What major should i be if i want to be an occupationsal therapist?

<p>i want to be an occupational therapist and i was wondering what a good major might be? i know there is excersice science, health science, and a couple others but i was alos wondering if psychology would be a good major if your going to be an occupational therpist? any comments?</p>

<p>Psychology would be a great undergraduate degree for an occupational therapist. Occupational therapy looks at the whole person, and the psychological component is huge. Also, one of the practice areas of occupational therapy is mental health; you will take quite a few psych classes in OT School. One word of advice; put together a list of OT Schools you will be applying to now and make sure you fulfill the prerequisites for each one. This will probably round out your degree with alot of other science classes. I’m not sure what it is like now, but when I was applying the prerequisites for different programs were all over the place.</p>

<p>thats awesome news because i really didnt want to have to major in something like excercise science that requires physics and stuff. now i can take psychology! im really excited to go into this major!</p>

<p>Not taking general science courses in addition to your psychology major could severely limit your options to pursue occupational therapy. I googled for Master of Occupational Therapy programs and here are the admission requirements of the very first program that came up:</p>

<p>[Prerequisites</a> and Recommended Courses for MOT Degree Program](<a href=“http://www.nova.edu/ot/admissions/mot/prereq.html]Prerequisites”>http://www.nova.edu/ot/admissions/mot/prereq.html)</p>

<p>oh wow. thx for that! i guess im just gonna have to fight through the physics and stuff =/. this page is definitely going in my bookmarks lol!</p>

<p>Don’t take that list as an absolute guideline. I was just trying to make a point. The admission requirements will vary by program. You should start researching programs that you might actually attend and complete their admission requirements. </p>

<p>I would like to emphasize what wrldtravlr said above:</p>

<p>One word of advice; put together a list of OT Schools you will be applying to now and make sure you fulfill the prerequisites for each one. This will probably round out your degree with alot of other science classes. I’m not sure what it is like now, but when I was applying the prerequisites for different programs were all over the place.</p>

<p>You can go with a psych. degree, but you still need to take many sciences. anatomy&phys., neuroscience, bio, chem, etc</p>

<p>If you know you want to enter into occupational therapy, you should check out schools that offer 5yr masters programs. You are accepted in as a freshman and out in 5 years instead of 4yrs undergrad and then applying into a 2 1/2 yr masters program. Check out Univ of Scranton, Elizabethtown, Misericordia and Alvernia , all in Pennsylvania, to see what the program is like.</p>

<p>Going through the same process with my D right now. We’re looking at all those “4+1” OT programs and the BS portion they award isn’t always Biology, for example. Getting a BS in something related to heath care administration or health services or even exercise science is still somewhat easier than Bio or Chem, IMHO. Great career choice from what I can see, especially with the advent of ObamaCare, among other things in the industry like that.</p>

Would anyone happen to have a list of schools that have the 4+1 programs? Another question: would a degree in Public Health be good for an undergraduate before going to do the OT graduate work? Thanks for the input.

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