Start planning now
It’s never too early to start planning.
Early preparation is the key to a smooth (and successful!) application and admission process. Our admissions process has grown increasingly competitive. Each year the size and qualifications of the applicant pool varies. For Fall 2018 admissions, we had 550 applicants and a target class size of 46 students.
Give yourself the best chance of joining us by doing your research and putting your best application forward.
We hold two open information sessions every month. Each session gives an overview of occupational therapy, our program and the admissions process. Individual advising is available afterwards.
Can’t make it to an info session? We’ve put together some resources to help you learn about our program on your own.
Everything you need to know about our program in one place
A downloadable packet of in-depth information
List of all costs for the 2 year program
AOTA highlights recent graduates describing why they chose OT
Career information from the American Occupational Therapy Association
Find out what OT is and what occupational therapy can do for you
Applications for Fall 2019 are due December 1 (11pm CST). The recommended international deadline is October 1.
Don’t wait until the last minute to apply! Start early and give yourself plenty of time to collect and enter all your materials.
International Students: If English isn’t your native language, you must take an English proficiency test. Check out the International Requirements to see if this applies to you, then read through the International Students section of the Applying page for more information about the minimum scores we accept.
Highly qualified and motivated students entering UIC as freshmen can simultaneously apply for admission to the MS program.
If accepted, your admission into the graduate program is guaranteed, providing that undergraduate course and performance criteria are met. A minimum ACT score of 27 or an SAT-I score of 1240, a high school rank in the top 15 percent, and a GPA of at least 3.5/4.0 are recommended for application. The application deadline is January 15. Consult GPPA’s web site for more information.
You must complete six courses with a grade of C or above before enrolling in the program. These courses do not need to be completed at the time of application. All courses must be the equivalent of at least 3 semester hours unless otherwise noted.
If the course was completed more than 3 years prior to beginning occupational therapy coursework, it’s highly recommended that you review a current text prior to enrollment so you have up-to-date knowledge. If it was completed more than 8 years ago, we recommend that you retake the course or complete an intensive self-study prior to enrollment.
While we prefer to see students take courses at a four year school, we won’t penalize you if you take them at a community college, since that’s often the best option available. Most online courses are acceptable if they’re completed at a regionally accredited college or university, and if they meet other stated requirements such as number of credits.
We don’t accept AP credit to meet prerequisite requirements.
* Students who cannot obtain a cadaver laboratory experience of 30 hours prior to enrollment at UIC can enroll in a special OT cadaver lab in the fall and spring of the first year of occupational therapy coursework. This is the only prerequisite that can be completed after enrollment. Applicants who get a grade of ‘C’ in anatomy or who have had their anatomy course more than three years ago will be required to take the cadaver lab.
We don’t require a minimum number of volunteer hours, but we strongly recommend that you have at least 50 hours of experience with an occupational therapist prior to application. This should ideally occur in at least two different practice settings (e.g. hospital and community settings).
Completing a larger number of hours and in varied settings does result in your application being evaluated more favorably by the admissions committee, but it doesn’t guarantee admission. It’s a good idea to keep a log of your hours, activities and reactions, and refer to it when you apply. You can use our template to help keep track of your hours to add your experiences on your application.
Occupational therapy students will interact with many patients and clients during clinical training and fieldwork. For the protection of students, as well as patients and clients, vaccinations for specific communicable diseases, or blood titers verifying immunity, are required upon enrollment.
To begin course-related clinical experiences and fieldwork, individuals must satisfy drug screening and background checks for history of criminal offenses; results may affect a student’s ability to participate in clinical and fieldwork experiences.
Although not required at the time of application, you must be certified upon enrollment and maintain certification until graduation. Students must obtain and maintain BLS (Basic Life Support) for Healthcare Professionals/Providers Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) certification in CPR, AED and airway obstruction for adults, child and infants. The CPR class must be 100% classroom taught, meaning students are with a CPR instructor for their entire learning experience. Classes held entirely online or blended classes (part online and part in-person) will not satisfy this requirement.
When you apply, you’ll need to submit your transcripts, personal statement, UIC-specific personal essay and three letters of recommendation. Get started on those now! Refer to the Applying page for all the specifics.
The application process is paperless. Please don’t mail any materials unless told to do so. Documents that you will upload must be in PDF format, no larger than 5 MB in size. “Portfolio” PDFs and secured PDFs which require a password are not compatible with our system.
International Students: You might have a few extra things you need to provide. Read through the International Requirements page to make sure you have everything you need.
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores are required for all applicants. Scores should be sent directly from Education Testing Service to UIC. If you have taken the GRE within the past five years, you must request that scores be sent from ETS to UIC. Institution Code: 1851.
International Students: If your native language isn’t English, you must submit Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores to UIC directly from ETS. UIC’s Institutional Code is 1851. Paper score reports will not be accepted.
See what funding options are available to you.
Most of our students rely on student loans, available through the Office of Financial Aid. There are scholarship options for our enrolled students. We don’t provide recruitment or merit scholarships to applicants—we reserve our scholarships for the students who enroll in our program. Every fall and spring semester, we award about seven endowed scholarships, with the average award being $2000. The scholarships are for academic achievement as well as financial need.
One to three graduate hourly positions are available annually for our MS students. These positions pay about $23 per hour, and require a variable number of hours per week (usually eight to twelve). In addition to these positions in our department, other positions are frequently available through other departments and offices on campus.
Assistantships and the accompanying waiver of part of the tuition and fees are primarily reserved for doctoral students, both PhD and OTD (OT clinical doctorate) students. However, we do reserve one or two one semester assistantships for our top applicants. Availability of these positions is variable because these positions are created as new grants get funded.
Do you have questions about the requirements that we haven’t answered? We can help.