. 

 

 

pretty sure it's only queens that looks at cgpa while the rest look at last 20 and ubc being last 10 full courses of 300/400 lvl courses

[OTfanatic]

Oh, I didn't realize that they had a limit for your cGPA.. I don't think mine will be under 3.0. Yes U of A looks at the last 20 courses, but I wasn't sure if they would still take my full GPA into account. Anyways, thanks guys

[AmJa]

 

Applied: UofT, Western, Mac, Queens (ALL PT AND OT)
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: subGPA: Approx 3.79, cumGPA: 3.78

My volunteer is pretty strong but it's not very related to OT/PT. One of them is kind of related. I also got two reference, one from my university prof and the other is from my employer who is also a PhD Dr.

[PLZPT2015]

Oh, I didn't realize that they had a limit for your cGPA.. I don't think mine will be under 3.0. Yes U of A looks at the last 20 courses, but I wasn't sure if they would still take my full GPA into account. Anyways, thanks guys

 

ORPAS will have your subGPA and cumGPA around Feb.

 

Therefore, it might be better to wait before posting your GPA on this thread. Just in case it isn't accurate!

[B.OT]

Applied: U of A, Queens, Dalhousie (OT)

Accepted:

Wait listed:

Rejected:

GPA: cum - 3.46 sub - 3.59

Perceived strength of essays/references:

I don't feel great about my Healthcare Trends essay for Queens. But my personal statement is decent I think. I have a BPE degree and have spent the last year working as a Kin at a multidisciplinary rehab clinic with OTs and PTs so I'm hoping that helps my application! From people I have talked to that have gotten in though, they all have had personal experiences where OTs have had an impact on close friends or family members, so I'm worried mine may come off somewhat cookie cutter. My references are probably average. A colleague physio and a prof that actually no longer teaches so I hope that's not a problem! I read the letter the physio wrote to U of A and it was pretty good.

 

Good luck everyone

[OT_hopeful2015]

Applied: UofT, Mcmaster, Queens, Western, UManitoba  (all PT/OT except western and UManitoba, which were only OT)
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: (cum and sub): cGPA: 3.55 sGPA: 3.76
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: Essays seemed okay. References were average. 

[OT_OneDay]

Applied: UofT, Western, McMaster, Queen's, UManitoba, UofA, McGill, Dalhousie (all OT)

Accepted: Dalhousie

Waitlisted:

Rejected: Manitoba, McMaster, McGill

GPA: (ORPAS) cGPA: 3.1, sGPA: 3.44

Perceived strengths: I have quite a bit of experience (7 years) working in a multidisciplinary setting as a rehab assistant, then as an OT assistant, and working in a lab where I co-authored some work, among some other non-related volunteering (I thought my experience was awesome until I started reading all of yours!). I know one of my letters, from an OT, will be really good, and I have quite a bit of faith in my academic letter (from the senior researcher of the lab I worked in). As for essays, I feel quite confident in my intent letter, and I would feel good about my second letter, except that I'm still unsure if it was even what they wanted!

Obviously my averages are low, but as I still make cutoff (and I am rather confident in my letters - both personal and recommendation), I am holding on to some tiny shreds of hope. I've seen people with these marks get in (on the forums last year), so not all hope is lost. 
I also applied to the University of Queensland in Australia as a backup now - hoping to hear from them soon so that I can at least be a little less stressed.

 

Editing to add: It would seem my letters of reference were good as I got an early acceptance into Dal. For those who I see asking: despite having a lower GPA (it is a bit higher with the Dal conversion), my prerequisite grades were very high, which may have helped?

[breepi]

Applied: UofT; Western; Queens; McMaster - all OT... figured with each school having such different priorities for acceptances that I might as well apply to them all to increase my chances! 
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: (cum and sub) sGPA 3.885 cGPA 3.885
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: 

I think my essays are strong, but I also have no idea what they will be looking for so I always start to second-guess myself! I lived with my grandmother as a live-in caregiver (she has Alzheimer's) for three years while attending university and wrote about the difference that OT made in the household's lifestyle & also about my experiences as a camp counsellor working with children who have disabilities. 

My references should be relatively strong, but neither is from a healthcare professional - one is from my on-campus boss (in a position where I do interact one-on-one with students identifying and assessing needs etc., so it kind of relates?) and the academic should be strong as I've had the prof several times and TA for him (but I didn't get to read either! I'm very jealous of those of you that have.. it would help with the anxiety some?)

 

I can't believe there's four more months until we know anything! 

[lulululu]

Applied:Mcgill QYPT, Queens
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA: (cum and sub): cGPA 3.55, subGPA 3.6?
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

shadowing PT clinics, rehab centers

volunteering PT department of an elderly center, church soup kictchen, cardiac rehab/exercise program

MSc in Biochem...probably not useful but I worked hard for that...lol

2.5 years hospital cancer researcher working experience

did kinesiology for a year for anatomy, biomec and other prereqs

right now in first year PT rehab undergrad program

Hoping to get in this year so I can skip one year of study...getting really old and tired of school

[beary31]

Applied: Queens, UofT - PT

Accepted:

Waitlisted:

sGPA: 3.76   cGPA: 3.55 (approx)

Perceived strength of references/essays: second year applying so I got some feedback last year from queens. references both ranked as very good (same referees as last year), and lots of feedback on my personal statement for queens so I feel much more confident this year. I've volunteered/worked in a private/multidisciplinary clinic, volunteered at a hospital with PTs, and done some other non-physio related volunteering as well.

uoft just depends on the GPA cutoff...I'm hoping it doesn't go up this year, but unfortunately the trend the last few years has been that way...ah well.

good luck, everyone. may the odds be ever in your favour.

[ot_hopeful99]

Applied: UBC, U of A, Manitoba, McMaster (all OT) 
Accepted: U of M
Waitlisted:UBC
Rejected:U of A, McMaster
GPA: 83% 300/400 level courses at UBC, sGPA Manitoba OT = 3.91, not sure what my sGPA is for U of A and McMaster is but I'm assuming around 3.6.
Perceived strengths of essays/interviews/references:
My essays are strong as I have quite a bit of OT knowledge and relative experience. I have over 200 hours working with dementia patients and more working with children with autism. I have pretty stellar references from them as well. My professors also wrote great letters of references. I achieved the highest mark in the class in both courses which were both science-related and both profs know me personally. I think I have a good chance at getting interviews everywhere except u of a and McMaster.

[erebakish]

Does anyone know when our sGPA will be available on ORPAS/where to find it? I wanted to see if my calculation matched. And one of my grades came in late--pretty close to the mailing date so I was worried it might not be accounted for...

[beary31]

 

 

Does anyone know when our sGPA will be available on ORPAS/where to find it? I wanted to see if my calculation matched. And one of my grades came in late--pretty close to the mailing date so I was worried it might not be accounted for...

When will I receive my verification report?  

Verification reports (VRs) are no longer being mailed to applicants. They will be viewable online, after the academic record has been reviewed. An email will be sent to all applicants, advising when their VR is available to view.

that should tell you everything

[PTapplic]

Does anyone know when our sGPA will be available on ORPAS/where to find it? I wanted to see if my calculation matched. And one of my grades came in late--pretty close to the mailing date so I was worried it might not be accounted for...

Last year they were posted on ORPAS between February 18-20. After logging in there was a link to view the report.