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Major · Health Professions

An undergraduate ramp into occupational therapy — not the license itself

Occupational Therapy at the bachelor’s level prepares students to apply for an MS-OT or OTD, the graduate degrees ACOTE accredits and NBCOT certifies. The 501 completions across 44 colleges in this packet sit upstream of clinical practice — the licensed OT role earns a $98,340 median wage but requires a master’s or doctoral credential plus state license.

Schools offering
44
Annual completions
501
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$56k

About this major

Occupational Therapy as a major prepares students to help patients limited by physical, cognitive, psychosocial, developmental, or learning disabilities maximize their independence in daily life. Coursework grounds students in anatomy and physiology, psychology, sociology, kinesiology, patient assessment, standardized testing, assistive and rehabilitative technology, ergonomics, and clinical ethics. Students typically log observation hours in pediatric clinics, hand-therapy practices, hospitals, schools, and skilled nursing facilities to build the experience required for graduate OT applications.

The major fits students drawn to a hands-on clinical role focused on function and adaptation rather than acute medical care. Useful preparation includes strong biology and psychology fluency, comfort with neurodivergent and disabled populations, patience for slow rehabilitation arcs, and creativity in adapting environments — splinting a stroke patient’s hand, redesigning a child’s classroom workstation, or coaching an older adult through post-hip-replacement dressing routines. The work rewards observational rigor and a tolerance for documentation.

The scale tells you what to expect. Roughly 501 students complete this major nationally each year across 44 colleges, almost entirely at the bachelor’s level. The tracked Occupational Therapists role reports a $98,340 median wage and 13.8% projected growth driven by an aging population and expanding pediatric and mental-health caseloads. That wage applies after the MS-OT or OTD and NBCOT certification — not at the bachelor’s exit.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Health specialties teachers, postsecondary $106k +17.3% Doctoral or professional degree
Occupational therapists $98k +13.8% Master's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$56k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$46k

Bachelor's

$58k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you already know you’re committed to graduate school and the 6 to 7 years of training that licensed OT practice requires, if hands-on rehabilitation work — hand therapy, pediatric sensory integration, school-based OT, or post-stroke functional retraining — pulls you more than diagnostic medicine, if you’re comfortable with the realistic OTD debt-to-income ratio (roughly $130-180K in graduate debt against the $98,340 OT median), and if observation hours, clinical fieldwork, and standardized-test heavy admissions don’t deter you.

Think twice if you’re assuming the bachelor’s alone qualifies you to practice — it has not since 2007, and graduate school is the gate to NBCOT certification rather than an optional add-on. