Jump to content
Premed 101 Forums

OT/PT accepted/waitlist/decline 2020 cycle

ptmandem
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 2.4k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

J.H
J.H

Not OT, but here's my experience:  I took a year between high school and college to travel and volunteer, it remains one of the best decision I've ever made. I started post-secondary at a college

natOT
natOT

A bit off topic, but this forum post (the 2020 version) has over double the pages of the 2019 one. 

Walrus08
Walrus08

Hey everyone! Just a heads up that ORPAS changed the earliest date to receive OT/PT offers to May 29th   https://www.ouac.on.ca/guide/orpas-dates/ 

Posted Images

kin2pt2020 Newbie

kin2pt2020

Posted
Posted

I have been lurking on this thread for months now, but since it is said and done as of tonight I figured I would throw in my results.

Applied + (PT or OT?): PT at U of A, McMaster, U of T, Western, McGill (QY), Dal
Accepted: U of A, McMaster, McGill, Western
Waitlisted: Western (middle third)
Rejected: U of T, Dal
GPA: ok so I accidentally froze my ORPAS for 24 hours hahaha but I think they were both around 3.6 - 3.65. I had a 3.9/4.33 for Dal and a 3.65 - 3.7 ish for U of A. 
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

My primary reference was one of my professors, who I took 3 classes with and worked with on projects within our faculty. He had discussed taking me on as a master's student if PT didn't work out, and he knows me not just as a student but as a human being and understood how badly I wanted to go into PT. My second was a PT I did a practicum with, he is such an amazing mentor of mine and he got to see how I worked in the clinic, picked up skills and applied the textbook knowledge to clinical settings, and he gave me a lot of independence in my role as a kinesiologist/PT assistant. I had a second academic reference for the Dal application, which was another professor of mine who I also worked extensively with outside of the classroom on different projects within our faculty. He also wrote me a reference for my semester abroad. I think my personal statements were well written, and I have a variety of experiences I was able to speak on, including volunteering as a fitness attendant for people with disabilities, coaching youth soccer, being an executive for my kinesiology student society for 2 years at my undergrad university, attending 2 conferences, doing a semester abroad in Australia (I also did some volunteer work at my exchange university), work and practicum experience in physiotherapy clinics, and practicum experience as a media assistant for my undergrad school's varsity teams. My experiences are not all directly PT related but involve lots of leadership and self-direction. I had some friends from all different academic backgrounds read through my written components and offer suggestions, including some master's students and PT students. I felt confident in my Kira Talent for Mac. It was my first time writing CASPer, but I thought I did alright; not amazing and not horrible. I got lots of interview tips from friends and my PT referee, so I felt good about any interview components. Plus, I just generally like talking with people and genuinely enjoy interviews.

I am honestly shocked to have received multiple offers, let alone one offer, considering my GPA is not stellar. I do think I might have made up for it with the CASPer/Kira Talent. I am debating between U of A and Mac, leaning towards U of A but still not entirely sure! Congrats to everyone who got offers! (Ended up going with U of A!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gummy2020 Newbie

gummy2020

Posted
Posted

Applied + (PT or OT?): PT only 
Accepted: McMaster (final offer on mosaic/email/orpas), Western(email/student portal/orpas), Queens(orpas only)
Waitlisted:
Rejected: UofT (?)
GPA: cpga of 3.78 and sgpa of 3.81
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: thought my UofT interview was strongest, but haven't heard anything back on ORPAS/email which I think I will presume as a rejection. It's my second year applying and last year I got accepted to 0/4 schools (with a sgpa of 3.78 so only a 0.03 difference in GPA this year, but my applications felt way stronger). McMaster interview was so-so for me, with strong and weak points. I thought my Queens and Western supplementary applications were strong, but I'm not too familiar with the schools acceptance process so I felt like it was really up in the air!

References wise, one was a professor who I knew not super well considering she was my thesis supervisor, but well enough. We had a positive relationship and I had taken a seminar course of hers prior to my thesis, so she was familiar with me. Didn't think our relationship was superb, but she would leave me a decent reference. My professional reference is a personal physio mentor of mine who I really look up to and I believe left me a very strong reference! He treated me as an athlete and was the first person to truly open my eyes to the power of physiotherapy and introduce me to the world of rehab! In my personal experiences, I had a lot to pull from. Working as a personal trainer, volunteering with MS exercise programs, working as a 1:1 counsellor for children with autism, being an injured athlete, job shadowing in acute care, and working and liasing with physicians, nurses, and RTs in a hospital, and instructing exercise classes to seniors in my local community. These things all look great on paper, but I think the game changer for me was being able to succintly pull from these experiences how I was able to develop leadership, communication, collaboration, and related them to the essential PT competencies. 

For anyone reading this who also got accepted, my biggest congratulations to you! For anyone reading this who did not get accepted, I don't know what/how you feel, but I know how I felt last year. I would say to myself to keep your head up, enjoy the next year as much as you can, and continue to grow. Your worth is not measured by whether or not a program accepts you. 

P.S. last year, I got all my rejection emails in my personal email at 8:30am EST

Link to comment
Share on other sites
MiaOT Newbie

MiaOT

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, nekobeans said:

I got rejection letter from western and acceptance from Toronto & queens to my personal email. my sgpa is 3.73  and cgpa is 3.66

Congratulations!!! did you have any volunteer experience ? I have similar stats to you and haven’t heard from queens yet 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OThopeful2020 Newbie

OThopeful2020

Posted
Posted

Accepted to U of T, McMaster, and Western for OT! Haven't heard from Queens yet. 

All three have sent my offer letters via email and updated the status on ORPAS.

U of T has also specified the campus in the email (I got St. George!). 

Good luck to everyone still waiting! I will be accepting my U of T offer, so this should move you up on the McMaster and Western waitlists! :) 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ptmandem Newbie

ptmandem

Posted
  • Author
Posted
17 minutes ago, Emdb13 said:

Does anyone know what the green circle (pending) on Mosaic implies? I haven't received an email from them confirming or denying me yet..could they be waiting for rejections before sending out a second wave?

check for an email in your spam mail. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
OTplz2020 Newbie

OTplz2020

Posted
Posted
On 12/19/2019 at 3:53 PM, OTplz2020 said:

Applied + (PT or OT?): UofA, Western, Queen's, UofT and McMaster all for OT
Accepted: McMaster, UofT, Western, UofA
Waitlisted: Queen’s
Rejected:
GPA:c-gpa 3.42 and s-gpa 3.79
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

First time applying here! :) For my essay, I highlighted my experiences of working as an OTA since 2018, primarily in the mental health unit of a long-term care facility and have just recently started working on other units for supported living and dementia. As the unit was being commissioned for the first year, I worked directly under two OTs. I've had 3 years worth of practicum at various locations for individuals with physical and mental disabilities and also volunteered to help individuals with physical disabilities to exercise at my local gym. At my practicum placements, I was able to shadow a few OTs and conducted a research project under the supervision of one. I've also been working as a behavioural interventionist for an individual with autism to help them with their ADLs and to aid in their development of social skills. My work experience reference is one of the OTs that I've been working alongside for the past year. :)

 

Super excited for this cycle! Best of luck to everybody!!! :)

Will be firmly accepting McMaster for OT so the waitlists for UofT, Western and UofA will be moving! :)

Stoked to be starting in fall!! If any of you are also choosing McMaster, please give me a shout! I'd love to connect with some future classmates!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...