OT/PT accepted/waitlist/decline forum - 2021 cycle

[PhysioApplicant]

Hey everyone! I'm having a really hard time choosing between UofT and McMaster PT as they are both amazing programs but I'm unsure which one will make me a better PT and give me a better experience. Any advice would be genuinely appreciated.

[sugo]

23 minutes ago, PTontheway said:

I am from NB so technically yes, but OOP fo Dal means out of the Atlantic provinces (I think)! Are you waiting to get into Dal PT?

Yes, I'll say NB residents are in province applicants for Dal haha, and I'm on the OOP waitlist. Congrats again on getting into all schools you applied! What made you choose Dal rather than others? 

[PTontheway]

Just now, sugo said:

Yes, I'll say NB residents are in province applicants for Dal haha, and I'm on the OOP waitlist. Congrats again on getting into all schools you applied! What made you choose Dal rather than others? 

Thank you so much! I hope you get into Dal too  I chose Dal because I like the program framework and learning style they have, its generally a pretty small/ tight knit program, it has a great reputation as a health sciences school, my family and friends are close by or go to Dal and finally, it will allow me to network not only in NS but the other Atlantic provinces. I am hoping by the end of school I will have a solidified position as a PT here in the Halifax area! Also, COVID has totally influenced my choice as being a NBer in NS is already hard enough to make it home during this time, so I can only imagine what it would be like to be in Ontario and make it home to NB. Super excited to get started! In short, Atlantic Canada is a super safe place to be right now and Dal is a great health sciences school.

[Ihopetobeapt]

52 minutes ago, PhysioApplicant said:

Hey everyone! I'm having a really hard time choosing between UofT and McMaster PT as they are both amazing programs but I'm unsure which one will make me a better PT and give me a better experience. Any advice would be genuinely appreciated.

I have always seen u of t as the gold standard. I am waitlisted at Mac tho, so I may be biased  a good friend of mine was choosing between Mac and u of t and she ended up choosing u of t due to the array of placements they can offer that Mac cant really compare with. Also some put Mac as their last choice due to its self directed learning in some courses whereas u of t teaches you - that is her advice. Best of luck! 

[pt0824]

1 hour ago, PhysioApplicant said:

Hey everyone! I'm having a really hard time choosing between UofT and McMaster PT as they are both amazing programs but I'm unsure which one will make me a better PT and give me a better experience. Any advice would be genuinely appreciated.

So I have a friend currently at Mac's PT program, and they love it! PBL in a nutshell is essentially small group-based, self-learning way of teaching– instead of having a professor teach the information, you have a case study with objectives and have to research the information yourself.

Some pro's I've heard:

• more accurate to a real-life setting, thus better preparing you for the actual profession
• become better and more self-driven learner / researcher
• reduced class hours
• develops interpersonal, communication skills for professional and personal development

Cons that I've heard:

• lack of structure (hence, self-driven)
• takes a lot of initiative
• could have bad case-studies
• there might be some conflict within small groups because some students try to one-up other students

 

*copy and pasted from another thread*

 

At the end of the day, both schools are great and have their pros and cons. Think about what type of learning best suites your style and go from there!

[lololiver]

On 6/1/2021 at 8:57 AM, PT_92 said:

If you don't mind me asking, what was your sGPA from your last few years?

it was 3.85! 

[OTdreamer]

I got off McMaster's OT waitlist today and I'm screaming!!  Looks like the waitlist is still moving along for those of you still waiting to hear! Good luck <3 

 

[OT BABY]

So I'm planning on attending UofA's OT program and I was wondering if there was anyone on this forum that knows more about the program that I can get in touch with.

 

Thanks!

[PT1002023]

1 hour ago, OTdreamer said:

I got off McMaster's OT waitlist today and I'm screaming!!  Looks like the waitlist is still moving along for those of you still waiting to hear! Good luck <3 

 

What number were you if you don’t mind me asking

[OTdreamer]

50 minutes ago, PT1002023 said:

What number were you if you don’t mind me asking

I was 24, so I'm shocked!

[OTdreamer]

For anyone else off the waitlist - is your deposit due before the day you need to accept by, or June 30th as shown on the Mac OT waitlist? My mosaic hasn't updated to let me pay yet. 

[ptapp2021]

Hi everybody!

This forum has been very helpful for me so I thought I'd try to pass it on for future applicants (and current ones)! When I emailed them about my relative position on the waitlist for Queen's, they said I was at the top.

Applied + (PT): Queen's, UofT, Western
Accepted:
Waitlisted: Queen's (but I JUST GOT OFF THE WAITLIST!)
Rejected: Western, UofT
GPA:c-gpa is 3.67 and s-gpa is 3.77
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references:

I had several coop terms at physio clinics which helped me have over 2000 hours in two different clinics. As such, I believe my professional reference (a physiotherapist) was very strong. I was not very close with my academic reference but I did very well in her class; thus, I think my academic reference was "ok" and general. If something made a difference, I think it was my experience in the clinics. I understand it is a harder time now to get experience with the pandemic but hey, not trying is worse than trying so do your best in everything you can!

As for essays, I worked with a physiotherapist who went to Queen's and I was able to get a better idea of what I should put on my supplementary forms. If you are connected with a physio, ask them for help and look over your essays. I'm not sure if my essays were strong but I had an idea of what is "good". 

Best of luck to everyone waiting to hear back from schools! I'm excited to read more posts from this forum to see where everyone ends up

 

[PTPT12345]

Just got off the waitlist for Queens and Western PT today, I previously provisionally accepted to Ottawa. I will be accepting my offer to Queens so there will be movement for Ottawa and Western, best of luck!

