Occupational Therapy Admissions

Applicants must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution prior to enrollment. Within ten years of planned enrollment, complete eight prerequisite courses with a recommended prerequisite GPA of 3.0 or higher. Prerequisite courses may be in progress at the time of application (see details below)

• Prerequisite courses may be in progress during the fall prior to planned enrollment.
• All courses must be completed with a letter grade of “C” or higher.
• Courses may be completed at any accredited community college, college, or university.
• Prerequisites may be completed online.
• If your prerequisites do not meet these criteria, or you would like to verify a course, please submit an email to otprogram@pacific.edu.
• View possible external options for prerequisite courses (PDF).

Please note: Applicants are encouraged to apply early, even if some courses are in progress. Early applications receive first consideration for possible scholarships. 

Recommended Courses

University of the Pacific highly recommends that applicants understand and are exposed to a variety of courses in order to prepare for the OTD program. While these courses are not required, they do provide a basis for choosing to pursue occupational therapy.

Optional Courses: Recommended, but not required

In addition to the academic requirements for admission, students must possess skills and abilities that will allow them to successfully complete the curriculum and practice the profession of occupational therapy.

Transcripts

Official transcripts from all institutions attended post-high school (including vocational/technical school transcripts) must be submitted to OTCAS as part of the application. Please do not send transcripts to University of the Pacific during the application phase.

Personal Statement

The personal statement should address why you selected occupational therapy as a career and how this degree relates to your immediate and long-term professional goals. Describe how your personal, educational, and professional background helps you achieve your goals. Do not personalize this essay for a particular program, as it is shared with all programs you apply to through OTCAS. Your statement should be approximately 500 words.

Personal Self-Reflection

The personal self-reflection is a specific prompt for University of the Pacific.

Three (3) Evaluations

All evaluations (also known as letters of reference) must be sent in using the OTCAS online system.

Transcript Entry & Prerequisites

You must complete your course information (including in-progress and planned courses) so that GPA calculations can be made and prerequisite courses can be identified. Instructions for transcript entry can be found in the Transcript Entry tab of the Academic quadrant in the application. A professional transcript entry (PTE) can be chosen for an additional fee. After you complete the transcript entry, you will identify your Prerequisite courses in the Program Materials portion of the application.

Observation Hours

University of the Pacific highly recommends completing at least 50 observation hours, and it suggests these be with an occupational therapist in more than one setting. Documentation of these hours is uploaded in the Supporting Information quadrant of the application under the "Documents" tab. No special form is needed to document hours.
 

The entire OTD curriculum is taught in the English language. For international students to be successful an English Language Proficiency Exam is required for all graduate applicants, regardless of citizenship, whose native language is not English and/or whose preparatory education was principally in a language other than English.

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is recommended by the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program at the University of Pacific.

• You will be asked to submit your standardized TOEFL score with your OTCAS application.
• Add your TOEFL test scores to Standardized Test section in the academic History quadrant in OTCAS.
• TOEFL results need to be sent to institution code B886.
• Applicants to the University of the Pacific OTD program need to submit a TOEFL score of at least 100 (Internet Based) or 610 (Paper Based) to be considered for admission.
• TOEFL scores are valid for two years after the test date.

Note: Students who have attended schools outside of the United States are not required to submit official transcripts for those institutions but must rather submit a course-by-course evaluation of their academic records.

The Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program at University of the Pacific currently recommends that international applicants use evaluation from the World Education Services, Inc. (WES).

University of the Pacific
Office of Graduate Admission
3601 Pacific Avenue
Stockton, CA 95211-0110

International students applying for admission to the OTD program must follow same admission criteria as students in the U.S.:

• Submit an application with all required documents, and pay the application fee through the OTCAS application portal.  
• Meet the program admissions requirements.
• Participate in an admissions interview arranged by an admissions advisor.  
• Complete an enrollment agreement if accepted into the program.

Complete the following prerequisites at an institution within the U.S.:       

• Human Anatomy with Lab: 3 credit hours minimum
• Human Physiology with Lab: 3 credit hours minimum
• Introduction to Statistics: 3 credit hours minimum (introductory course)
• Medical Terminology: 1-2 credit hours (on-line and pass/fail acceptable)
• Movement Science: 3 credit hours. Lab is optional (Physics or Biomechanics).
• Sociology, Anthropology, or Ethics course: 3 credit hours
• Human Development through the life span: 3 credit hours 
• Abnormal Psychology: 3 credit hours

Prerequisite courses older than 10 years will not be accepted. Each prerequisite course must be completed with a passing grade with a minimum grade of 'C' or better. The overall GPA for all prerequisite courses is a 3.00 or higher for the last 60 credit hours earned to be considered for admission.

Please note: We strongly recommend that you complete all prerequisite courses before applying for admission through Occupational Therapy Centralized Application Service (OTCAS). Applications from students with more than two courses in progress or not yet completed will not be considered for admission.

Recommended courses at institutions in the U.S.

Public speaking or Oral communication: 3 credit hours Therapeutic media or art course (Ceramics, two dimensional design)