Student Blog
Getting Involved

Advice for Incoming Occupational Therapy Students ⟩
January 21, 2021, by Savi

Classes Fieldwork Getting Involved Life Hacks

Before beginning my journey as a student in the Entry-Level Master’s program, I remember being extremely overwhelmed. I, therefore, wanted to dedicate this blog to giving incoming students some advice I wish I would’ve known. To those who will be receiving their acceptance letters soon . . . congratulations on this huge achievement! I hope you keep these pieces of advice with you throughout your time at USC.

1. A’s aren’t everything. Although it may be ingrained in you that grades are what measure your level of success, you must now focus more on the learning process instead of the grade outcome. The deciding factor for whether you will get hired over another candidate is your ability to be personable, your experience in the field, and the skills you are equipped with. You made it here, so now you can breathe and just focus on passing and learning all that you can! I speak more about this in my blog An A+ Doesn’t Define You, so be sure to visit this blog for more information.
2. Lean on your classmates. This master’s program is not a competition so do not try to make it one. Your fellow classmates are most likely struggling with the same or similar things as you, so reach out to them and be honest. You will find that developing a study group can be VERY beneficial for your mental wellbeing as well as your ability to retain information. By saying things out loud, explaining a concept to a classmate, or hearing your classmate explain a concept to you in their own words, you will find yourself memorizing everything you need or want to know without having to study alone. This is also good practice for the clinical setting as you will be required to work with a variety of colleagues who have different strengths and weaknesses than your own. You can learn how to not only work together but also uplift each other. Build that foundation of support so that studying becomes easier and your coursework has more meaning.
3. Take all the time you need to decide what organizations you want to join. Time is valuable in this program and you must make the most of it. Although it may be tempting, try not to join every single organization that you may be slightly interested in. Take your time learning about each opportunity and commit yourself to one or two. Throughout your two years, a variety of opportunities will arise for you to take advantage of. For example, becoming an ambassador was an opportunity that presented itself at the end of my first year in the master’s program. You want to give yourself enough time to fully engage in the organizations you choose to join, while also leaving time for future opportunities that may become available later on. Pick things because you are passionate about them not because they will look good on a resume. To learn more about the student organization options check out my blog What Student Organization Should I Join?
4. Get to know your professors. The faculty members in the Chan Division are unbelievable. Each professor or instructor you will have is passionate about a different topic. Learn and ask about their passions and their experience pursuing OT in their field of choice. Most of their journeys were not straightforward and many may surprise you. This is an incredible opportunity to learn from some of the most distinguished OTs in the world . . . so take advantage of it. Ask them questions both inside and outside of the classroom and build relationships with them. These professors can and will be your mentors for the rest of your life.
5. Be open to any opportunity that may come your way. During your fieldwork I clinical experiences, you will get the chance to practice OT once a week in three different settings (mental health, pediatrics, and adult rehabilitation) throughout your two years in the master’s program. You will also have the chance to choose two of these settings to focus on for 12 weeks as a full-time fieldwork II student each summer. Although one or two of these settings may not be ones that you are extremely passionate about, you must take advantage of the learning opportunities you are given by the fieldwork team. Maybe the fieldwork placement will teach you how to deal with conflict, become an independent practitioner, listen more intently, or stay organized. You may even surprise yourself and fall in love with a practice setting you never expected to enjoy! Whether or not you can see yourself as a practicing OT in this setting, make sure to walk into each placement with an open mind and your best foot forward. If you do not do so, then you will not only waste your time but also the time and resources of the clinical setting that has allowed you to come and work with their patients. Instead, use these opportunities to build relationships with the practitioners around you and harness the skills needed to be successful in your future dream job.
6. Schedule in time for revitalizing occupations. Whether these occupations are as exciting as going to the beach, hanging out with friends, or skateboarding, or as “simple” as showering and sleeping, be sure to find time for what makes you feel happy and more like yourself. You will not be able to succeed in this program unless you take care of yourself because you will quickly lose steam (take it from the girl who worked two jobs and barely slept for two semesters in a row). Your grades will begin to suffer but more importantly, your ability to retain important and valuable information, be present in class, and maintain your mental and physical health will most likely begin to deteriorate. If that means that you have to block off time in your schedule to shower, eat, go on a walk, or phone a friend to ensure that it is included in your daily routine . . . do it. You will thank me later!

