FutureOT2020 Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 Hey everyone! Congratulations on all of you acceptances and I hope things go well for people on the wait list. I've been accepted to OT at McMaster, Toronto, and Western, but I am extremely torn between McMaster and Toronto and am finding it hard to weigh the pro's and con's since they're so unique from each other. I'm planning on going to the open house for Toronto, but input from any current OT students at either of these schools or anyone else would be greatly appreciated! How are the facilities at each school, how are the catchment areas/placement opportunities, are lectures often intimate or large, do you find your fellow students committed and passionate, etc. or anything else you could offer insight on! Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sukhan Posted May 20, 2018 Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 1 hour ago, FutureOT2020 said: Hey everyone! Congratulations on all of you acceptances and I hope things go well for people on the wait list. I've been accepted to OT at McMaster, Toronto, and Western, but I am extremely torn between McMaster and Toronto and am finding it hard to weigh the pro's and con's since they're so unique from each other. I'm planning on going to the open house for Toronto, but input from any current OT students at either of these schools or anyone else would be greatly appreciated! How are the facilities at each school, how are the catchment areas/placement opportunities, are lectures often intimate or large, do you find your fellow students committed and passionate, etc. or anything else you could offer insight on! Thanks! Hey there! Congratulations I am exactly in the same boat. Got into Mcmaster, Uoft and Western for OT but not sure which school to go for.... I got a little overwhelmed when I looked at last years OT class schedule at UofT (posted on their website). It's also a bummer that placements start after the end of the first year at UofT i.e. summer next year. I'll be coming to the open house as well next week. I hope someone responds to this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureOT2020 Posted May 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2018 3 hours ago, sukhan said: Hey there! Congratulations I am exactly in the same boat. Got into Mcmaster, Uoft and Western for OT but not sure which school to go for.... I got a little overwhelmed when I looked at last years OT class schedule at UofT (posted on their website). It's also a bummer that placements start after the end of the first year at UofT i.e. summer next year. I'll be coming to the open house as well next week. I hope someone responds to this thread! Congratulations to you too! I was talking to some current McMaster students at the MMI about their schedule, and it was very busy too. I think that is a common component throughout the programs! For McMaster, I love the learning pedagogy (these are the types of experiences that I took most from in undergrad and I feel prepare you to be independent and creative) and that you are guaranteed one mental health placement. I've had more luck getting a picture of McMasters program online and at the interview, so I hope that the open house at Toronto will make the decision clear for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych_OT Posted May 21, 2018 Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 Hi and congrats on your acceptances everyone! I'm a current UofT student I would say a big plus with UofT is the amazing catchment since there is great variety and you dont have to worry about placements in other towns. We have an intro placement in October for 2 weeks which is a nice break from studying but otherwise the longer placements are in the spring (I'm in my placement right now!). I'm grateful for having placement now because I feel more confident in my knowledge compared to first semester. We have study groups that changed each semester and you really get the chance to get to know your classmates in a smaller group (even though we all initially dreaded the concept, everyone in the class is great and very committed so its all been a positive experience!). Much of the group work is done with your same study group. The first semester is focused on theory but more of the application is during 2nd semester. I really liked how our professors intigrated unique learning opportunities as guest lecturers and some shadowing days too. The faculty are really great and supportive (some of them are also very well known in the OT field). Let me know if any of you have specific questions I'm also going to be helping at the Open house as well so I may see you there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureOT2020 Posted May 21, 2018 Author Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Psych_OT said: Hi and congrats on your acceptances everyone! I'm a current UofT student I would say a big plus with UofT is the amazing catchment since there is great variety and you dont have to worry about placements in other towns. We have an intro placement in October for 2 weeks which is a nice break from studying but otherwise the longer placements are in the spring (I'm in my placement right now!). I'm grateful for having placement now because I feel more confident in my knowledge compared to first semester. We have study groups that changed each semester and you really get the chance to get to know your classmates in a smaller group (even though we all initially dreaded the concept, everyone in the class is great and very committed so its all been a positive experience!). Much of the group work is done with your same study group. The first semester is focused on theory but more of the application is during 2nd semester. I really liked how our professors intigrated unique learning opportunities as guest lecturers and some shadowing days too. The faculty are really great and supportive (some of them are also very well known in the OT field). Let me know if any of you have specific questions I'm also going to be helping at the Open house as well so I may see you there! Thank you so much for the reply! I was going over the U of T OT curriculum document again and I do have quite a few questions. Please don't feel obligated to answer all of them, any little bit of info is appreciated! 