Masters vs. 5th Year

[OT OT]

Hey! I'm re-applying next year and need to decide between completing a 1 year masters, or going back to school for a semester to improve my GPA.

Does anyone have any experience in this? What benefit will the Masters actually give me, in terms of ORPAS GPA calculation? It's a Masters program that I know I would LOVE but at the end of the day, my goal is OT and I want to know what will give me a better shot at getting accepted next year.

My sub-GPA this year was 3.59 but if I go back and do a semester I can bump this up to a 3.87.

Alternatively, if I do the Masters, my sub-GPA will be 3.71 (due to my fourth year second semester grades being accounted for), but I'm unsure of any added benefit that a Masters might add (do they weigh GPA less? etc.)

I will be contacting each school but wanted to see if anyone had any first-hand experience with this first! Thanks so much  

 

 

[Rehab4Life]

I would definitely do the extra semester to bump up your GPA as high as possible if OT is your end goal.

[NorthernOntarioGal]

Do the 5th year!! I did it, it was a great decision. You can strategically decide what classes you want to take since you've already met your degree requirements (I assume) and just focus on getting your GPA up. 

[PT PT PT]

Hey! 

Im just about to be taking my 5th year to upgrade my marks. Couple of questions if you dont mind answering them. Did you take summer school classes to upgrade your GPA? And are Summer school classes are still accepted towards your last 10/20 courses? 

Im struggling to decide to take summer school to either take one course off my first semester work, and whether I would do the entire year or just one semester?

Any advice is appreciated

[OTOT2020]

Summer school courses do count, so it's up to you whether you want to do some in the summer and in the fall. Only courses completed by December 2018 will count towards 2019 admission, so it won't help you out to take courses that start in the new year. 

[Hopplah]

5th year! I did some online Disability Management courses through Dalhousie, that also allowed me to keep my schedule more flexible for my part time job. It absolutely made the difference in my application for OT. I also did a summer course between 4th and 5th year that also factored into my grades. I don't know how ORPAS looks at summer courses for GPA calculations, but Dal did when I applied a few years ago. 

[jul059]

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