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Joining a Growing Number of Latinx Occupational Therapists ⟩
January 5, 2021, by Daniel

Diversity Getting Involved

Recently the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) published the 2019 Workforce and Salary Survey. Based on 15,596 responses (most being AOTA members), in 2018 race/ethnicity of occupational therapists were as follows: 3.6% Hispanic/Latinx, 2.6% African American/Black, 6.3% Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.2% American Indian/Alaskan Native, 1.7% Multiethnic, 1.6% Preferred not to Answer, with the majority of occupational therapists remaining at 84.0% Caucasian/White. Keep in mind that these numbers are based on people who responded to the survey. The United States (U.S.) Bureau of Labor Statistics also compiled data in 2019 from employed occupational therapists that were as follows: White, 75.7%; Black or African American, 10.2%; Asian, 12.4%, and Hispanic or Latino, 10.2%.

The truth is these statistics are not where I or many people would want them to be and they make me feel fortunate to be a part of this small, but growing percentage of Latinx occupational therapists. It is also a reminder that I must continue to push the narrative. In addition to the numbers shared above, I also represent an unknown statistic of undocumented occupational therapists in the United States. The closest statistic I found while doing my research was from the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) tabulation data from the U.S. Census Bureau 2018 American Community Survey, which found that 3.6% of “therapists” in the U.S. are “foreign-born workers”. Yet, there is no true number I can refer to as this number gathers occupational therapists, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, and speech-language pathologists under the term “therapists”, and the term “foreign-born workers” can include undocumented people, undocumented people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, and a variety of visas. Furthermore, disclosing immigration status is a sensitive topic to disclose on surveys or any type of data collection.

So why is this important you may be wondering? Well, as I have disclosed in a previous financial aid video, I am currently undocumented with DACA status. My entire life has been full of firsts, first person in my family to go to college, first to go to graduate school, and the list goes on. During the process and since officially becoming a licensed OT in California, the firsts just keep coming and as we begin 2021, I foresee many more happening this year. At some point this year I will be completing my Doctorate in Occupational Therapy (OTD) degree and applying for jobs. If someone would have told me this back when I was in high school, I would have not believed it. Back then I didn’t think it was possible to even go to college, much less that one day I would be at USC working on my doctorate degree. This is why the numbers above matter because to have access to even one professional that looks like you or that may come from a similar background can make a huge difference in someone’s decision to pursue a specific program and/or career as it did for me. Furthermore, having representation in the healthcare field for clients from diverse backgrounds is vital to providing the best care possible and better understand client beliefs and values.

This year my life is going to change, and it is scary/exciting as this will be one of the biggest firsts I’ve ever had to experience. The last two years at USC, I’ve had the opportunity to have mentors in the OT profession such as Dr. Celso Delgado, Dr. Jesus Diaz, Dr. Gabby Granados, Dr. Beth Pyatak, and Dr. Arameh Anvarizadeh, to name a few, who have supported me in ways that have made it possible for an undocumented student from Van Nuys to join this group of occupational therapists working to increase representation in our profession and make our communities’ voices heard. And I also want to give a shoutout to some of my classmates, Katie Bui, Marilyn Thompson, and Janis Yue, for also doing the work to increase diversity in OT these last few years and also working on their OTD.

