I’m going into my junior year of college and I need to start thinking about graduate school. My goal is to become an OT, but I feel that I should look into OTA to OT routes for backups. If I go the OTA to OT route, would I be paying for another bachelor’s degree (OTA)? Also, how do they necessarily work? Is getting a degree in OTA like a master’s and an automatic entrance into OT school with a certain GPA? Any comments on the OTA to OT school process would apply to this post.
OTA programs are usually two-year associate’s degree programs, and generally speaking you would have to pay for that degree. A degree in OTA is not like a master’s - they are generally associate’s degree programs, with a few bachelor’s programs across the country I think. There’s no automatic entrance to OT school. I’m not aware of any programs that first train you to be an OTA and then grant you automatic admission to an OT program.
If you’re going into your junior year of college, one thing you could do is just make sure that you take the prerequisites for an OT program and volunteer with/shadow an OT. that way you get the hours you need to apply directly to an OT program after college, without doing the OTA.
This link explains different options for OT practitioners .