My first placement flew by with a blink of the eye. I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to be in acute care for my first placement, especially in a triage hospital where I got to see so many complex cases. Initially, I wasn't that excited about being in acute care because I had wanted a rehab setting. In hindsight, I think acute care was the perfect way to start placement. I got to put so much of my learning last term into use and get hands-on practice with patients, which was invaluable.
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CASPer…probably one of the most dreaded parts of the application process for me. I often get asked about how the exam was and tips on preparing for it, so I thought it might be useful to write a post about this. When I applied in 2019, it was only the second year that CASPer was added to the UBC MOT application, although it had been used for several years at other universities already.
I can't believe it's already the end of my first term of OT school! I had meant to write a reflection after the first month, but school quickly got busy and I didn't find the time. This term has been a wild ride of theories, practical OT skills and preparing ourselves for our first clinical placement in January. With the pandemic, having half our classes online and half in-person definitely presented its own challenges and perks.
I finished the first week of my MOT program and it's been such a whirlwind. We had classes everyday in-person this week with lots of introductions to course content and hands-on experiences. We played with assistive devices, wheelchairs and even got to perform an accessibility assessment on campus buildings. Everyone in my cohort was super nice and the faculty seemed really caring and supportive.
My MOT program starts next week and it's finally starting to kick in that I'm actually going on this journey to become an OT. It's still crazy to think that OT was merely a dream of mine four years ago as a first-year student. I knew how competitive the program was and didn't think my chances of getting in were very high, but I was willing to try my best.
I interviewed for the 2019/2020 cycle for the OT program at the University of British Columbia, so my experience is specific to UBC's interview process. UBC currently uses a 3-person panel interview format, but there has been talk of switching to an MMI format.
Here's how it went: I remember I received my OT interview invitation only a few days after I had just completed an interview for a different program I applied to. It was also Valentine's Day and I laughed at how this was an unexpected gift to myself. As excited as I was to have this interview opportunity, I didn't start preparing for it until a week later. I had just spent a full week preparing for my previous interview and needed a break to catch up on school.
I've lost track of how many times I've answered this question, which worked to my advantage as I began applying for OT and really had to know why I want to pursue it. I hope my story can provide some insight and inspire you to consider OT!
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