So...this sweet girl below definitely knows how to flatter a blogger...my fav sentence being "praise your OT-greatness", hahaha.
ANYWAY, this passionate new friend of mine is trying to decide between her in-state "cheap" school in the South versus some other fancy private or out of state tuition college. I Jane Doe'd her of course. I personally think each program is foundationally similar enough that she'll be okay anywhere....although if she has the money to move states I'd say a place like UAB or Wash U would be pretty powerful. So, my readers, anonymously or not, please comment on your belief! I'd really be interested to hear how people view their OT programs and I know she'd appreciate the insight as well. I wrote her back and also told her to check out OT Connections, my new pet cause ;)
Ok Lester is screaming, better go get him some broth before my eardrums explode. Read below! I love we are inheriting a new passionate prospective student to the OT cause!
My name is Jane Doe and I am a pre-OT student at Jane College. I recently switched my course of study to OT when I learned about the profession last year, and I have been hooked ever since. I have spent the last year researching every OT related website I could find, and a few weeks ago I discovered your blog. I am very interested in the creative aspect of Occupational Therapy and I love that it is so multi-dimensional! I actually found your blog because I was doing a google search on Occupational Therapy and therapeutic cooking and stumbled upon the post where you wrote about cooking with simulated disabilities. After I read that I was desperate to find out which MOT program you were in so I actually created a blog account to have access to all of your posts. What started out as a search, turned into a complete obsession. I am currently reading all of your blogs from start to finish and I am about a third of the way through them. I think you provide the greatest insight and advice to incoming OT students. You are more informative than any website I have found so far and I look forward to reading the rest of you blogs. The reason I am writing to you is not only to praise your OT-greatness and thank you for the awesome information you have provided, but also to seek your advice about OT schools. I am entering my last year of undergrad, so I have been researching schools like crazy. The easiest choice for me is Jane Health College because of the cheap in-state tuition, but I am in a long standing battle with myself over cheap tuition versus a possibly better (and more fun) education. So far I have loved reading about all of the fun and creative labs and group work your school offers. It seems to me that your school does a lot of hands on learning in addition to the book work that is necessary. I think your program truly defines the Occupational approach to therapy. So my question to you is, do you think most school's take that creative, occupation-based approach or is this something that is unique to your program? I plan on touring the two Jane area schools, and I am going to try to meet more people that have gone through the program, but so far most of the graduates I have met do not seem to hold the same passion for the creative part of OT that I love so much. I have read many different websites for schools but have never found anything as informative as your blog. Any information you could provide me about OT programs would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you!
8 comments:
I chose a more "prestigious" school over the cheaper state school. I can't say if it was better than the state school or not honestly, but I liked it. I learned a lot about theory and had an opportunity to participate in a great research project. A lot of my professors were published and had written chapters of the very text books we had for class. I think that a good way to search for schools is to look at the faculty and see if you have interest in their area of study. That will tell you a lot about theoretical focus of class. Some faculty will be master clinicians and some will be research-oriented. I suggest picking a school that has faculty that are most in-line with what you wish to achieve in the program. A lot of my teachers taught at both the state schools and my school. I could've saved a lot of money had I known that!
I feel like I need to reply to this anonymously.
"Jane", I attend a fancy private OT program. Every single day, I am frustrated by my program. I have friends at other fancy big name programs that feel the same way.
Word of advice to all: Just go to whatever program you can, with an emphasis on the cheap in-state public programs.
Everyone will learn the most when out in the field anyways.
I worry about the six figure loans I will have when I am done and for what, to say I went to such and such school?
It is a huge bummer...
I think a person should choose a school that fits his or her personality. For me, I chose private because of small class sizes, and focus on learning opposed to research. I needed a strong foundation, and didn't want to go to a school that would lead me astray when it came to fieldwork. Therefore.... pick the school that presents the "Just right challenge" for you ;-)
Thanks for the great advice!! It really helps to hear from people who have experience first hand. I will definitely take everything yall said into consideration when I am looking at schools, and hopefully it will make the process much easier. Thanks again!!!
"Jan Doe" from the South
****"Jane Doe" from the South
I attended a top ranked OT program at a large public university and would not change a thing. Although my university was large my class sizes were small due to the limited number of people who were accepted into the program each. This provided me with the best of both worlds; resources of a large school and intimacy of a small shcool. To avoid paying out of state prices I moved in state one year before applying to the program and that way I achieved in state status and saved tons of money. Since graduating I have worked with lots of new grads from many different programs and I have consistently gotten positive feedback about my clinical reasoning skills and ability to adapt to a wide variety of challenges. I contribute 100% of this to my education.
do NOT go to BU. cannot understand how it ended up ranked so highly. most frustrating semester ever.
Hi everyone,
I'm so glad I found this blog. I am looking into Master programs and have found a few that I like. Of course the problem is price. I cannot justify paying +80k for school. Especially when the pay isn't in line with beginning salaries. I live in TN and have there are only two schools that offer OT. TSU is one of these schools and the tuition is more than affordable. The problem is that I've never heard anything positive about the University as a whole. There is a lot of crime etc. Their boards past rate is 56% but it's cheap. Has anyone heard anything about TSU and does the school where you receive your graduate degree from really matter come time come time for employment? Thanks.
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