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Kraena Pre-Health
Career Library

Therapy & Rehab

Occupational Therapist (OT)

Helps people regain the ability to do the everyday activities that matter to them.

Years after high school

6–7

Degree

MOT or OTD

Entrance exam

GRE (varies by program)

Median pay

$100,330 national median for occupational therapists (BLS, May 2025).

What the job is actually like

If PT is largely about how the body moves, OT is about what the person needs to do with it — dressing, cooking, writing, returning to work, managing a classroom with a sensory disorder. You adapt tasks, environments, and tools to fit the person.

The path

  1. 014 years undergraduate with prerequisites
  2. 02Observation hours in varied OT settings
  3. 03GRE for some programs
  4. 042–3 year master's or doctoral OT program
  5. 05NBCOT certification exam

Good fit if

  • You are creative and enjoy problem-solving around real-life obstacles
  • You want to work across pediatrics, mental health, rehab, or geriatrics
  • You care about independence and quality of life more than cure

Think twice if

  • You want a clearly defined, repetitive scope — OT is broad and often needs explaining

Similar paths worth comparing

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All salary figures here are median annual wages from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 — the most recent full national dataset. 'Median' means half of workers earn more and half earn less. Three things to keep in mind: (1) pay varies enormously by state, city, setting, and experience — a nurse in California and a nurse in rural Alabama earn very different salaries; (2) training lengths are typical, not guaranteed, and programs differ; (3) these numbers change every year. Always verify current figures at bls.gov/ooh before making a decision. For context, the BLS median wage for all U.S. occupations was $50,980, while healthcare practitioner and technical occupations had a median of $86,530 — one of the reasons health care is such a stable field.