Identify your career goals. In order to choose the proper occupational therapy school, it is important to know the specific type of work you want to do with your occupational therapy degree. For example, you should think about what kind of environment you want to work in, such as a mental health facility, hospital, nursing home, outpatient center, clinic, school, workplace, community center or private practice. You should also consider what age group you want to work with and the type of patients you want to help (those who are either physically, developmentally, emotionally or mentally disabled).
Speak with a career counselor or academic adviser at your school. While you are pursuing your Bachelor’s degree, you can begin looking into occupational therapy schools. Your career counselor or academic adviser can provide you with helpful information about the various occupational therapy graduate programs in the United States.
Research the different occupational therapy schools on the Web. There is an abundance of information on the Internet about the different types of occupational therapy schools. You can visit websites like All Allied Health Schools, UnivSource and Grad Schools to learn about the occupational therapy schools that you can choose from.
Make a list of the schools that interest you. Make sure that you include important information for each school on your list, like the location of the school, cost of tuition, the number of required courses needed for the occupational therapy program and the types of financial assistance the school offers to students.
Determine if you meet all of the admission requirements for each school. Be sure to verify the admission requirements for both the school and occupational therapy program. And don’t forget to check for things such as GPA and pre-requisite course requirements too.
Decide which school best suits your needs and career goals. After you’ve spent time researching and evaluating the different occupational therapy schools, you should choose the school where you would like to pursue your master’s degree in occupational therapy.