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The Occupational Therapy Assistant Admissions Committee makes the final decision regarding an applicant’s acceptance to the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program. A successful applicant for admission to the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program must meet the general requirements for admission to Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU) and will be evaluated, based on the following criteria:
Submit the Occupational Therapy Assistant Program Application once admitted to the University. The application can be accessed at http://my.adu.edu.
Have a minimum high school unweighted GPA of 2.50 (on a 4.00 scale)1 or achieve a minimum admission GPA of 2.50 in at least 12 credits of previous college work. GPAs presented to the admissions committee for each applicant will be a cumulative record of all college-level work.
Have a minimum ACT standard composite score of 19 or a combined2 SAT score of 910. Applicants with 24 or more credits from a regionally accredited college are exempt from taking the ACT or SAT.
A student may repeat only two cognate courses one time each due to failure of the course (below a grade of “C”) to remain eligible to enroll in the OTA program. This includes any courses taken at other institutions. Courses retaken with passing grades in each attempt will not be counted against the applicant. Failed courses that fall outside the Transfer of Credit time limits will be counted against the applicant; however, the applicant is eligible to explain the reason for the repeated courses in an appeal process.
Submit two recommendations on ADU Recommendation Forms. If an applicant to an undergraduate program has completed at least one trimester at Adventist University of Health Sciences (ADU) before being admitted to a program, one of the two recommendations must come from any ADU faculty member, adjunct professor, tutoring coordinator, chaplain, or academic coach/advisor. Special recommendation forms for this requirement are available in the Office of Enrollment Services.
Write an essay explaining his or her interest in becoming an occupational therapy assistant and the reason for selecting a faith-based institution. The essay must be proctored and hand-written. It must include correct spelling and grammar, be completed in two hours, and be one to two pages in length. For proctoring instructions, call the Center for Academic Achievement at 407-303-7747 x110-6413. Topics for the essay will be related to the field of occupational therapy, the student's aptitude toward the field, and what it means to attend a faith-based college. Questions to answer will be chosen at random by the essay proctor. Essays will be reviewed, based on content, spelling, grammar, and organization.
Although volunteer or observation hours in an occupational therapy clinic are not mandatory prior to admission, prospective students are strongly encouraged to spend as much time as possible observing, volunteering, or working in multiple occupational therapy settings in order to gain knowledge of the profession. Applicants with this experience have shown enhanced performance in writing their essay.
Admission into all professional programs is competitive. Each program has a maximum number of students that can be admitted each year. Students meeting the admission requirements for a given program qualify to be considered for admission to that program. However, due to the competitive nature of each program's admission process, meeting minimum admission requirements does not guarantee acceptance. Students may be given preferential consideration for admission to degree and certificate programs when they have successfully completed 12 college-level hours at ADU.
Each applicant accepted to an on-campus professional program is expected to pay a nonrefundable deposit of $200 to reserve his or her place in the program. The applicant’s acceptance letter will contain a deposit amount and deadline, indicating when the deposit must be received by the University. Once the student enrolls in the program, this deposit will be applied toward the student’s account. Students who have paid the deposit, but decide not to enroll in the program, will forfeit the deposit. If that student is admitted to the same program at a later date, he or she will be required to pay the full deposit amount again. If an applicant is admitted to a program with prerequisites in progress and becomes ineligible for admission due to his or her grades, a full refund will be provided. A professional program deposit is not transferable to another department. Distance Education students are not required to pay a program deposit.
1Applicants who do not meet the high school GPA requirement must complete a minimum of 12 trimester hours of credit in required non-OTA courses, including English and math, and achieve a cumulative GPA of at least 2.50 (on a 4.00 scale).
2SAT combined score of Critical Reading and Math.
