Admission Requirements
It is the policy of the University of
Wisconsin - La Crosse Occupational Therapy Program that all
students who desire admission to the program must meet the
requirements and complete the admission process. All
applications will be carefully reviewed, adhering to the
procedure detailed below.
The following are required of all applicants:
Degree:
All students must earn a Bachelor's degree prior to entering the OT Program. Students may complete their BA or BS while applying, but they must complete their degree prior to matriculating in our program. Accepted students completing a Bachelor's degree will need to submit a final transcript demonstrating the issuance of their degree.
Students enrolled in the Psychology-OT Dual Degree Program are exempt from this requirement.
Prerequisite Coursework:
Human Anatomy (4 cr.)
Human Physiology (4 cr.)
Physics (4 cr.)
The above three courses must contain a lab
Statistics or Research Methods (3-4 cr.)
Life Span Development (3 cr.)
Abnormal Psychology (3 cr.)
Sociology or Anthropology (3 cr.)
All prerequisite courses must be completed
prior to beginning the program. Students may apply with
outstanding prereq courses so long as they demonstrate a plan to
complete those courses before matriculating in our program.
Accepted students completing prereq courses
will need to submit a final transcript demonstrating the
successful completion of these courses.
No prerequisite coursework with a grade below a C
will be accepted. Additionally, no more than two prerequisite courses
with a grade of C will be accepted.
Anatomy, physiology and physics courses must contain a lab.
Lecture only courses will not be accepted as meeting the prereq
course requirement.
Prerequisite science courses (anatomy &
physiology, physics and stats) must be completed in the 7 years
prior to application. Remaining prereq courses must be
completed in the 10 years prior to application. Prereq courses
taken prior to these deadlines are unacceptable and must be
retaken in order to qualify.
For further information on prerequisite course requirements please visit Prerequisite Coursework
Academic Aptitude:
GPA: A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 for all undergraduate studies. Applicants not meeting the GPA requirement may request a waiver of the minimum GPA requirement. Please contact the program for further information otprogram@uwlax.edu
GRE: The program does NOT require GRE results.
Program Application:
Submission of the program's application is required for admission. Among the items included in the application are academic history, prereq course progress and personal narratives.
Job Shadow Experience:
Applicants must complete a minimum of 20 hours
of job shadowing with an occupational therapist. These 20
hours must be completed in two different facilities that serve
different populations. For example, completing the two
experiences at a nursing home and an adult hospital is
acceptable. Using an elementary school and a pediatric
hospital for the two experiences is unacceptable as the
populations are identical - children. Job shadowing must
be completed with a registered occupational therapist.
Sessions completed with a COTA (certified occupational therapy
assistant) will not be accepted.
Experiences must
be documented and submitted on the required form available on
the website.
Personal Potential Index (PPI):
Three to five individuals complete evaluations with ETS in order to create the applicant's PPI - an evaluation of personal attributes critical to success in graduate school. Letters of reference sent to the program on previously available reference documents will no longer be accepted.
For further information please visit - PPI Information
Resume:
Inclusion of a professional resume with application packet is required. Items applicants may want to note in their resume are awards, collegiate extracurricular participation, honors, scholarships, study abroad experiences, volunteering, college work experience, etc.
Graduate School:
In addition to applying to the program, applicants must also apply to the UW-L Graduate School. The required online application is available at www.apply.wisconsin.edu.
Applicants must also submit official transcripts for all college courses. All transcripts should be sent to the Graduate School, not the OT Program. Please direct transcripts to:
UW-L Graduate Admissions
1725 State St
142 Cleary
La Crosse, WI 54601
Applicants are encouraged to submit their transcripts well in advance of the application deadline. Failure to receive all transcripts by the application deadline will result in an incomplete file and the applicant will not be considered.