General Admissions & OTCAS Admission without an LoR from an OT?

[Chanandler Bong]

A lot of the programs I'm looking at don't specify who they want the LoRs to be from. How important is it to get one from an OT, specifically? What if I have one from a PT, nurse, volunteer coordinator, etc. instead?

Basically, I need to know if I need to delay my app a year if the one person who I think might write one says "no."

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[mgeagle]

A lot of the programs I'm looking at don't specify who they want the LoRs to be from. How important is it to get one from an OT, specifically? What if I have one from a PT, nurse, volunteer coordinator, etc. instead?

Basically, I need to know if I need to delay my app a year if the one person who I think might write one says "no."

It is pretty much vital to get one from an OT because they can give the admissions committee some experiential incite on how you would fair in the actual OT working field based on their interactions with you and possibly your interactions with their patients. Other LoR sources may elaborate on your skill set needed to get you through school and fieldwork, but only an OT can give the best perspective on whether or not the actual working field would be a fit for you because you are actually on the job with them (which is why you should shadow an OT ACTIVELY and don't just passively sit and watch but be vocal and show the OT who you are!). Admission committees want students that are gonna excel in the academia, hone their skills in fieldwork, and perfect them in the actual field. A letter of LoR from a variety of sources including an OT can show the admission committee that the student will be a success in all the areas of becoming an OT.

 

[bunzilla]

If the school doesn't specify exact requirements for who the LORs must come from I think having really strong letters from people who know you well outweighs having a letter from an OT, especially if you think they may not know you in such a capacity. I was in this situation last year and was worried an OT I volunteered with (for only about 15 hours total) would say no to writing a letter for me. And she did. She didn't feel she could write a very strong letter as she didn't know me well enough. I had my nurse manager and (totally unrelated) a former supervisor from a chemistry lab I'd worked in during college write letters for me and I was accepted. I think having someone who really knows you and can give a fantastic representation of you write a letter really does give you an edge. I'd say go for it and don't delay your application. You can still ask that OT to write one if you want, but make sure that they don't give you a sub-par letter as that may quite detrimental to your application.

 

[RedHeadOT]

I don't know if you are applying through OTCAS for these schools, but just know that they limit the number of letters of recommendation that can be submitted to five letters. (Though I did read that you can send additional letters directly to specific schools. Keep in mind, the school might not look at them.) If you decide to have a non-OT write a letter for some schools throughout OTCAS and an OT per the requirement of other schools to OTCAS, you might come close to the limit depending on what other letters you need.

Also, you might want to check if OTCAS sends all letters to all schools, because if you have even one school on OTCAS that does require an OT recommendation, all the schools might get that letter anyways.

What I'm saying is it might be easier to just get the OT recommendation. Now, if you can't for some reason or the letter won't be stellar, a non-OT should be fine. Just call the school to verify if a non-OT letter is acceptable. Don't wait another year if all you need is a letter or recommendation. It will be harder to get the other two letters again in a year than to get them this year.

 

[sb0106]

Schools require a letter from an OT. Do you have an OT you can get a reference from ? I assume you have at least one possibility bc you had to get your observation hours..