The Introduction to Occupational Therapy Course is usually offered at colleges and universities that have an occupational therapy or occupational therapy assistant program. In Illinois, Chicago State University, Governors State University, South Suburban College and Wright College all offer an introduction course. Additionally, there are many occupational therapy programs throughout the country that offer an introduction course and CSU will accept any school’s course. This course must be completed prior to starting the MOT program. CSU offers the course (OT 2010) online in the fall and summer semesters. During the spring semester, OT 2010 is on-campus.

No, you can apply with four or fewer prerequisites to be completed at the time of applying. Either anatomy or physiology (one course) must be completed when applying in order to evaluate your application. Applicants must explain in their application their plan for completing all prerequisites before starting the MOT program in the fall. Students who are accepted receive a conditional admission pending the successful completion of all prerequisites and the maintaining of the required grade point average.

For Undergraduates applying to the combined BS/MOT program, your prerequistes should be reviewed at the beginning of junior year to make sure you are on track to apply to the program by the end of junior year. You can email bacot@csu.edu with your degree planning sheet and UID to have the OT admissions coordinator review it. 

You may retake classes to improve your grade point average, but you may only repeat the required prerequisite courses once to improve a grade. You also cannot take or repeat any OT prerequisite course (including sciences) more than twice to obtain a passing grade.

The program is three years, full-time. It includes 6 long semesters and 2 short summer semesters. Students graduate in May of their third year (if completed full-time). Students who are off track may graduate in summer or the winter.

There are a variety of scholarships available to graduate-level OT students from various sources such as the American Occupational Therapy Foundation, AMBUCS, and Aftercollege to name a few. Also, the CSU OT department periodically has grants that help support students. We currently have the Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students Grant.

The CSU BS combined program requires that students have a minimum of 30 hours of a lab with a human cadaver. The lab should provide detailed practical examinations on human cadaver anatomy. CSU provides this lab as a separate course for students who have completed a full anatomy course. Other schools have separate cadaver labs or they are embedded within the anatomy course. CSU offers the cadaver lab course (Zoology 2610) every semester.

Only students applying as combined students are required to take the Cadaver Lab. Students applying as graduate students to the MOT program do not need to take it.

Schools provide the anatomy and physiology courses differently. Some schools such as CSU have separate anatomy and physiology courses and students need both courses and the cadaver lab. Other schools have combined anatomy & physiology courses, where the body is divided between two courses. A student must have both courses Anatomy and Physiology I and II to get credit for a full anatomy and physiology course. Some schools have 30 hours of cadaver lab as part of both courses. CSU will accept these courses as meeting the cadaver lab requirement.

The CSU MOT program does not require the GRE exam for admission.

Yes, one of the recommendations must be from an upper level (200 level or above) instructor. This recommendation provides evidence of an individual who can speak to your academic potential. While very few schools have their anatomy and physiology listed at a 100 level, we will accept a recommendation from an anatomy or physiology instructor.

The Office of Graduate Admissions is the place to send all official transcripts. The University must receive transcripts from all of the schools where you have ever taken college classes whether or not you took a prerequisite course at that school.

We give OTA’s credit for the Introduction to Occupational Therapy and waive the time limit for the anatomy and physiology for currently practicing OTA’s. OTA program coursework cannot be applied to the MOT program. Since OTA degrees are primarily AS or AAS degrees, students can pursue our combined BS in HSC/MOT program. This combined program has 93 credits in specific prerequisites that include the general education requirements as well as the specific OT program requirements. A student with an AS or AA degree will be waived from the university general education requirements but need the OT specific prerequisites and 93 hours of credit before entering the professional sequence.

No, you must complete all prerequisites prior to starting professional coursework. The content of the prerequisite courses is used as foundational knowledge within the program and students must be able to apply that information from the very beginning of the program.

It takes 10 regular semesters and two summer sessions to complete the program part-time; approximately 4 ½ years. Students can take two courses a semester until the last year. The last year is full-time for Level II fieldwork. All courses are during the day and the number of days on campus varies each semester based on the specific courses. Part-time students start in the fall along with all of the students. A student can go up to full-time after 4 semesters and completion of the entire first-year courses.

No, the curriculum has a defined sequence for its courses and professional courses are only offered once a year. The department tries to inform students of admission decisions by mid-April/early May.

Yes, many students work while in the program. However, students are encouraged to reduce their work to the lowest number of hours possible in order to concentrate on their studies. Most students try to work less than 15 hours.