OT/PT Accepted / Waitlisted/ Rejected - 2022 Cycle

[PT2022--]

15 minutes ago, rlerin said:

Hi! Is anyone applying to the UK for Physio in this thread? 
I just got an interview offer for Brighton University and was wondering if anyone had any insights?  

Not sure about UK but i did apply to australia and got an acceptance but decided to stay back and try to apply canadian schools. May i ask what made you choose the UK over canada/australia?

[rzg2023]

Can anyone who has applied to OT this year comment on what the CASPer Test was like and how did they prepare for it. Thanks

[MAC1]

On 10/4/2021 at 4:01 PM, PT2022-- said:

You have to get them to re do them! 

Sorry by redo do you mean write a whole new one?

[LETSGOPT2022]

Hello everyone,

 

I am currently in my (technically) fifth year of study, but only taking one 6 credit course as an independent study in the fall. This is a research project I am currently working on, and there will be a grade attached to it. However, as it is my lone course this term, would it still count towards my sGPA? Every other semester I have taken has been full-time prior.

[wannabePT2022]

22 hours ago, LETSGOPT2022 said:

Hello everyone,

 

I am currently in my (technically) fifth year of study, but only taking one 6 credit course as an independent study in the fall. This is a research project I am currently working on, and there will be a grade attached to it. However, as it is my lone course this term, would it still count towards my sGPA? Every other semester I have taken has been full-time prior.

I think that as long as you will have the final grade for the course on your fall semester transcript it should be included in your sGPA. If the 6-credit course ends in the winter semester and the final grade will only appear on your winter semester transcript then I don't think it will be included. Hope that helps:)

[KenoraPT]

Hi Everyone,

I am applying to PT at the Ontario schools. Although I believe I am a strong applicant, I have been considering applying for OT as well just in case. Does anyone know if applying to both at the same school could hurt your chances at getting in to one or the other? 

 

[PT2022--]

6 hours ago, KenoraPT said:

Hi Everyone,

I am applying to PT at the Ontario schools. Although I believe I am a strong applicant, I have been considering applying for OT as well just in case. Does anyone know if applying to both at the same school could hurt your chances at getting in to one or the other? 

 

Hi, i am not sure about it hurting one chance over the other, may i ask what your gpa and extra currics look like? i am bit nervous for this application cycle as everyones gpa and all is so high

[KenoraPT]

8 hours ago, PT2022-- said:

Hi, i am not sure about it hurting one chance over the other, may i ask what your gpa and extra currics look like? i am bit nervous for this application cycle as everyones gpa and all is so high

My GPA is the weakest part of my application at 3.70. I was waitlisted two cycles ago with the same GPA though. I have spent the past year or so building the profession part of my resume working as a Paediatric Rehab Assistant with high risk Indigenous populations in Northwestern Ontario while also accumulating volunteer hours.  Prior to that i have worked with a Paediatric Bariatric program and as an Assistant Athletic Therapist for a University track and field team. I think my GPA is good but I definitely worried about that compared to everyone else as well…

[MScOT2022]

I'm applying for OT for the second time and was wondering if anyone knew the rules surrounding resubmitting personal submissions? I'm not going to be submitting the exact same personal submission as last year as my experiences have changed, but some of the things I wrote last year are worded very well and I think changing them would make my application weaker! Everything I would be reusing is my own work, but I want to make sure I won't get flagged for plagiarism or anything. 

[EllieOT2022]

Anyone have any CASPER test prep tips? I've gone through a practice session online, so I know what the test will look like, but the practice session doesn't let you know what they look for in your answers. I don't have a background in Healthcare, which I know should be fine, but I want to be as prepared as possible

[OTghost]

21 hours ago, MScOT2022 said:

I'm applying for OT for the second time and was wondering if anyone knew the rules surrounding resubmitting personal submissions? I'm not going to be submitting the exact same personal submission as last year as my experiences have changed, but some of the things I wrote last year are worded very well and I think changing them would make my application weaker! Everything I would be reusing is my own work, but I want to make sure I won't get flagged for plagiarism or anything. 

