{"id":428,"date":"2014-06-05T11:25:51","date_gmt":"2014-06-05T15:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swtemp.org\/science_math_dept\/?page_id=428"},"modified":"2026-03-08T15:42:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T15:42:56","slug":"pre-occupational-therapy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/pre-occupational-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Occupational Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Educational Pathway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Occupational Therapists are in demand. After completing an A.A.&amp;S, you will continue your pre-occupational therapy study by transferring to a four-year<strong> school. Pre-occupational therapy candidates are required to have a bachelor&#8217;s degree. You can declare a major in any subject at a four-year school to obtain a Bachelor of Science Degree, which will require an additional two years of college.<\/strong> Your chosen major does not determine your success in being accepted to an occupational therapy school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is, however, important that you include the prerequisites required by the schools you are interested in attending in your educational curriculum. Many of these classes are taken during your two years at SWCC. After being accepted into occupational therapy school, it typically takes two years to earn a Master of Occupational Therapy (M.O.T.), though programs vary in length.<br>Early in your academic career, you will need to research some of the occupational therapy schools you are interested in attending in order to ensure you will meet all their criteria for admission.<em> Some basic factors are:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Good undergraduate grades (overall GPA of 3.0 minimum)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Test scores (GRE\u00ae)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>True interest in the profession, as demonstrated by shadowing or volunteering in the field; some colleges require documented hours<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strong reasoning and writing skills (which will be documented on the Graduate Record Examination)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Strong reference letters from professionals who know your character, as well as your work ethic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learning new skills such as ceramics, metalworking, dance, etc<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What is the GRE\u00ae?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It is the Graduate Record Examination. It is a standardized test taken by students who are applying to occupational therapy schools. It will be similar to the ACT\u00ae or SAT\u00ae. It is a broad assessment of your critical thinking, analytical writing, verbal reasoning, and quantitative reasoning skills \u2014 all skills developed over many years, including your two years at SWCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Important qualities for occupational therapists<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Occupational therapists must have excellent communication, writing, and interpersonal skills. Other important qualities are compassion, patience, and flexibility. As in other health-related occupations, empathy, understanding, and the desire to help others are good qualities for dealing effectively with patients<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is occupational therapy for you?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The student should shadow occupational therapists and ask questions about the profession. Occupational therapy is a health care profession that focuses on treating injured, ill, or disabled patients. They help patients develop, recover, and improve the skills needed for daily living and working. It aims to help people live as independently as possible. Occupational therapists may work in a variety of settings, such as orthopedic clinics, hospitals, schools, home health care facilities, and nursing homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Occupational Therapy Schools <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>There are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aota.org\/education-careers\/find-school\/accreditentrylevel\/otmasters.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">157 Occupational Therapy Schools<\/a> in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"340\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/08\/JenniferLong.png\" alt=\"Jennifer Long\" class=\"wp-image-814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/08\/JenniferLong.png 340w, https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/08\/JenniferLong-255x300.png 255w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jennifer Long, Occupational Therapy School<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After receiving her A.A.&amp;S. in Science from SWCC, Ms. Long transferred to Radford University and completed a degree from the Occupational Therapy School.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Learn More<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"formWrapper\">\r\n<iframe class=\"salesforceRFI\" aria-label=\"Request for information form\" id=\"myiFrame\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" style=\"border: 0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\ndocument.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {\r\n    \/\/ Start with base URL\r\n    var url = \"https:\/\/cloud.info.sw.edu\/EZ1qCEnk2NaD\";\r\n   \r\n    \/\/ Get current URL\r\n    var currentUrl = window.parent.location.href;\r\n   \r\n    \/\/ Add UTM parameters to the current URL\r\n    if (currentUrl.includes('?')) {\r\n        currentUrl += '&';\r\n    } else {\r\n        currentUrl += '?';\r\n    }\r\n    currentUrl += 'utm_campaign=&utm_medium=webform&utm_source=website';\r\n   \r\n    \/\/ Create the formFrame parameter with the UTM-enhanced URL\r\n    var myParams = \"\/?formFrame=\" + encodeURIComponent(currentUrl);\r\n   \r\n    \/\/ Build final iframe URL\r\n    var iframe_url = url + myParams;\r\n    document.getElementById(\"myiFrame\").src = iframe_url;\r\n});\r\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Educational Pathway Occupational Therapists are in demand. After completing an A.A.&amp;S, you will continue your pre-occupational therapy study by transferring to a four-year school. Pre-occupational therapy candidates are required to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"on","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"Occupational Therapy","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-428","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.11 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pre-Occupational Therapy - SWCC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pre-Occupational Therapy Jennifer Long in Occupational Therapy School After receiving her A.A.&amp;S. in .\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/pre-occupational-therapy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pre-Occupational Therapy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pre-Occupational Therapy Jennifer Long in Occupational Therapy School After receiving her A.A.&amp;S. in .\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/pre-occupational-therapy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SWCC Science Pre-med Tracks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-08T15:42:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2014\/08\/JenniferLong.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/pre-occupational-therapy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sw.edu\/science-pre-med\/pre-occupational-therapy\/\",\"name\":\"Pre-Occupational Therapy - 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