Occupational Therapy

Mastering the Dynamic World of Health Care, Practice and Leadership

The Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) program is designed to prepare professionally qualified occupational therapists for a variety of roles including staff, management, research, and other leadership positions in occupational therapy to support intervention models for clients who are limited in their ability to perform developmentally appropriate tasks and roles.

Occupational therapy is a health and rehabilitation profession that provides services to individuals of all ages whose abilities to cope with the tasks of living are impaired by physical injury or illness, psychological and social disability, or developmental disabilities.

The occupational therapist collaboratively designs the intervention process to meet the unique needs of each client, and through evaluation and treatment, seeks to achieve habilitation restoration or improvement of impaired functions. The goal of occupational therapy is to assist clients in achieving a maximum level of independent living by developing and enhancing the capacities that remain after disease, accident, deformity or disability.

Entry Level Program

The professional program in occupational therapy provides students with the knowledge, techniques, and clinical reasoning skills necessary to assume entry-level positions as registered occupational therapists.  CLICK HERE for Pre-OT Requirements >>

The program requires the completion of general education requirements (38 credit hours) and prerequisite courses (45 credit hours). CLICK HERE for Entry Level Requirements >>

Following the successful completion of all general education and prerequisite courses, students may apply for admission to the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy-Entry Level Program which is two years of full-time graduate course work (69 credit hours). This is followed by two full-time internships of twelve weeks each.

Students who already hold a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university prior to admission may apply to the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy-Entry Level Program which is two years of full-time graduate course work (77 credit hours). This is followed by two full-time internships of twelve weeks each.

Advanced Practice Program

The advanced practice program option is intended for therapists who hold a baccalaureate degree in occupational therapy and wish to advance their knowledge in program development, research, and a variety of leadership opportunities (34 credit hours). CLICK HERE for Advanced Practice Requirements>>

Advanced Practice Program Characteristics

With the assistance of faculty advisors, participants will select a cognate area of concentration designed to meet their career goals. Cognates may include the following:

• school-based practice
• hand therapy
• assistive technology
• orthopedics
• psychology
• research
• community service models
• administration
• others

Advance practice students will be admitted in cohorts. Cohorts are groups of students who go through a program together by taking the same courses at the same time. Cohorts are very beneficial in furthering the development of:

• critical thinking skills
• an enhanced knowledge base
• motivation to learn more
• opportunity to be a part of a collaborative group

Accreditation

The entry-level occupational therapy master's degree program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD, 20852-4929. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-6611 and its web address is www.acoteonline.org. Graduates of the program 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, most 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.

Graduate Data

The total number of graduates from the Saginaw Valley State University entry-level Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program during the three-year period of 2015-2017 was 178, with an overall graduation rate* of 90.1%:

Note:  “Graduation Rate” refers to the total number of students who graduated within 150% of the published length of the program, divided by the number of students on the roster who started the program.

*”Graduation Rate” cannot yet be calculated for this cohort.

Results of the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) Examination

Pass rates are reported for all schools on-line on a state by state basis. Saginaw Valley State University's 2018 NBCOT board examination pass rate is now available online at https://secure.nbcot.org/data/schoolstats.aspx. The new graduate pass rate for Saginaw Valley State University's entry-level occupational therapy master's program is as follows, with an overall pass rate of 100% for 2016-2018.

 Illustration based on a 3% increase annually, however fees are subject to change