For 2021, I have made two commitments. The first commitment is to become even more engaged in sharing my story and be a mentor to more OT students, applicants, and those interested in this field. The second commitment is to do more community work with organizations across the country such as Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity (COTAD). These are my initial commitments I have planned this year in order to continue increasing those percentages shared earlier and help create an even more diverse, inclusive, and equitable OT profession. Change is slow but it’s up to us to make that change. If you are a potential applicant, someone interested in OT, or current student feel free to reach out to me! (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 818-571-8222). Let’s network and have these conversations!

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#NoRegrets ⟩
December 28, 2020, by Calvin

Admissions Getting Involved International Life Hacks Living in LA

Since OT school wasn’t an option for me right out of undergrad, I thought, “Well, I guess it’s time for plan B: to take a gap year.” Except, as time went by, it started to feel less like a back-up plan and more like the decision I should’ve gone with all along!

My gap year happened pretty unintentionally, but I’m honestly so glad that I took that time off. After 4 years of undergrad, I felt burnt out! A change of pace was something I needed and taking a year off to rest and try new things ended up serving me really well. It was because of my gap year that I was able to pursue research in another country, visit family and friends back in Hong Kong, travel around the world, build my professional experiences, study for the GRE, and just overall, take a break from school! Even though I wasn’t on vacation 24/7, my schedule definitely allowed for a lot more flexibility. I also want to emphasize that taking time off before heading to graduate school is completely normal. I might even suggest it because it gave me the time to reflect, mature, and refocus my goals.

I know what it’s like to feel the pressure of securing something for yourself after undergrad. I also know what it’s like when that doesn’t work out. Not knowing what’s going to happen next is a scary thing, but it’s also an opportunity to challenge ourselves and grow in ways that we might not have imagined before. So, do what you need to do before starting grad school, and know that you don’t need to jump into it right away. Take the time to think about what’s best for you and your future.

My Gap Year Memories in Photos

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Working with the Community ⟩
December 21, 2020, by Liz

Diversity Getting Involved

In one of my previous blog posts I shared a little bit about the community program that my colleague, and one of my dearest friends, Stephanie and I are leading together. The program is called Vivir Con Diabetes, and was initially developed by another occupational therapy student, David, as a part of the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. In efforts of continuing the program, he mentored our very own Daniel Padilla, who then continued running the sessions the following year in collaboration with his colleague, Ceci. As you may all know, Daniel is now an OTD student and taking on other things as he works towards becoming Dr. Padilla. His colleague Ceci is also working on obtaining her OTD and is busy as she completes her residency at CHLA’s UCEDD. So now this year, Stephanie and I are running the program’s sessions.

To give you all more background, Vivir Con Diabetes is a program designed to support the Spanish-speaking community of Boyle Heights as they strive to make lifestyle changes in order to improve their diabetes management. Our goal is to implement culturally sensitive interventions as we support them in achieving their goal of better managing their diabetes. Our program site is the LAC+USC Wellness Center, which our participants are very familiar with because they utilize some of their other resources. I get a lot of questions from prospective students like “What kind of work do you get to do directly with the community?” “What are other ways to stay involved besides student organizations on campus?” “What kind of work do you directly get to do with the Latinx community?” Well, this is one of those ways in which I stay connected with my community all while using an OT lens.

Normally these sessions are held in person, but given the current situation we have been hosting them online. There are three sessions that take place Saturday mornings and are each 45 minutes long. It sounds like a long morning, but they really fly by! As we were discussing what we would be covering during the sessions and how they would be structured we had a few things to think about: would everyone that was interested in joining our classes have access to the internet? A computer? A cell phone? We really got to think about how much of an impact COVID-19 has had on our community, especially those who would come in-person to the Wellness Center with the goal of learning more about how to be more directly involved in their own health and care. Most of our participants tune in using their cell phones. Because Stephanie and I log in using our laptops, we had to learn a little more about how to instruct and guide our participants to unmute/turn their cameras on/off on their phones.

