Occupational Therapy (MS)
Mission
The fundamental mission of the Department of Occupational Therapy supports the mission of UTRGV and College of Health Professions by preparing graduate-level professionals capable of meeting the challenges of health care and community environments, and the unique needs of the growing international and multicultural populations of the South Texas region. Faculty and students engage in and promote scholarly inquiry and service which support the health and wellness of the community. The preservation, transmission, and creation of knowledge result in exemplary and caring practice.
Educational Outcomes
Upon completion of the program, students will be expected to demonstrate the following competencies:
- Graduates of the program will demonstrate creative problem solving abilities and caring professionalism.
- Graduates of the program will demonstrate competency as an entry-level occupational therapist.
- Graduates of the program will demonstrate the ability to integrate cultural and other contextual factors when interacting and treating clients.
- Graduates will develop professional behaviors such as positive approach to learning, respect for others, professional communication and ethical conduct.
- Graduates will incorporate public health concepts into practice, by being able to look beyond the individual and employ both individual and community programming.
Admission Requirements
The Occupational Therapy program considers for admission those applicants who possess the academic and professional promise necessary for development as competent, caring members of the health care community. To select these candidates a competitive admission framework has been established. Within this competitive admission framework, multiple criteria are used to select the most qualified candidates from an applicant pool that exceeds the number of seats available. Interested individuals are advised to complete their application as early as possible to ensure timely consideration.
No Admission Statement
An applicant not meeting the minimum graduate admission requirements for the University or the admission criteria for the graduate degree will not be admitted. Admission to the graduate program is not guaranteed. Applicant not admitted may follow the appeal process through the department chair or program director, the dean of the college of Health Professions, and then the dean of the Graduate College whose decision is final.
Graduate School Admission
To be admitted to the graduate program in occupational therapy, prospective candidates must first meet all requirements for graduate admission to UT Rio Grande Valley, as well as the other requirements listed below:
- Bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited institution in the United States or a recognized international equivalent.
- Undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 in the last 60 semester credit hours.
- GRE General Test. Minimum scores: 150 Verbal, 140 Quantitative,2.5 Analytical Writing. GRE test scores are valid for 5 years.
- Specified undergraduate coursework completed within five years of the February 1st application deadline with a grade of “C” or better and 3.0 GPA on all prerequisite coursework
- Three letters of recommendation
- Personal statement addressing (a) why you select OT as a career, (b) how an OT degree relates to your immediate and long term professional goals, and (c) describe hoe your personal, educational, and professional background will help you achieve your goals
- Documented volunteer hours or experiences
- Application to Occupational Therapist Centralized Application Service (OTCAS)
- Personal interview
- Signed Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) Consent allowing community- based Occupational Therapists to evaluate application materials
Application for admission must be submitted prior to the published deadline. The application is available at www.utrgv.edu/gradapply.
Application
The UTRGV Occupational Therapy program uses the Centralized Application Service for Occupational Therapy Schools (OTCAS) for students applying to the Program. All applicants to the Occupational Therapy program are required to submit their application to OTCAS (http://www.portal.otcas.org) with all required materials by the February 1st application deadline. Please refer to the OTCAS website for instructions on submission of the OTCAS application materials. Materials to be submitted to OTCAS include: application, official transcripts, letters of reference, and personal statement. The official GRE scores are sent to the University of Texas-Pan American Graduate School but are self-reported on OTCAS.
Transcripts
Official transcripts of all college and university work must be submitted directly to the UTRGV Graduate College and to OTCAS at OTCAS Verification Department, P.O. Box 9120, Watertown, MA 02471.
Prerequisites
Applicant must show evidence of satisfactory completion (minimum 3.0 GPA) of the following courses within 5 years of the application deadline. Prerequisite courses completed more than 5 years prior to the February 1st application deadline will not be considered.
Anatomy & Physiology I (lecture & lab)
Anatomy & Physiology II (lecture & lab)
Basic Statistics
Psychology of Lifespan
Abnormal Psychology
Anthropology or Sociology
Biomechanics
General Physics I (lecture & lab)
Technical Writing
Medical Terminology
If there are questions about a prerequisite, fax or email the course description, catalog description of the course, or syllabus to the OT Department. (Fax: (956) 665-2476 or email at occtherapy@utrgv.edu. Be sure to provide your contact information.
A waiver and/or substitution of any required prerequisite course may be petitioned to the Chair of the Admission Committee. You may do this by providing a written request for a waiver along with supporting documents, your contact information, a copy of the course catalog or syllabus and transcripts to the OT department. (Fax: (956) 665-2476; email: occtherapy@utpa.edu)
Students may re-take prerequisite courses. The grades for the courses will be averaged together if they are taken within the 5 years' time frame. If more than 5 years has elapsed then grades outside the 5 years' time frame will not be averaged.
Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
The MS in Occupational Therapy program requires all parts of the Revised Graduate Record Examination (GRE) - verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, and analytical writing - for all applicants. The Revised GRE must be taken within 5 years of the application deadline. The minimum required score for each part is: 150 verbal, 140 quantitative, and 2.5 writing. Official GRE Scores are sent to UTRGV Graduate College but are self-reported on OTCAS.
Letters of Reference
Reference letters are to be submitted electronically through the online OTCAS application system (www.portal.otcas.org). Please refer to the OTCAS website for Instructions on submission of the OTCAS application materials.
Volunteer Experiences
There is no set number of volunteer hours or experiences that you need to complete in order to be considered for admission into the program. Nor are you required to complete hours in occupational therapy through work or observation. Volunteer experiences are unpaid work, assistant or service.
Observations and/or shadowing are not considered as volunteer or experiences. Your volunteer experiences are submitted through the OTCAS application.
Personal Statement
The Personal Essay should address (a) why you selected OT as a career and (b) how an Occupational Therapy degree relates to your immediate and long-term professional goals and (c) describe how your personal, educational, and professional background will help you achieve your goals. The personal statement is an important part of your application for admission and provides an opportunity for you to clearly and effectively express your ideas. You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). DO NOT personalize your essay for a particular degree institution. You CANNOT make any edits to your Personal Essay after you have e-submitted your completed application to OTCAS. Do not send a copy of the personal statement to the UTRGV Occupational Therapy Department.
Personal Interview
Applicants may be required to participate in a personal interview with the MS in Occupational Therapy Admissions Committee. If required, the Chair of the Admissions Committee will notify the applicant via phone, email or letter for an interview.
FERPA Consent Form
The admissions committee is composed of OT faculty and OTs from the community. Please sign the consent form allowing the OTs from the community to evaluate your application. If you do not wish to release your information please indicate this on the consent form. This will not affect the evaluation of your application. Signed form may be faxed to 956-665-2476.
Centralized Application Service for Occupational Therapy Schools (OTCAS) (www.portal.otcas.org/)
Review all OTCAS instructions and program-specific admission requirements before you begin your application.
- The February 1st deadline indicates the deadline by which your verified OTCAS application should be completed. All required material must be submitted to OTCAS by the deadline date.
- OTCAS is not responsible for any materials lost in the mail or for delays caused by the registrar's office. Express or certified mail does not guarantee expedient processing, nor does sending transcripts express or certified guarantee receipt by OTCAS.
- Allow up to 4 weeks for OTCAS to process and verify your application once your application, official transcripts, and fee are received.
- Carefully review the instructions on this web site early to prepare for the OTCAS application process.
Applicant Responsibilities
- Enter accurate and comprehensive data into the OTCAS application
- Compose a personal essay without assistance from others
- Arrange for OTCAS to receive official transcripts from every regionally accredited U.S. and Canadian college and university attended using the OTCAS Transcript Request form
- Pay the correct OTCAS application fee
- Arrange for application materials to be sent to OTCAS as required
- Print a copy of the completed application before e-submitting it to OTCAS
- Check application status frequently by logging onto the OTCAS web application
- Frequently check email and login to the application for important messages from
OTCAS
- Personally respond immediately to all communication from OTCAS and programs
- Contact OTCAS customer support staff about any OTCAS issues or questions, such as GPAs or missing documents
- Maintain record of the OTCAS identification number
OTCAS Customer Service Information.
Customer Service is available Monday thru Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm EST. Phone – (617) 612-2860, email – otcasinfo@otcas.org, website – http://portal.otcas.org/
OTCAS Address.
All official transcripts MUST be sent to OTCAS at the address below:
OTCAS Verification Department
P.O. Box 9120
Watertown, MA 02471
Paper letters of Recommendation.
If an applicant chooses to submit the paper Letter of Recommendation, OTCAS will accept the OTCAS Paper Request Form Only. All Paper Letter of Recommendation MUST be sent to OTCAS at the address below:
OTCAS Verification Department
P.O. Box 9120
Watertown, MA 02471
Application Process
To be considered for admission to the MS in Occupational Therapy program, applicants must first meet all the requirements for admission to the Graduate School of UT Rio Grande valley, as well as the requirements for the OT program as outlined above. Applicants are required to submit their application to OTCAS. Applicants are responsible for tracking the receipt of their application materials and ensuring submission of all required and verified documents. Only applicants who submit completed applications with all required materials will be considered for potential entrance into the program. Start the application process early. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure that all documents are received by the application deadline.
