Does anyone have experience with OT and/or AT? Accepted to 5 year masters at U Scranton for OT and 5 year masters in AT at Rowan and having trouble deciding.
I don’t know about salary, but I do know AT’s don’t always have great schedules. They have to be available while the team is practicing or having games, and that’s not going to be a 9 to 5 job so that’s something to keep in mind. On the other hand, if you really enjoy sports and an environment where you don’t know if you’ll be bored or busy with injuries, it might be for you. Do you like working with younger kids or not? OT would allow you to do that, but AT will most likely be highschoolers or older.
There are many potential paths for an OT – working at schools or private clinics with kids, working at hospitals or skilled nursing facilities with people of all ages recovering from injuries, strokes and so forth, and there are also mental health applications that I do not really understand. It is a very different career than athletic training, which I am guessing is a little more narrowly focused. I would strongly recommend that you learn more about both careers and see which interests you more before deciding which school to attend.
My wife’s undergrad degree was AT, and she enjoyed everything about it BUT the schedule. She earned her masters in OT. She’s worked school hours in an integrated pre-school for the last 20 years and has loved every minute of it. She has summers off.
For some reason OT’s are the nicest people. Unless all-in for ATC, OT is maybe a better long-term career.