Advising Course Plan - Health Sciences Major - Occupational Therapy Interest

Students pursuing a career in Occupational Therapy (OT) will apply primarily through a centralized service: The Occupational Therapist Centralized Application Service (OTCAS). OTCAS allows applicants to use a single application and one set of materials to apply to the majority of OT programs. A smaller number of programs do not accept applications through OTCAS and have their own application process. For the programs you are interested in applying to, please check (early! – e.g., in your 1st or 2nd year) the specific course prerequisite requirements and application steps, which vary from program to program.

As noted on the OTCAS website (https://portal.otcas.org /), there are several requirements that are common across most OT programs. Most programs require the GRE.

First, in terms of course requirements, many OT programs using OTCAS require Anatomy & Physiology from “a biology, neuroscience, anatomy, or integrated physiology department.” Health Sciences (HLSC) at Stetson fits under the category of “integrated physiology department,” but if you are taking your Anatomy & Physiology courses at another institution, you will need to verify that these transfer courses are from a department that meets one of the above descriptions.

Second, the vast majority of OT programs require one or more course in Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, and may require one or more courses in Math.

Third, again the vast majority of programs require Social and Behavioral Science courses and a Statistics course. For the Social and Behavioral Science requirement, many of our students will take one or more courses in Psychology (e.g., Abnormal Psychology) and one in Sociology.

You will, of course, also need to consider and meet all the HLSC major requirements shown on Degree Audit and in the Course Catalog (NOTE: The sample plan shown below allows you to meet HLSC major requirements). One HLSC elective course that some OT programs (e.g. University of Florida) require is Medical Terminology, which is generally offered online through the HLSC department during the summer. Again, check the individual programs you are interested in for their specific required prerequisite courses.

Finally, in addition to a common core of prerequisite coursework (*), many OT programs either require or strongly recommend shadowing/internship hours. Please discuss the opportunities available with your advisor.

First Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
BIOL 141P^1,*	1	BIOL 142P^1,*	1
HLSC 119V	1	PSYC 101S^1,*	1
FSEM 100 (unless transfer student)¹	1	MATH 141Q^*	1
General Education requirement¹	1	General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course)¹	1
	4		4
Second Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units	Summer	Units
MATH 141Q should be taken at some point during this year if it was not taken in First Year.		HLSC 202^1,*	1	Take the GRE exam in preparation for OT school applications - by the end of summer before Fourth Year.
HLSC 201^1,*	1	CHEM 142P^*	1
CHEM 141P^*	1	PSYC 231	1
SOCI 101S^*	1	General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course)¹	1
General Education requirement (A, B, H, L course)¹	1
	4		4		0
Third Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
Junior Seminar must be taken during this year.		HLSC 498¹	1
Junior Seminar	1	PHYS 122P or 142P^*	1
HLSC 411^1,*	1	COMM 108	1
PHYS 121P or 141P^*	1	PUBH 376	0.5
COMM 108	1
HLSC 375 (HLSC elective; recommended)^1,*	0.5
	4.5		3.5
Fourth Year
Fall	Units	Spring	Units
HLSC 499¹	1	Elective	1
PHIL 316V (or equivalent; IHSC elective; or other Personal & Social Responsibility course (R, E, W, D, J course))	1	Elective	1
PUBH 377	0.5	Elective	1
HLSC elective¹	1	Elective	.5
	3.5		3.5
Total Units 31

¹: Required for HLSC major.
*: Common core of prerequisite course work.