Preparation for Occupational Therapy

205 Administration Building, 419-372-2015

Occupational therapy—an auxiliary medical service in which normal activities are used as remedial treatment in the rehabilitation of patients—is being used increasingly in hospitals, schools, rehabilitation centers and related institutions. Such therapy is prescribed by physicians and applied by trained therapists as part of the treatment of an adult or a child in the areas of orthopedics, psychiatry, general medicine and surgery. Professional occupational therapy programs differ greatly in preprofessional course requirements.

While advising of a general nature is available through the College of Arts and Sciences, the student should contact the institution in which admission will be sought to ensure that specific preprofessional and admission criteria are met. There are 6 BS/MOT programs in Ohio. For a complete listing, see the AOTA website—http://www.aota.org. In the first year at BGSU, students may enroll as "pre-health professional." They may change to "pre-occupational therapy" when they have completed at least 30 hours of coursework, have declared a major, and have completed BIOL 104 or 205, PSYC 101, and SOC 101. These courses must be taken for a grade. Upon completion of 30 hours of coursework and the above-mentioned courses, students must have BOTH an overall 3.0 GPA and a 3.0 Biology (and, if applicable, Chemistry/Physics/Math) GPA. Upon meeting these criteria, students may contact their college office to replace the label of "pre-health professional" with "pre-occupational therapy." If students do not meet these criteria after 30 hours, they may keep their "pre-health professional" label for up to 60 hours. If a student has met the above criteria after 60 hours of coursework, then he or she may change to "pre-occupational therapy." Once students have changed to "pre-occupational therapy," they will be expected to meet with their advisors regularly to plan their coursework for subsequent semesters. If, after 60 hours, the above criteria still have not been met, students must drop the "pre-health professional" label and must also meet with an advisor to re-evaluate future goals. Transfer students must enroll as "pre-health professional" for the first semester at BGSU; if, after one semester at BGSU, the student's overall and Biology/Chemistry/Physics/Math GPA are a 3.25, then he/she may change to "pre-occupational therapy."