Selection and Notification Process
The Occupational Therapy Admissions Committee meets as soon as possible after the deadline to review each application. If required, the Chair of the Admission Committee notifies the applicant via phone, email or letter for an interview. No information regarding the status of an applicant is given over the phone. Official admission offers will be made only by the Office of Graduate Studies. The UTRGV Graduate College will send notification to all applicants indicating whether or not they have been accepted into the OT Program. The status of your application will be available online at www.utrgv.edu/gradapply.
Be Advised:
Required Practicum and Fieldwork Experiences
Four 40 hours (1 week) practicums (Level I) and the equivalent of 24 weeks of fieldwork (Level II) experience are required of all Master's students In Occupational Therapy. All students admitted to the OT program should expect to take at least one fieldwork experience outside the Rio Grande Valley. The practicum (Level I) is taken throughout the academic coursework component of the program and the fieldwork (Level II) experiences is after successful completion of all academic coursework and requirements.
Maintaining Graduate Status
OT Grades
Graduate students in Occupational Therapy are expected to maintain an overall 3.0 GPA in all OT coursework. A graduate OT student is ineligible to continue and will be dismissed from the program if
- A student receives a failing grade “F” in any course.
- A student receives a grade of “C” in three courses in the program. (Even if the course is repeated and a higher grade is received, the higher grade does not alter the C rule.
- A student receives a grade of “C” in Clinical Anatomy and Biomechanics (OCCT 6305), Clinical Neuroscience (OCCT 6306), or any of the OT treatment courses (OCCT 6401, 7310, 7304, 7401, or 7402) and does not make a grade of “B” or better on the repeated course. Even though the student has no prior grades of “C”, the student must repeat that course and earn a grade of “B” or better.
- A student fails two Level II Fieldwork (OCCT 7305 or 7601). If a student fails one Level II Fieldwork, the course must be repeated and will be scheduled at the discretion of the program.
If a student gives evidence of unsafe and/or ineffective health care practice, the faculty of the Occupational Therapy Department reserves the right to refuse the opportunity to the student to care for patients or perform evaluation/testing procedures. A student may not render care, tests or evaluations when under the influence of prescribed or over-the-counter medication which may affect judgment or if the student imbibes and/or is under the influence of alcohol or illicit drugs. A student who is deemed to demonstrate unsafe practice will fail the course and be dropped from all clinical courses in which she/he is enrolled at that time. The student may be dismissed from the program.
Any student whose overall OT GPA falls below 3.0 or placed on academic probation by the Graduate College must meet with his or her academic advisor to develop a remedial action plan. This plan must be submitted to the program chair for final approval. If the student does not restore his or her OT GPA to 3.0 by the end of the next semester, the student will be terminated from the OT program.
Competency
At the end of the academic course work and fieldwork Level II, the students will be administered a comprehensive assessment to determine their understanding of OT principles and knowledge.
- Should a graduate OT student fail to obtain the required passing score on the departmental academic comprehensive exam which is taken at the completion of all academic coursework, the student will not be allowed to proceed to Fieldwork Level II. The student may repeat the exam 3 times to achieve a passing score; afterward the student will be required to repeat selected OT coursework and/or activities. If the student is still unable to achieve the passing score after 3 months the student may be dismissed from the program.
- Should a graduate OT student fail to achieve the required passing score on the NBCOT practice exam, the student will not be eligible for graduation. Student may repeat the practice exam as many times as needed prior to the end of the semester until the required passing score is achieved. Since this is a requirement for the Field Studies in OT courses (OCCT 7305 or OCCT 7601) during the final semester, if not achieved the student will receive a failing grade for the course.
- Students have 24 months after completion of academic coursework to complete Level II fieldwork requirements as declared by ACOTE. Students must complete and pass the equivalent of a minimum of 24 weeks full time Level II fieldwork to graduate but more may be taken.
Maximal Length of Time to Completion
The maximal length of time to complete the MS in Occupational Therapy program is 5 years. This includes successful completion of all academic coursework and requirements as well as fieldwork experiences.
Program Requirements
Required Courses (59 Credits)
Fieldwork Courses (12 Credits)
Must take 12 hours of the following, selecting either sequence A or B:
| OCCT 7305 | Field Studies in Occupational Therapy - A | 3 |
| OCCT 7601 | Field Studies in Occupational Therapy - B | 6 |
Total Credit Hours: 71
Practicum and Fieldwork Experiences
A minimum of one 10 week practicum (Level I) and the equivalent of 24 weeks of fieldwork (Level II) experience are required of all Master's students in Occupational Therapy. All students admitted to the OT program should expect to take at least one fieldwork experience outside the Rio Grande Valley. The practicum (Level I) is taken throughout the academic coursework component of the program and the fieldwork (Level II) experiences is after successful completion of all academic coursework and requirements.