OT2424 Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Hey guys! I am currently an OT student at McMaster. The process of deciding which school to go to is a tough one, so I thought I might be able to help! If anyone has any questions about the teaching style at Mac and wants more information let me know and I would be happy to answer any of your questions. Or about Mac in general. Or about OT in general! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helloyou Posted March 31, 2014 Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Hey guys! I am currently an OT student at McMaster. The process of deciding which school to go to is a tough one, so I thought I might be able to help! If anyone has any questions about the teaching style at Mac and wants more information let me know and I would be happy to answer any of your questions. Or about Mac in general. Or about OT in general! Wow that is do nice of you!! What is it you love about OT there? What are some things you dislike? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OT2424 Posted March 31, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2014 Wow that is do nice of you!! What is it you love about OT there? What are some things you dislike? I love a lot of things about Mac, we have some world class profs who all genuinely care about our learning, the PBL style of learning is amazing, it is the first time I feel like I am actually absorbing knowledge (unlike my undergrad in which I felt I was regurgitating and then forgetting). The organization of the courses is great in my opinion, one course focuses on OT theory which helps build your clinical reasoning skills, one course focuses on practical skills (more hands on) and the other course is the foundation knowledge piece (anatomy, psych, etc.). I also looooove my classmates. My dislike is also something I like about the program so it's a bit tricky. I sometimes dislike the focus on self-directed learning. There are times when I am frustrated and want a simple straight forward answer, but the program is really focused on finding your own solutions and problem solving for yourself to find the answer, which is also an important life skill I will be also to use in practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19umbrellas Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 How are the PBL classes structured? I can think of how situational courses can be taught in that style but what about the more theoretical courses? Could you give a run-down of the happenings of a lecture? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healthcarehopeful Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Would you recommend living on campus and owning a car? Or commuting if you live relatively close to campus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcg3 Posted April 1, 2014 Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Is the program basically one year of courses and the last year placement? Or does class & placement alternate throughout the two years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OT2424 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 How are the PBL classes structured? I can think of how situational courses can be taught in that style but what about the more theoretical courses? Could you give a run-down of the happenings of a lecture? Thanks Most lecture courses look like the typical format of lecture courses I had in my undergrad. There is a prof at the front, we sit at desks and take notes and print out power-point slides. In almost every lecture they will try and make it interactive by throwing a case scenario in the end and we have to apply the concepts we just learned by talking about it with our peers. Some classes have more of a PBL component than others, for example our theory classes and foundational knowledge classes are pretty much straight lecture style, whereas our professional skills class is more hands on so often we rotate stations throughout the class and interact with simulated patients, so that class is more PBL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OT2424 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Would you recommend living on campus and owning a car? Or commuting if you live relatively close to campus? Most people do not have cars, Hamilton has a really great bus system and apparently parking at school is pretty expensive and inconvenient! However, it is generally good to have a car for placement because your location may not be on the bus route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OT2424 Posted April 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2014 Is the program basically one year of courses and the last year placement? Or does class & placement alternate throughout the two years? We alternate between classes and placement. We were in school term 1 from September to mid November, placement 1 from November until the end of December, school term 2 from January to mid March, placement 2 from March until mid May, school term 3 from May until mid July, break until September, school term 4 from September until December, placement 3 from the beginning of January until the end of February, school term 4 from March until the end of June, and then final placement in July and August. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healthcarehopeful Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 I saw on the website that 300 people are interviewed for 65 spots. That seems super competitive! Any tips for the interview? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dre6 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 Has anyone received an invitation for an interview yet? Patiently waiting and hoping they will be sent out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mhunte03 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 My guess is they will be sent on Friday late afternoon - last year they were sent on Friday, April 5 around 3:30-4:00. Last year around this time they also updated their answering machine with this information so you could always try calling to confirm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OT2424 Posted April 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 I saw on the website that 300 people are interviewed for 65 spots. That seems super competitive! Any tips for the interview? I have two pieces of advice for this: 1) Practice! Find MMI scenarios online and through various books (even if they don't specifically pertain to OT). For me it was very valuable to practice reading a scenario I have never seen before and formulate a coherent answer in seven minutes. The best way to practice is to find scenarios, barely read them, print around 5-10 out, give yourself 2 minutes to read them, and time yourself responding out loud (to someone or to yourself) for seven minutes. I didn't realize how hard it was until I tried it, and the practice I did before hand really helped me gain skills to organize my thoughts before I spoke. 2) Create a list about the qualities you think are essential for an OT to have and try and work these qualities into every scenario you encounter to show you have them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcg3 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 Has anyone received an invitation for an interview yet? Patiently waiting and hoping they will be sent out! I called the admissions office and the answering machine said that offers would be sent out by friday april 4th by 4pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dre6 Posted April 2, 2014 Report Share Posted April 2, 2014 I called the admissions office and the answering machine said that offers would be sent out by friday april 4th by 4pm thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helloyou Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Did any of you receive anything from Orpas stating that they received your application? Since sending application to orpas I haven't had any correspondence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OT2014hopeful Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Did any of you receive anything from Orpas stating that they received your application? Since sending application to orpas I haven't had any correspondence Did you not get an e-mail about your verification report? That was the last I heard from them, in mid-February. And, since I also applied to Western, I heard from them letting me know my application had been received and I was given a student ID. I haven't heard from McMaster at all yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helloyou Posted April 3, 2014 Report Share Posted April 3, 2014 Did you not get an e-mail about your verification report? That was the last I heard from them, in mid-February. And, since I also applied to Western, I heard from them letting me know my application had been received and I was given a student ID. I haven't heard from McMaster at all yet. Oh yes, sorry I did receive the verification report.. but that was a while ago. I was afraid I was missing something because I haven't heard anything from any schools directly except Western too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
id2 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 Mac just sent out the invites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcg3 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 got an invitation for an interview! good luck everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lov8 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mhunte03 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 I also received my invite with a 3.64 - cannot believe how close it was. Lov8, last year the original cut-off was 3.61 and it came down to 3.58 so definitely don't give up hope yet. It's very likely you will be contacted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb23 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 I didn't receive any email at all and my sub gpa is 3.66! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mhunte03 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 I didn't receive any email at all and my sub gpa is 3.66! Have you checked your junkmail? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kb23 Posted April 4, 2014 Report Share Posted April 4, 2014 Have you checked your junkmail? Ya! I've been checking like crazy, it's stressing me out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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