[physio4444]

5 minutes ago, PTPT12345 said:

Just got off the waitlist for Queens and Western PT today, I previously provisionally accepted to Ottawa. I will be accepting my offer to Queens so there will be movement for Ottawa and Western, best of luck!

What was your subgpa? If you don’t mind sharing

[zerochance]

Anyone here applying for next cycle unable to get any physio related volunteering?  How am I supposed to get any clinic to accept me with COVID?  I’ve reached out to over 50 clinics in my area and beyond and it’s either no thanks or we would but can’t because of Covid.  I had one interview at a clinic and what’s funny they kept asking me about my physio experience....I’m thinking in my head like dude I’m here to get experience how am I supposed to get experience anywhere if every place wants experience to begin with???  
 

Hospitals aren’t taking any volunteers.

[OTUOFA2021]

23 minutes ago, zerochance said:

Anyone here applying for next cycle unable to get any physio related volunteering?  How am I supposed to get any clinic to accept me with COVID?  I’ve reached out to over 50 clinics in my area and beyond and it’s either no thanks or we would but can’t because of Covid.  I had one interview at a clinic and what’s funny they kept asking me about my physio experience....I’m thinking in my head like dude I’m here to get experience how am I supposed to get experience anywhere if every place wants experience to begin with???  
 

Hospitals aren’t taking any volunteers.

Try long term care!! Like think outside of the normal physio clinic box at places like long term rehab facilities and places like that. Those places can always use more help and it’s still patient related and very applicable to PT; in fact, many PT’s work in SNF’s/LTC’s

[zerochance]

1 minute ago, OTUOFA2021 said:

Try long term care!! Like think outside of the normal physio clinic box at places like long term rehab facilities and places like that. Those places can always use more help and it’s still patient related and very applicable to PT; in fact, many PT’s work in SNF’s/LTC’s

So I would be volunteering at ltc as a general volunteer or should I look for something that will ensure I work directly with the physio there?  Because i don’t want to just volunteer in a social way only because that probably won’t help my application I think?

[PTPT12345]

48 minutes ago, physio4444 said:

What was your subgpa? If you don’t mind sharing

3.86

[OtOt21]

I'm looking for some advice from anyone who has upgraded their GPA to make it more competitive.

Would I simply redo courses I did poorly in during my undergrad, or can I do courses I didn't do during my degree and it still count towards the GPA they look at? 

The same for schools that only look at your last 2 years. Would it be pointless to redo courses from 1st year, for example? 

I plan on e-mailing the individual schools to see what they say, but I thought I would ask here first to see others experience.

[OTdreamer]

18 minutes ago, zerochance said:

So I would be volunteering at ltc as a general volunteer or should I look for something that will ensure I work directly with the physio there?  Because i don’t want to just volunteer in a social way only because that probably won’t help my application I think?

I think volunteering with people regardless looks good - you can build all the CASPer related qualities  BUT that being said, I think non-physio but still rehab related is still very applicable! For example, the GLA:D program was run by kinesiologists at VON a few years ago and it was a great learning opportunity. VON also runs light-moderate intensity exercise groups for older adults and many retirement homes do some therapy as well. I would explore different avenues not just a physio clinic  

[ChefAC]

7 minutes ago, OtOt21 said:

I'm looking for some advice from anyone who has upgraded their GPA to make it more competitive.

Would I simply redo courses I did poorly in during my undergrad, or can I do courses I didn't do during my degree and it still count towards the GPA they look at? 

The same for schools that only look at your last 2 years. Would it be pointless to redo courses from 1st year, for example? 

I plan on e-mailing the individual schools to see what they say, but I thought I would ask here first to see others experience.

Hi, 

I recently upgraded my classes after getting rejected last year and got in this year. Since most schools look at the last 20 classes, I mostly just took new classes i didn't take during my undergrad so that my s-gpa would be improved because most schools don't consider classes from 1st/2nd year (although this may different for each school). I would only suggest redo-ing the course is within the last 2 years and if you did quite poorly. But depending on school, I know that UBC takes the higher course mark but ORPAS does not take the average of both classes but counts each class individually. Hope this helps! 

[DALOT123]

Has anyone heard of any movement on the dal OT waitlist?

[OTUOFA2021]

2 hours ago, zerochance said:

So I would be volunteering at ltc as a general volunteer or should I look for something that will ensure I work directly with the physio there?  Because i don’t want to just volunteer in a social way only because that probably won’t help my application I think?

It will help. Like if you imagine your application with many hours working with vulnerable people, you can always relate it to PT. And you’ll watch PT’s work even if it isn’t formal shadowing and you can draw on those experiences of observing their scope of practice. I think whatever volunteer experience you can get working with vulnerable people is great. Plus, it’s better than absolutely nothing if you’re unable to get into clinics!

[OTUOFA2021]

2 hours ago, OtOt21 said:

I'm looking for some advice from anyone who has upgraded their GPA to make it more competitive.

Would I simply redo courses I did poorly in during my undergrad, or can I do courses I didn't do during my degree and it still count towards the GPA they look at? 

The same for schools that only look at your last 2 years. Would it be pointless to redo courses from 1st year, for example? 

I plan on e-mailing the individual schools to see what they say, but I thought I would ask here first to see others experience.

I upgraded my GPA a LOT lol. And I got into 3 schools this year and waitlisted at one OT and one PT! What I did was took a bunch of online courses through Thompson rivers university. It’s easy and convenient! Redoing courses doesn’t change your gpa I don’t think. I think you’re better off to just take new ones that you’re interested and think you can do well in!

[waiting_impatiently]

2 hours ago, DALOT123 said:

Has anyone heard of any movement on the dal OT waitlist?

No. I contacted admissions a few days ago to see if they were at or near capacity yet, but didn't get a response.