MS in Occupational Therapy

How UIC prepares you to be the best occupational therapist you can be

UIC’s Master of Science in occupational therapy is designed for students who have a bachelor’s degree in another subject. Our curriculum prepares you for the national certification exam and practice as an OT.

Learn to integrate occupational therapy practice, theory and research using our Scholarship of Practice model. Gain skills to engage in ethical, reflective, and high quality practice. Get ready to become a leader and advocate, and learn to deliver best practice in a wide variety of settings.

We’re committed to helping you become a culturally responsive practitioner, able to meet your clients’ diverse occupational needs and achieve full participation in society, especially within underserved and urban communities. You’ll get an education that prepares you to engage in evidence-based practice to serve individuals, families, and communities across the life-span and in diverse contexts.

Stats and Facts

Briana Rigau head shot
Briana Rigau '18 Recipient of the MS Emerging Leader Award
Nomination Statement
ScreenABLE attendee standing up holding a sign that reads "I am screeable"
Empowering women with disabilities
ScreenABLE Saturday event provides free mammograms to women with disabilities
Learn more
#1
ranked occupational therapy program among public universities according to U.S. News and World Report
What to expect
Click here for a year-by-year look at the program including fieldwork, graduation and credentialing
100%
pass rate for the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy Exam within 12 months of graduation for the past 3 years
Amy Early head shot
Amy Early '18 Recipient of the MS Achivement Award
Nomination Statement
70%
of all students receive scholarships or travel awards to attend professional conferences

Your career

If you’re an analytical thinker, a “people person,” and enjoy solving problems creatively and collaboratively, you’ll find occupational therapy to be an extremely rewarding career. OTs work to maximize the function and life satisfaction of persons whose daily life performance has been, or might be, affected by a health condition, disease, disability, life stress, and other factors.  Occupational therapy consists of facilitating participation in roles and activities that are important to the patient, client, or family.

Consistently ranked as one of the top professions, occupational therapy is a growing and in-demand field. Many OTs work within hospital and clinical settings, but there’s an increasing need for OTs in non-medical settings such as:

  • School systems: Working to support students’ ability to successfully participate in their classrooms and other school environments
  • Community-based organizations that support older adults: Collaborating with older adults—and their families—to support their efforts to successfully age in place and participate in their communities
  • Home and community-based settings that serve pediatric clients: Working in natural settings to promote a child’s development and the occupational performance of children, families and communities

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017 median pay for OTs was $$83,200 per year.

Learn from the best

  • Elizabeth Walker-Peterson

    Elizabeth Peterson

    Director of Professional Education for the entry-level master’s program and recipient of numerous campus level teaching awards

  • Ashley Stoffel

    Ashley Stoffel

    Recipient of the 2018 OT Excalibur Teaching Award for providing guidance towards achievement of students’ goals and being a role model in the field

  • Heidi Fischer

    Celeste Januszewski

    Students appreciate our faculty for their mentorship and approach to learning

Understanding by doing

Our 23-month, full-time MS program features innovative teaching, student participation and teaching strategies that emphasize embedded, real-life learning. Problem-based learning courses provide you with opportunities to work in small groups with faculty facilitators to analyze case studies. These studies prepare you for the variety of settings where occupational therapists work and the range of clients who receive occupational therapy services.

Maria Larson

We're here for you

Still wondering what an MS in occupational therapy can do for you? Advising is available by email, phone or through individual appointments.

You can contact Maria Larson at:

Accreditation

The Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 4720 Montgomery Lane, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814-3449. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is (301) 652-AOTA and its Web address is acoteonline.org‌.

Program Outcomes

The following shows program outcomes for students enrolled in our Master of Science program leading to certification for the past three years. Students that complete the program typically graduate from the program in July following 23 months of full-time study. Occasionally students are delayed in completion of the program or delayed in taking the certification examination. Consequently, the number of students matriculating into the MS program in a given year may be different from the number of individuals graduating or taking the certification exam.

The total number of graduates from the University of Illinois at Chicago Master of Occupational Therapy program during the 3-year period 2015-2017 was 118, with an overall graduation rate of 97%

Refer to the tables below for important program outcomes.

 

Graduation Year Students Entering/Graduating Graduation Rate
2015 38/38
38 students in the Class of 2015 began the MS program in 2013. Each of those students graduated in 2015.		 100%
The graduation rate for the 38 students who began the MS program in 2013 was 100%
2016 38/37
38 students in the Class of 2016 began the MS program in 2014. 37 of these students graduated in 2016.  Note: One student who originally matriculated into the MS program in 2014 joined and graduated with the Class of 2017.		 97%
The graduation rate for the 38 students who began the MS program in 2014 was 97%
2017 46/43
46 students in the Class of 2017 began the MS program in 2015. 43 of those students graduated in 2017.  Note: One student who began the MS program in 2015 will be a 2018 graduate.		 94%
The graduation rate for the 46 students who began the MS program in 2015 was 94%
TOTAL 122/118 97%
Reflects overall graduation rate for the three cohorts students who entered the MS program in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Program results from the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) can be found online at secure.nbcot.org/data/schoolstats.aspx