Academic Preparation

General requirements:

• Completed baccalaureate degree prior to starting occupational therapy classes (unless you are currently enrolled at Puget Sound as a 3-2 or 3-3 student). Any undergraduate major may lead to the successful study of occupational therapy; you may major in any field that maximizes your talents and interests as there is no preferred major. In fact, the department seeks a diversity of educational backgrounds among its students. A liberal arts education is a vital component in the preparation of today’s health care practitioner.
• Overall GPA of all baccalaureate work of 3.0 or better. If applicant has multiple degrees the GPA of the more recent degree completed is used as qualifier. Completed graduate degree with a GPA of 3.0 or better will qualify an applicant with a low undergraduate GPA. The admissions committee will also consider the GPA from your last two years of undergraduate study, if that is higher than your overall undergraduate GPA.
• Exposure to the practice of occupational therapy (either volunteer or paid) under the supervision of a licensed occupational therapist is optimal. The faculty of the School of Occupational Therapy recognize that during the pandemic it has been much more difficult to arrange such observations or work in an OT setting. For this year’s applicants, knowledge of the field obtained from reading written resources or watching videos of occupational therapists in action, or observations of occupational therapists during Telehealth sessions is acceptable. There is no minimum number of hours of observation. The applicant must demonstrate knowledge about the profession in the supplemental essay.

Specific prerequisite courses:

• One course in introductory Statistics (Puget Sound MATH 160)
• One course in Medical Terminology (GLAM 120)
• Two sequential Human Anatomy and Physiology courses (EXSC 221 & 222), preferably with labs 
• A total of three (3) courses in Human Behavioral Science/Human Development, distributed as follows:

  • Human Development through the lifespan (PSYC 220 & 221): Developmental Psychology: Prenatal through Childhood or equivalent and Developmental Psychology: Adolescence through End of Life or equivalent. 

    Note: It is sometimes possible to meet the Human Development prerequisite within a single course in which case an applicant must have completed 2 courses in category (b) listed below.

  • Human Behavioral Science courses (one or more courses as needed to complete the three-course Human Behavioral Science/Human Development requirement): Psychology, Anthropology or Sociology at the 200 level or above addressing at least one of the following content areas:
    • Normal and abnormal behavior of individuals and/or groups;    
    • The analysis of behavior of individuals and/or groups and their interactions; or
    • Culture and mental health.
• All prerequisite courses must be completed before the beginning of the program, and you must earn at least a 3.0 in each course.
• Due to academic challenges associated with the COVID-19 crisis, prerequisite courses receiving CREDIT during Spring 2020 through Summer 2022 will be accepted. If more than two of your prerequisite grades are this type, we may ask you for more information about those courses.
• We do not generally accept prerequisite coursework that was completed more than 7 years before entry to the program. If you wish to use older coursework, you may request a waiver of this rule in the Questions section of the application.

Questions about distribution of the three Human Behavioral Science/Human Development courses, if taken at another school, should be directed to the Office of the Registrar, accompanied by a course description including the name of the school and an unofficial transcript if the coursework has been completed.

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