I’ve used mine from a year before and it was fine. I also only used some sentences, not exactly the whole thing. 

[PT2022A]

Hello everyone  I just have a question regarding GPA conversion. When you say you have a 3.88 or 3.77 what does that convert to specifically? On the OPRAS grade conversion table it is not so specific! Reading it I would assume that anything over 85% is a 3.9? Or is that where the 3.88 comes in. 

[Ot2022]

10 hours ago, PT2022A said:

Hello everyone  I just have a question regarding GPA conversion. When you say you have a 3.88 or 3.77 what does that convert to specifically? On the OPRAS grade conversion table it is not so specific! Reading it I would assume that anything over 85% is a 3.9? Or is that where the 3.88 comes in. 

The values are not specific, and you cannot identify what GPA is for one course. You are correct -- grades between 85%-89% convert to a 3.9, and anything over a 90% converts to 4.0. A 3.88 GPA would be an average of all courses. 

When you assign the appropriate GPA value to your grade, you would then divide this by the rest of your courses to find the GPA. 

I hope this makes sense! 

[DreamPT]

When submitting prerequisite courses on ORPAS, are the marks for these prerequisite courses important, or just important that you have completed the course?

I have a stats course that I took in 3rd year where I received an A, but I took another stats course more recently and received an A+. I would like to use the stats course with the A+, however, it doesn't have a course website for me to link (mandatory on ORPAS). So I was just wondering if the grade for the prerequisite course matters, as the A+ stats grade will still be considered in the overall GPA calculation anyways. 

Thanks in advance

[PT2022A]

On 11/28/2021 at 8:09 AM, Ot2022 said:

The values are not specific, and you cannot identify what GPA is for one course. You are correct -- grades between 85%-89% convert to a 3.9, and anything over a 90% converts to 4.0. A 3.88 GPA would be an average of all courses. 

When you assign the appropriate GPA value to your grade, you would then divide this by the rest of your courses to find the GPA. 

I hope this makes sense! 

Thank you for the info, for example if you have a sub-GPA of 87% this would count as 3.9? Could you give me an example of what you mean by divide this by the rest of your courses to find the GPA? 

[PT2022--]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knew that when we put in our references for the schools in the ORPAS website, 

1. how do/can we say which one is our academic and our professional one?

2. can we allocate which academic reference we want to write a letter for which school? for example i am wanting prof 1 to write my letter for toronto and prof 2 for western not vice versa, is that possible to do? like say i want prof 1 to write the letter for "blank" schools and prof 2 write for the other remaining schools ?

thank you so much

[MAC1]

13 hours ago, PT2022-- said:

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knew that when we put in our references for the schools in the ORPAS website, 

1. how do/can we say which one is our academic and our professional one?

2. can we allocate which academic reference we want to write a letter for which school? for example i am wanting prof 1 to write my letter for toronto and prof 2 for western not vice versa, is that possible to do? like say i want prof 1 to write the letter for "blank" schools and prof 2 write for the other remaining schools ?

thank you so much

Hey! For PT usually 2 references are needed: 1 professional and 1 academic. So you can't really choose which to submit for which as both are needed. So i think the assumption is you submit one academic and 1 professional and your references write their letters accordingly, whether they knew you academically or professionally and the school reads both. The only OUAC school that doesn't need references is MAC. 

I hope I'm making some sense, if not let me know and maybe i can explain better. 

[PT2022--]

45 minutes ago, MAC1 said:

Hey! For PT usually 2 references are needed: 1 professional and 1 academic. So you can't really choose which to submit for which as both are needed. So i think the assumption is you submit one academic and 1 professional and your references write their letters accordingly, whether they knew you academically or professionally and the school reads both. The only OUAC school that doesn't need references is MAC. 

I hope I'm making some sense, if not let me know and maybe i can explain better. 