Stephanie and I touch on different topics every week and make sure that we relate them back to our participants’ diabetes management. We talk about things like:

• Sleep hygiene
• Chronic pain
• Stress management
• Physical activity — two weeks ago we did Zumba for 20 minutes, which was a hit!
• Communicating with one’s provider
• Mental health

These are just a few of the topics we cover, and as I mentioned before we always tie the topic back to diabetes management. For example, how does the stress created by family members and your provider affect your ability to manage your diabetes? How does the pressure of keeping your A1c levels low affect how you feel about yourself? How does it affect your relationships? Because our participants are Spanish-speaking and there’s already a low number of Latinx providers that they can relate to, our participants really love to share and talk to a group of people that understands — people that they can relate to.

I should mention that Stephanie and I aren’t just creating these lessons off the top of our heads! We get feedback from Dr. Diaz on our session outlines every week before introducing any content to our participants. Which brings me to my next point — mentorship. Aside from being able to work with the community, participating in this program has provided me with some great mentorship from Dr. Diaz. He continuously supports Stephanie and I by meeting with us on a weekly basis to go over our session outlines, any challenges we faced at our sessions, and also shares a ton of resources with us!

All in all it’s been such a great experience to be a part of this program. It’s something that I wish would have been available to help my grandmother with her diabetes management, and something that I think really makes a huge difference for our community in general. Speaking from my grandmother’s experience, she didn’t quite understand what it meant to have diabetes, didn’t know that there were so many lifestyle changes that could have helped her manage it, and also didn’t really feel comfortable asking her provider questions because she didn’t speak English. So, I am really passionate about supporting my community in any way possible.

I hope this was helpful for learning more about other ways in which you can stay involved and make a difference in the community. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about the program or about the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship! I would be happy to walk you through that application if you’re interested in applying for the following year. Fight on and happy holidays!

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Overcoming Rejection and Feelings of Inadequecy ⟩
December 9, 2020, by Savi

Classes Getting Involved Life Hacks

As my last semester of classes has come to an end, I had anticipated feeling relieved. I now sit here, having passed all of the courses I need to graduate from this Master’s program, feeling immensely overwhelmed and discouraged. Up until this moment, everything had been mapped out for me. Each class that I would take and when I would take them were pre-determined. I knew that I just had to work hard and do my best in order to be successful academically.

I am currently studying for the COMPS (comprehensive exam) that I will be taking on December 15th with the rest of my graduating class and I am worrying about my future. This future is not pre-determined and it is scary, especially amidst a global pandemic. It is up to me to pave the way.

During this hectic time, I have also decided to pursue my OTD. After going through the interview process for the USC Chan Division residencies and being informed that I did not receive one, I felt extremely discouraged. I took this rejection as an indication that I was not good enough to get the opportunities I had been aiming for. I became anxious over the fact that I would have to find my own residency, especially because I was worried that my lack of experience in my field of choice would prevent me not only from getting a residency but also a fieldwork II experience.

This stress and feeling of inadequacy was something that was difficult to overcome. After sitting back and reflecting, I came to realize that I was letting one rejection skew my view of my self-worth and capabilities . . . just one rejection held that much power over me!

It wasn’t until I realized that if I didn’t believe in myself then who would!? I decided that if I didn’t try my best to go after the positions and experiences I feel like I deserve and want then I would regret it tremendously. I couldn’t let one rejection deplete my confidence and I knew that even if there were more rejections to come I would learn from them and keep moving forward.

I spent the coming weeks being polite and persistent. I began communicating with people who could help me develop the residency position of my dreams. Putting all the pieces together was tricky, and it took a lot of persistence to progress things further. Advocating for myself and my worth was key in progressing things forward, as well as acknowledging the work and effort the people communicating with me were putting in. 

Your future is what you make of it. Be persistent, confident, understanding, and kind. Know that the person you are talking to will never know the mark you can make if you don’t advocate for yourself and your worth. Don’t let rejection take a toll on you. Sometimes putting in the extra work to make things happen really pays off! Advocate for yourself and believe in yourself because no one can do it better than you.

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