otcas personal statement length 2021

Write an Awesome Personal Statement for OT School

So you want to be an occupational therapist, but you still have to jump through the many hoops of applying for grad programs. One mandatory part of the process is writing a great personal statement specifically for occupational therapy school, which can be pretty intimidating when it’s time to put pen to paper.

Well, I’m here to help!

I personally spent quite a bit of time crafting the best possible personal statement I could for OT school, and have since read and edited many, many personal statements from pre-OT applicants. (Want me to edit yours? Sign up here !)

These are my top tips for you to craft a great occupational therapy personal statement that will help you stand out from the large crowd of pre-OT applicants.

First, the Do’s and Dont’s of Statement Writing

Do start early: Give yourself enough time to brainstorm, write, and revise your personal statement well before the deadline. This will really reduce your feelings of stress and being rushed.
Do show sincerity in your writing. It’s encouraged to let your positive emotions and enthusiasm shine through.
Do talk about why you want to be an occupational therapist. You want the programs to see that you are serious about this decision. You are not just applying because you can’t think of anything else to do for a career.
Do in one way or another demonstrate through your writing that you know what OT is and why it’s important.
Do showcase why you’ll make a great addition to their program, adding unique qualities that will differentiate you from the other applicants.
Do talk about your shadowing experience, volunteering and work experience that is relevant to the field of OT. Make sure you keep patient information confidential if you discuss certain cases you observed.
Do feel free to use the language of OT if you know it and are familiar with it (i.e. interventions, treatments, occupations, goals, evidence-based, functional treatments, etc.)
Do tie your personal statement together. If you make several different points, try to piece them together for the reader to show that you’ve really thought through the big picture.
Do have at least two people (but the more the better) read and proofread the final draft of your statement. Ask friends, family members, and someone at your school’s writing center. This can help spark ideas and ensure your application is completely free of typos or grammatical errors. The last thing you want is admissions to immediately notice any glaring spelling mistakes that you may have missed.
Do keep the length to 1-2 pages max. You want it to be short and sweet. If any sentence or paragraph looks unnecessary after you do a final read-through, get rid of it. As a general rule, personal statements run on average 600-800 words.

Don’t…

Don’t start your essay with clichés. In fact, leave them out of your statement altogether. An example of this is “I’ve always wanted to help people” (they see this all the time).
Don’t plagiarize. There are a lot of personal statement examples on the internet that you can absolutely use to guide your writing process. Do not use them word for word. Programs can find out and will exclude your application. U se the examples as templates of what kind of content you’ll cover in your statement.
Don’t try to be humorous in your personal statement. Even if you’re hilarious, this is not the time to show this.
Don’t just talk about your childhood. Focus on college and post college achievements unless something in your childhood or adolescence is what drove you to a career in occupational therapy. Remember that this isn’t an autobiography, it’s a statement on why you’ll be a great OT.
Don’t guess what you think the reader wants you to say. Be honest and don’t write in a way that is out of line with who you really are. Don’t just write something to try to impress people.
Don’t be a downer. Avoid going into detail about your dislikes, negative views, or problems in your life. If you have a low GPA or lack of experience, don’t mention it unless you can put a positive spin on it. Listing excuses for your low GPA or GRE score isn’t a good idea either, unless you really feel the need to tie in why your GPA is lower but how you’ll be an awesome therapist despite this.
Don’t mention specific programs in your statement if you’re using OTCAS . It will be sent to every school you apply to and therefore won’t make sense. If you apply to an individual school (not on OTCAS) then absolutely mention the school and why you’re passionate about their program.

Check out the How Get Into OT School Guide! It’s the most comprehensive resource that covers everything you need to know.

Ask yourself this question:.

A bonus tip I found while perusing the Student Doctor Network Forums while researching this topic, which is to ask yourself this question:

“Can you replace your personal statement with a degree other than OT? If not, it’s solid. If you can, then try to revise to make it only relevant to OT.”

And that’s a wrap!

If you have any other tips or tricks you’ve discovered while writing your personal statement for OT school, please feel free to add them in the comments section. I wish you the best of luck with your statement writing and your overall OT school application process!

Be sure to check out these other helpful resources:

Writing the Personal Statement (Purdue OWL)

Start Your Grad School Personal Statement in Just 1 Hour! (The Muse)

Writing a Personal Statement (Emory Pre-Health Advising)

5 Big Mistakes I Made When Applying to OT School (My OT Spot)

This post was last updated on May 12, 2023.

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As I’m working on my application essay this week, your article is very helpful! Thank you.

I’m so glad it was helpful for you 🙂 Best of luck with your applications!

Thank you for this article! I just wanted to know, do you offer services proof reading other people’s personal statements? That would be really helpful for me!

Hi May, I do offer personal statement reviewing that you can set up here . Instead of the traditional coaching call that’s linked, it will instead entail personal statement edits and feedback via email 🙂

Privacy Overview

FAQs > Personal Statement

Q: if i am applying to multiple programs, will the same essay be sent to all of them.

A: Yes, the same essay will be sent to all designated programs so do not make your essay school specific.

Q: Can I print my personal essay or save it to a disk and mail it to OTCAS?

A: No. You can only submit your OTCAS essay through the OTCAS online application. OTCAS will not forward any personal statements that are received through the mail.

Q: Why are there some strange punctuation marks in the essay I saved to the OTCAS application?

A: If you paste text from some word processing programs (i.e., Microsoft Word) certain formatting characters such as angled quotes, accents, and other special characters will not display properly. Please review your final text and make corrections to the format as necessary. You are encouraged to compose your statement in a text-only word processor (e.g., Notepad), review your statement for errors, then cut and paste the final version into the text box.

Q: Can I edit or replace an essay after I have e-submitted my application?

A: No. Once you have entered your personal statement into your application and it has been e-submitted, you cannot edit, replace, or delete that personal statement.

OTCAS Application Cycle Dates

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Review the important application cycle dates below. In some instances, the individual program's deadline may differ from the application's cycle dates. To view a program's deadline date, click Add Program and review the information under Deadline . You can submit your application up until 11:59 PM ET on the deadline date.

While the cycle close date is the final date you can submit your OTCAS application, OTCAS has additional final application processing dates for managing your application. Note the dates and submission times below.

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