Oh okay perfect, i double checked realized i only need one academic and one professional for toronto, western not two academic thats why i was confused. Does orpas only give you the option of. submitting two references or more than two?(one practical and academic) like can we give two academics? or just one and one?

[MAC1]

3 hours ago, PT2022-- said:

Oh okay perfect, i double checked realized i only need one academic and one professional for toronto, western not two academic thats why i was confused. Does orpas only give you the option of. submitting two references or more than two?(one practical and academic) like can we give two academics? or just one and one?

You can submit more than 2 references on orpas but im assuming if you don't match the schools required references your application could possibly be "incomplete" and not go through 

[OTWrappingpaper]

Hey everyone I'm ready to throw up I'm so stressed! Please help! I feel so stupid!

Okay, so I've always hoped to go to UofA for OT, and I've planned my entire education around it. I recently applied and I've been so excited! I did my first two years of undergrad as a diploma program to save money, eventually transferring into my degree, into the third year. I've done really well in both my diploma and degree, I've never gotten below an A- as a final grade, my GPA is 3.85 and I have a lot of experience in disability, again, because I have always wanted to do this. I'm in my final year and by the January 31st deadline, I will only have 3 courses left, one being a practicum, and additionally, my two prerequisite courses that are being taken online through different universities. When the fall semester is graded, I will have 54 credits, 3 of these credits is also a practicum. 

But I'm dumb! Because U of A calculates GPA based on 60 *university-level* credits. Also, they don't count diploma level courses, practicum courses, or Winter 2020 grades in the GPA. I will be missing soooo many credits. I'm already short 6 credits for the GPA calculation, and I was thinking, "okay, I can finish one of my prerequisite courses really early if I don't take any time for myself over the winter semester, and I can take a block week course at the beginning of January, and I'll hit those 60 credits". HOWEVER, I they only take courses that are finished by January 1st, so that's out of the question. Three of my 54 credits are a practicum course (although its not P/F, it's letter-graded), and I took FIVE courses (15 credits) in Winter 2020. Even if I just completely gave up and I reapplied next year, I'm out like 300$ because I've already applied AND booked my CASPer test. But even then, I'll need to defer my undergraduate graduation, not graduate with any of my friends, and take five more courses to make up for Winter 2020. I literally only took 5 courses in the Winter 2020 semester because UofA said they prefer candidates who have taken a five class courseload at least two semesters in a row. My fifth class didn't even count towards my degree, I quite literally only took five classes to be competitive for this school.

I had previously emailed them asking a different question about transcripts and briefly explained that I had transferred from a diploma program into a degree program and that I am still in school, but they didn't say anything about the 60 credits thing, or that it would mess with my application in any way. 

I'm genuinely so messed up about this, it's destroying my self worth and I'm so upset. I've emailed them, but I'm pretty sure I know their answer. I've done so much research over the last four years, I have absolutely no idea how I overlooked any of this. 

Has anyone gone through something like this before? How did you get through it? Idk what to do. 

[pthelper1996]

8 hours ago, OTWrappingpaper said:

Hey everyone I'm ready to throw up I'm so stressed! Please help! I feel so stupid!

Okay, so I've always hoped to go to UofA for OT, and I've planned my entire education around it. I recently applied and I've been so excited! I did my first two years of undergrad as a diploma program to save money, eventually transferring into my degree, into the third year. I've done really well in both my diploma and degree, I've never gotten below an A- as a final grade, my GPA is 3.85 and I have a lot of experience in disability, again, because I have always wanted to do this. I'm in my final year and by the January 31st deadline, I will only have 3 courses left, one being a practicum, and additionally, my two prerequisite courses that are being taken online through different universities. When the fall semester is graded, I will have 54 credits, 3 of these credits is also a practicum. 

