Admission Selection

Admission to the program is determined through an evaluation of academic and non-academic materials (e.g. personal statement submission, resume, referee assessments on the Confidential Assessment Forms) with the academic requirements (e.g. transcripts) being weighted more heavily. We received the following number of applications in each of the past three years:

• 894 (2019)
• 843 (2020)
• 1019 (2021)
• 914 (2022)

Successful applicants present a combination of strong academic merit with superior non-academic profiles. Entry to the program is highly competitive given the limited amount of space available. It is extremely difficult to gain admission to the program if an applicant presents serious weaknesses in one or both areas of their application (academic versus non-academic components). It is highly advantageous to show strong performance in your most recent 10 full-course equivalents at the university level.

In such cases, where you have been out of university for more than five years, you may substitute a professional reference for an academic reference in your application. Other than that, the selection criterion is the same, and you will be evaluated on a combination of your academic performance and non-academic merit (e.g. resume, references, personal statement submission). While an applicant in such a position may have accumulated many years of experience in the workforce (for example), the passage of time does not necessarily result in a superior non-academic profile. We encourage such applicants to document their accomplishments over the years (resume, personal statement submission), and remind their professional references to speak of something similar (in lieu of providing an academic reference). Again, other application components are the same, including the transcript requirement.

All applicants – regardless of status – must submit undergraduate university transcripts as part of the selection process. As an academic program with clinical and research components, one of the major predictors of success is prior academic performance. Keep in mind that with several hundred applicants competing for approximately 130 spaces, we can only select the most highly qualified candidates. Many applicants from different stages in life have worked hard to reach this goal. It is essential that applicants display strong academic performance and a series of accomplishments in their non-academic profile in order to be considered competitive in the selection pool. Consider enrolling in a few undergraduate bachelor’s degree courses to improve your GPA. This can be in areas related to OT in courses at your local university, such as human growth/development, physiology, human biology, psychology, sociology, or statistics. An undergraduate academic advisor or counselor at your local university should be able to advise you on what academic path is recommended for you to reach your goal.

Successful applicants with Personal Statement submissions considered to be superior generally have had some exposure to the profession of Occupational Therapy or have experience in the rehabilitation sciences in a volunteer or research capacity. However, we are interested in your honest and unique perspective in the responses. Try to think of something unique that you have experienced that will make your application stand out!

We are looking for experience (both paid and volunteer), awards, significant research projects completed, presentations, and in some cases specialized skills. There is no specific amount of content required, so please use your best judgment, up to 2 pages in length on 8.5″x11″ size paper. You do not have to put your address nor ORPAS username/ID on your resume.Use the space available to describe your experiences. Resumes must be submitted online (uploaded) directly to ORPAS.

We understand that due to pandemic restrictions and/or financial necessity that you do not have the time to volunteer or gain direct exposure to the profession of occupational therapy.  As we seek to encourage diversity in our applicant pool, we consider unrelated paid work experience to be equivalent to OT-related volunteer experience. However, the challenge will be for you to articulate how your unrelated experience developed your transferrable skills that may be related to a profession in OT. For example, your reserach into the profession may lead you to understand that OT’s are problem-solvers, innovative thinkers, and strong communicators. Use your application (e.g., resume and/or personal statement submission) to demonstrate how you have developed these transferable skills through an unrelated experience.

In your ORPAS online application, you must produce a “Confidential Assessment Form” for each referee to fill out. There are instructions for your referee provided directly on the Confidential Assessment Form. If you have been out of university for 5 years or more, you may substitute a professional reference for an academic reference.

If you are truly unable to produce an academic reference (and have been out of university for less than 5 years), try to find a professional reference that can honestly comment on the characteristics rated on the Confidential Assessment Form – however please keep in mind that providing an academic reference is highly encouraged and to an applicant’s advantage.

The personal/professional reference should NOT be from a friend, relative or even a co-worker in most cases. It should be from someone who has seen you demonstrate the traits listed on the Confidential Assessment Form (e.g. problem-solving ability, intellectual capacity, to name a few). Some examples of ideal personal referees include Volunteer Service Coordinators (who have seen the applicant in a volunteer capacity), professional supervisors, community members in positions of authority that can compare the applicant to others in a similar position, other professionals (OT’s, Nurses, Researchers, Teachers, Physicians), academic research supervisors, a Department Chair, or you have the option of simply using an additional academic reference (e.g. university professor).

It is not required to have volunteer experience. It is expected that applicants have researched the profession of occupational therapy in order to make an informed career choice. Exposure to the profession of occupational therapy through prior coursework, projects, unrelated paid or volunteer work, observational visits or job shadowing in various health care settings is strongly recommended. You can be very specific in the resume portion of the application, with regard to your commitment to a particular position. Employment or volunteer experience does not need to be directly related to healthcare nor OT.

For the personal statement submission, it is your choice whether to include researched material. We are mostly interested in your thoughts rather than a lengthy research review.  Generally a couple of citations and referenced materials are fine, however please ensure that your own observations are incorporated into your answer.  This can be from personal experience, volunteer work, academic work, etc. Any referencing format in-text is fine as long as you are consistent. All of this will add to your character limit.

Please make arrangements with the originating institution to send official transcripts directly to ORPAS. Instructions on where to mail these can be found at this link: Transcript Requirements. Credential evaluation in advance through a company such as World Education Services (“WES Assessment”) is not required but in some situations is strongly encouraged by ORPAS, and many applicants find it personally helpful as there may not be an exact equivalency between systems outside of Canada/US and the ORPAS Grading Conversion Table. From the ORPAS website, they note situations whereby a WES assessment is strongly encouraged:

Whether you are a Canadian or non-Canadian applicant, you are strongly encouraged to have your international transcript assessed by WES if:

• you have not met minimum course number criteria using your Canadian or US data; and
• you require inclusion of your international education data.

Request a course‑by‑course evaluation for your international grades. The assessment will not be valid without an overall GPA. However, the admission committees reserve the right to apply their own evaluation.

WES evaluations must be sent directly to ORPAS by WES, and must be received by the January transcript deadline.

Note: ORPAS will convert grades of courses taken at accredited universities in the US. You do not require a WES assessment for these courses.