1) In the document, there seems to be a big focus on interprofessional education (placement opportunities, required IPE activities, etc). Have you found this to be the case so far in the program? If so, have you found this beneficial? 2) The document also mentions the importance of understanding occupation in terms of occupational justice, with a special emphasis on Indigenous Peoples (i.e. understanding how issues of oppression/inequality and the environment can impact occupational engagement). Have you noticed a big focus on this yet in the program or is this something that will mostly be focused on in a specific class? 3) It also mentioned there were case study classes and skills labs, which seem to be more hands on like McMasters problem-based learning. Have you had any case study classes/skills labs yet where they provide real life case based learning of scenarios? 4) Is there a mentor in your study group? I read something about a mentor being involved that helps you develop a professional identity and build a portfolio which sounded interesting! 5) Do you find that most of your classmates live very close to campus? I have mostly been finding affordable places anywhere from a 20-50 minute commute from campus. Do you think this is doable or would make the program demands too difficult? 6) Is there somewhere you know of where I can read course descriptions? I've read about the curriculum and educational framework, but have only come across course titles. Thank you again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych_OT Posted May 21, 2018 Report Share Posted May 21, 2018 3 hours ago, FutureOT2020 said: Thank you so much for the reply! I was going over the U of T OT curriculum document again and I do have quite a few questions. Please don't feel obligated to answer all of them, any little bit of info is appreciated! 1) In the document, there seems to be a big focus on interprofessional education (placement opportunities, required IPE activities, etc). Have you found this to be the case so far in the program? If so, have you found this beneficial? 2) The document also mentions the importance of understanding occupation in terms of occupational justice, with a special emphasis on Indigenous Peoples (i.e. understanding how issues of oppression/inequality and the environment can impact occupational engagement). Have you noticed a big focus on this yet in the program or is this something that will mostly be focused on in a specific class? 3) It also mentioned there were case study classes and skills labs, which seem to be more hands on like McMasters problem-based learning. Have you had any case study classes/skills labs yet where they provide real life case based learning of scenarios? 4) Is there a mentor in your study group? I read something about a mentor being involved that helps you develop a professional identity and build a portfolio which sounded interesting! 5) Do you find that most of your classmates live very close to campus? I have mostly been finding affordable places anywhere from a 20-50 minute commute from campus. Do you think this is doable or would make the program demands too difficult? 6) Is there somewhere you know of where I can read course descriptions? I've read about the curriculum and educational framework, but have only come across course titles. Thank you again No worries, I definitely know the importance of getting as much information as possible to make your decision 1)We have a set of IPE’s that we take during the school year that involves all other professions in the healthcare field and we do things like case studies. We are put into groups and work on things together, such as case studies. In addition we have 3 IPE’s where we get to choose which is of interest to us (these are smaller in numbers). We also have IPE’s to do during our placements. I thought the IPE’s were interesting since it allowed us to interact with other students who we otherwise wouldn’t interact with. But yes, I would say overall there is a considerable focus on IPE. 2) We have sessions that explored these concepts. They were done either by guest lecturers or the diversity committee. Up till now, it was in no specific course but more like they reserved some time from courses to teach us these concepts. But the topics also come up in some classes as well. 3) During some classes, we have break out sessions where we meet in our study rooms with our groups and work on things together, which can be case studies or mini presentations. Some of these are also run by non faculty OT’s as well, which allows for insightful interactions. For skills, its more during term 2 I’d say, for example during biomechanics labs you learn how to do things as manual muscle testing and goniometry 4) Yes we do have mentors and they remain with our group (which is different from the study groups) throughout the entire program. My mentor does a really great job in providing a real life context to the discussions and is really supportive of us too. We meet about twice a month. 5) I found that people tended to live all over the place, some close and some farther. I have a friend who has a 60 minute commute. But 20-50 min is quite doable (personally I live 30 minutes away). 6)Here is a link for the course descriptions: http://ot.utoronto.ca/current/student-handbook-important-notices/background/course-descriptions/ If any other questions come up, let me know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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