BS- Entry Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate

The Occupational Therapy program allows opportunities for in-depth study and field practicum experiences with individuals of all ages who have limited capacity to perform in their everyday lives. The goal of occupational therapy is to assist the individual to achieve the maximum level of independent living through remediation of or adaptation to physical, cognitive, perceptual, or mental health impairments. This program is designed to prepare students for career opportunities in occupational therapy.

The program is designed as a full-time accelerated doctoral program. Students can enter after high school graduation and complete 6 years of full-time course work in 5 ½ calendar years. Students earn a bachelor’s degree after 4 years and a clinical doctorate after an additional 18 months. The program accepts up to 30 students yearly. Students are not required to be on campus for year 6 of the program.

Two three-month clinical fieldwork experiences are required during the summer and fall of year 5 of the program. Students must maintain a 3.00 GPA. Space may be available for transfer into the freshman or sophomore year for students who began their studies in other majors, and for individuals who are Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants.

The entry-level occupational therapy doctoral degree program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Candidacy Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 7501 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 510E, Bethesda, MD 20814. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its web address is www.acoteonline.org. The program must have a pre-accreditation review, complete an on-site evaluation, and be granted Accreditation Status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure.

Students must complete 24 weeks of Level II fieldwork as well as an individual 14-week capstone experience within 24 months following the completion of the didactic portion of the program. The doctoral capstone experience must be started after completion of all coursework and Level II fieldwork as well as completion of preparatory activities defined in 2023 ACOTE OTD Standard D.1.3.

Individuals with certain types of criminal records (felonies) may be barred from practicing occupational therapy at the national or state level. Individuals with records should contact NBCOT at the following address: NBCOT, One Bank St., Suite 300, Gaithersburg, MD 20878 or via e-mail at: https://www.nbcot.org and the occupational therapy licensing board of the state where they would like to practice prior to applying for admission to any OT program. Both of these organizations will do early evaluations of the record and let the individual know if they would be allowed to practice and any restrictions with might apply.

Admission Requirements

1. A minimum cumulative high school grade point average of 3.0.

2. Observation or volunteer hours in occupational therapy clinics are not required for admission, but 40 hours are required for the Introduction to Occupational Therapy course in the first semester. Completing these hours ahead of time is recommended; additionally, you then have the possibility of getting letters of recommendation from therapists, which can improve the chances of acceptance.

3. Because of the online learning components of this program, students must have demonstrated efficiency in using tools common to distance education. This might include a learning platform, special courses, or job experience. Students taking an online course at Gannon University will require internet access to utilize Blackboard for their coursework. Blackboard can be found in the http://my.gannon.edu portal. Blackboard supports the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, and Chrome.