General Admissions & OTCAS Occupational Therapy Abroad Observation Hours

[Laurennnnnot]

Unfortunately I did not get into graduate school this year...

I wanted to do something different with my year off. I was considering doing a program abroad for OT potential students- observe OT in a different country. I was wondering could I put these on my resume and include it in my total observation hours or do you have observation hours be in the US where OT are under AOTA.

I just do not want to waste two months acquiring all these hours and then for programs to not consider them valuable.

Thoughts?

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[dbarajas]

I saw that UNM has some partnership with schools in Mexico City where PT and OT students do some clinicals. I'm sure if you observe volunteer those hours would count.

 

[OTrealsoon:D]

Hey! So I am currently doing my undergrad at BU but I am an international student from South Africa. Every summer I went home and did internships, volunteer work and observations with OTs in Cape Town and the surrounding area. It definitely counted and helped my application a lot and I got into Tufts University. If you want some contact information for these programs let me know!

 

[Coco88]

I lived overseas and did all of my observations in Germany. Many cities near military bases will have English speaking therapists to see American patients. I interviewed and was accepted with these hours I just included the translation when recording them "ergotherapie/ occupational therapy". There are also many opportunities to do ot ish work with organizations in orphanages in countries like Romania, Slovakia etc.

 

[FutureOTs]

Unfortunately I did not get into graduate school this year...

I wanted to do something different with my year off. I was considering doing a program abroad for OT potential students- observe OT in a different country. I was wondering could I put these on my resume and include it in my total observation hours or do you have observation hours be in the US where OT are under AOTA.

I just do not want to waste two months acquiring all these hours and then for programs to not consider them valuable.

Thoughts?

Hey Lauren, you should be able to include and document the hours on your application. You should contact the person in charge of the program and let them know that you'll need a contact person to list on your application in case OTCAS wants to verify your hours. You should definitely do the program abroad and use that time to learn how OT/healthcare differs outside of the US. The main thing is to get something out of your observations/experiences and reflect what you have learned in your personal statement. It looks good to have a lot of observation hours but they want to see how these experiences will help you shape OT instead of the other way around. Don't get discouraged because I was in the same boat last year!

 

[adaaOT]

Hi! Im an american citizen who graduated from the philippines. My gre scores are 142 verbal and 150 for quanti. I still dont have volunteering hours here in the US but i have volunteering hours in the Philippines. Will that count for the recommendation letter? this tuesday is the opening of the application at OTCAS and my main concern is the volunteering. Huhu help.

 

[occupationalguy]

Sounds smart. If money is not a major obstacle, contact schools and ask them of this plan: if they will count them as observation hours it will make you stand apart. The admissions committee would think of all the insight you gained and the added value insight this will provide to the program. I would also get some stateside hours in: do it somewhere UNIQUE, not another SNF. Think about stuff that stands out: shadow with an OT in a prison, or a shelter for people who faced domestic violence, or ronald mcdonald house/make a wish type stuff. Also do some volunteer work like that too. The cumulative of this would make you simply irresistible to an admissions committee.