Admissions

Candidates wishing to apply for OT should have a National Senior Certificate (NSC) with exemption. Due to the fact that the admission requirements are adjusted from time to time they are not listed here and it is advisable to consult the Faculty of Health Sciences¡¯ Selection and Curricula booklet.

Application forms may be collected from the Enrolment Centre in Senate House on the Main Campus or found on the university webpage.

We require that potential students spend a minimum of 15 hours with an Occupational Therapist. A letter from the occupational therapist you visited, on official letterhead, should accompany your application.

All candidates applying for admission are required to sit the National Benchmark Test. Bookings for the test and information on the content and format of the test can be found on www.nbt.ac.za. This test is a standard requirement for most Medical Schools in South Africa. The test dates and venues can be found on the NBT website. The test does NOT require prior studying and aims to evaluate potential student¡¯s mathematical, science and language literacy. No applicants will be considered for admission until they have completed the NBT. The results of the NBT together with the final results of the NSC form the academic rating for admission.

As there are only 60 places in the first year class the competition for admission to the occupational therapy degree is intense. Applicants who are not admitted and still wish to pursue occupational therapy as a career should contact the head of department to discuss their options to increase their chances of admission.

The ideal candidate is well-balanced, optimistic, enjoys challenges and solving problems, is patient, understanding, likes working with people and enjoys the creative and practical things in life since these are the occupational therapist's "tools of the trade".

Potential candidates need to be aware that they need to complete 1000 hours of clinical work in a wide variety of sites on the clinical training platform.  While some sites are on the Wits bus routes, others sites are not and students are required to organise their own transport, which will likely add to the cost of their studies.

The closing date for applications is 30 June of the year prior to the commencement of training. Applicants are encouraged to return their forms as early as possible so that their applications can be processed early.