It's Official!

The Great Eight is now the Great Seven. I finished my Abnormal Psych class last Friday and my grade posted this morning! I got an A in Abnormal Psych!! Woot woot! I enjoyed the class a lot and was glad to take it with a nice small group during the summer. So, as I promised, here is the newly revised Great Eight list:

1. Medical Terminology. Thankfully, there are no prerequisites for this class. And it's offered on-line! ENROLLED FALL 2011 (on-line class).
   
2. Abnormal Psychology. COMPLETED SUMMER 2011. GRADE: A!!
   
3. Lifespan. This class is about human development from birth to death. ENROLLED FALL 2011.
4. Social Science Statistics. This class is about understanding the math used in scientific research studies so you can tell if a study is bogus or believable. Could come in very handy. If I take this class at BCU, Intro to Psych is the only prerequisite.
   

Those are the four non-science courses. The other four courses are considered the "science core."

1. Human Anatomy with Lab. At last, my chance to cut up dead people! And don't forget the opportunity to smell like formaldehyde. I must have a 200-level biology class with lab before I can take this class. I think I read somewhere that one should take anatomy before one takes physiology.
2. Physiology with Lab. No cutting up dead people here. I'm not sure about the smelling like formaldehyde part. The 200-level bio class is also required as a prereq for this class.
3. Pathology. This class is all about disease and things that can go wrong in body and mind. You can't take this class until you've taken physiology. (Which sorta makes sense, since you should have an understanding of how things function normally before you can really appreciate what constitutes abnormal/pathological function.)
4. Neuroscience with Lab. This class should be called Zombie Class, because it's all about braaaaaiiiins. Specifically, it's about the structure and function of the central and peripheral nervous system, which of course includes the braaaaiiiin.

One down, seven to go!!

The Waiting Game

Sorry I haven't been posting, but in all honesty, not much is happening. My first day of class continues to draw closer. I think I've finished The Out-of-Sync Child (guess I could do some posts about that), and I continue to read my Abnormal Psych textbook. I've been skipping around a lot rather than reading it straight through, but it is actually a very enjoyable read. I really like how they use news events to further discussion of a certain point. For example, in the chapter about models of abnormality, they took the Binti Jua case and noted how clinical theorists interpreted her actions differently depending on their preferred theory. Well played, Psych book, well played.

Spending Spree

Well, it finally happened. I signed up to take a class this summer. I am going to start scaling Prerequisite Mountain. Abnormal Psychology will be the first one to get marked "done" on the prereq list. Whoo-hoo!

Of course, mountain climbing ain't free. Yesterday, I paid a whopping tuition bill. It was a four-digit bill for one three-credit class. Each minute that I spend in the classroom is costing me fifty-one cents.

Fifty-one cents a minute, people. I'm not making that up. It's enough to make you cry in your beer.

On a less depressing note, I realized that as a newly enrolled student, I need supplies! Here are the results of my insane shopping spree:

First, I got a really cute backpack at TJ Maxx. I also got The Out-of-Synch Child because it was recommended to me (more on that in another post), and I got The Sensory-Sensitive Child because the author of The Out-of-Synch Child recommended it. And even though I won't be taking Anatomy until at least next spring, it's never too early to start learning the material. A coloring book is nice and interactive. Here's a sample page. The little round bubbles next to each description are for you to mark the color that you're using to color in the corresponding muscle in the diagram.

The little cylindrical tin you see in the first picture contains these:


I can't wait to start using them on the diagrams in my Anatomy book. I have never been so excited about a set of colored pencils in all my life!

The Great Eight

I started talking about prerequisites a few posts back. These are the classes that I have to take before I can apply to the MOT program. There are eight of them--the Great Eight, as they shall be known henceforth. Why don't I introduce them to you?

1. Medical Terminology. Thankfully, there are no prerequisites for this class. And it's offered on-line!
2. Abnormal Psychology. In a word, everything that can go wrong upstairs. The only prerequisite for this class is Intro to Psych, which I had my first time around as an undergrad.
3. Lifespan. This class is about human development from birth to death. Basically, it's all about milestones and then decline. It also has Intro to Psych as its only prerequisite.
4. Social Science Statistics. This class is about understanding the math used in scientific research studies so you can tell if a study is bogus or believable. Could come in very handy. If I take this class at BCU, Intro to Psych is the only prerequisite.
   

Those are the four non-science courses. Because they require very little in the way of prerequisites, I will probably have all four of these done by next summer. The other four courses are considered the "science core." The grades I get in these classes count double (translation: you better not get less than an A in any of them!) for my GPA for admissions purposes, so it is massively important not to screw them up.

1. Human Anatomy with Lab. At last, my chance to cut up dead people! And don't forget the opportunity to smell like formaldehyde. I must have a 200-level biology class with lab before I can take this class. I think I read somewhere that one should take anatomy before one takes physiology.
2. Physiology with Lab. No cutting up dead people here. I'm not sure about the smelling like formaldehyde part. The 200-level bio class is also required as a prereq for this class.
3. Pathology. This class is all about disease and things that can go wrong in body and mind. You can't take this class until you've taken physiology. (Which sorta makes sense, since you should have an understanding of how things function normally before you can really appreciate what constitutes abnormal/pathological function.)
4. Neuroscience with Lab. This class should be called Zombie Class, because it's all about braaaaaiiiins. Specifically, it's about the structure and function of the central and peripheral nervous system, which of course includes the braaaaiiiin.

So, there you have it: the Great Eight, the eight courses that will set the stage for being allowed to enter the hallowed ground of the MOT program at BCU. I will periodically revisit this list to "cross off" the courses as I complete them and note the grade I get for each course (hopefully an A!).

The Maddening World of Prereqs

One of the first things I did after deciding to pursue OT was look at the national professional association's website. In the United States, occupational therapists are represented by a 40,000-member group called the American Occupational Therapy Association, or AOTA for short. The website has some good information under the "Students"/Prospective Students tab, including a list of schools offering degrees in OT in the United States.

There is a university about an hour away from where I live that offers a master's in occupational therapy (MOT, although I've also seen it abbreviated as MSOT). I'll call this university BCU, or Big City University. Unfortunately, a college that is very close by, an easy commute, does NOT offer an MOT. I'll call them Local College (LC).

In 2007, the entry-level degree for occupational therapy changed from a bachelor's to a master's degree. So a master's degree is the minimum qualification needed to work as an OT. Most schools do not have a formal pre-OT bachelor's track. People can get a bachelor's in whatever they like and then apply to OT school. However, to ensure a candidate has at least the basic knowledge necessary to do well in a master's program, MOT programs require people to have completed certain undergraduate courses before applying. These courses are commonly known as prerequisites.

Are you with me so far? Good. 'Cause here's where it starts to get a little flaky. Each school requires its own unique set of prerequisite classes. So the set of courses you take to apply to School A may not work at all for School B. There is no standardized set of prerequisites (prereqs). THIS IS ANNOYING.

Now, to really mess things up, these prerequisites are often upper-division (junior/senior) classes. You can't just waltz in off the street and say "Hey, sign me up for Abnormal Psychology. It's one of my prereqs." You can't take Abnormal Psychology until you've taken Intro to Psychology. I suppose that's understandable if you're 18 and don't know diddily about anything, but let's get real--are you really going to fail Abnormal if you haven't had Intro?

Tune in next time for more on prereqs, prereq-prereqs, and other tidbits of insanity!