But I'm dumb! Because U of A calculates GPA based on 60 *university-level* credits. Also, they don't count diploma level courses, practicum courses, or Winter 2020 grades in the GPA. I will be missing soooo many credits. I'm already short 6 credits for the GPA calculation, and I was thinking, "okay, I can finish one of my prerequisite courses really early if I don't take any time for myself over the winter semester, and I can take a block week course at the beginning of January, and I'll hit those 60 credits". HOWEVER, I they only take courses that are finished by January 1st, so that's out of the question. Three of my 54 credits are a practicum course (although its not P/F, it's letter-graded), and I took FIVE courses (15 credits) in Winter 2020. Even if I just completely gave up and I reapplied next year, I'm out like 300$ because I've already applied AND booked my CASPer test. But even then, I'll need to defer my undergraduate graduation, not graduate with any of my friends, and take five more courses to make up for Winter 2020. I literally only took 5 courses in the Winter 2020 semester because UofA said they prefer candidates who have taken a five class courseload at least two semesters in a row. My fifth class didn't even count towards my degree, I quite literally only took five classes to be competitive for this school.

I had previously emailed them asking a different question about transcripts and briefly explained that I had transferred from a diploma program into a degree program and that I am still in school, but they didn't say anything about the 60 credits thing, or that it would mess with my application in any way. 

I'm genuinely so messed up about this, it's destroying my self worth and I'm so upset. I've emailed them, but I'm pretty sure I know their answer. I've done so much research over the last four years, I have absolutely no idea how I overlooked any of this. 

Has anyone gone through something like this before? How did you get through it? Idk what to do. 

Sorry to hear about this, sounds like a really difficult time. But one thing I would say is maybe broaden your horizons to potentially going to a different OT school. Literally all OT/PT schools across Canada are great, and its literally only 2 years. I moved across provinces for PT and finished quickly and returned to my home province right away and it was fine. Instead of going back and wasting another year and hundreds of dollars just apply to like UBC/Toronto or whatever! 

[OTAtoOT]

 

Applied (OT and Audiology): Western (both), Dalhousie (Audi), Queens (MOT) 
Accepted:
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
GPA:c-gpa and s-gpa: decent
Perceived strength of essays/interviews/references: strong references, obtained my diploma in Occupational therapist assistant/ Physiotherapist assistant and have been working in healthcare throughout my undergrad. In a Neuroscience honours program. 
Feeling pretty OK about the applications I’m submitting but not wanting to get my hopes up!!!

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE  

•  

[ManifestOT]

Hi guys! It's my first post to this forum! I'm so excited to take this OT journey with y'all! 

I'm a BC applicant applying to Western and Queens OT. 

I sent in my college transcript over a month ago and ORPAS still says they haven't received it, when they received my Uvic transcript super quick. I resent the transcript again and hope it arrives in time for the application but I am so worried now! 

[LETSGOPT2022]

Hey everyone!

For those that are applying for PT in Ontario, I was curious to hear your opinion on this. I personally have two different experiences working in a laboratory setting, one in a wet lab and another working on a meta analysis. I think its a really good experience to have as a PT, but I cant see where I can include it! Clearly it is not "PT related", but would it be related to "activities that provide evidence of your involvement and leadership in increasing the well-being of individuals, groups or society in general"? Its strange to not include this as it is a component of my application, and seems very relevant.

 

Thanks!

[OTWrappingpaper]

15 hours ago, pthelper1996 said:

Sorry to hear about this, sounds like a really difficult time. But one thing I would say is maybe broaden your horizons to potentially going to a different OT school. Literally all OT/PT schools across Canada are great, and its literally only 2 years. I moved across provinces for PT and finished quickly and returned to my home province right away and it was fine. Instead of going back and wasting another year and hundreds of dollars just apply to like UBC/Toronto or whatever! 

You're so sweet, this was really nice and encouraging, thank you. Unfortunately U of T will not accept me until after I graduate either, but since I've already paid to do the CASPer, I think I'll apply for UBC. I know they only need 45 credits and I'll have all the prerequisites, so I'll at least try. I'm not too keen on going to a smaller city though honestly, so I think it'll just be UBC. If I don't get in, there's a one year master's in policy I'll also apply for, or maybe I'll just get some more work experience as an OT assistant or something. 

Again, thanks so mcuh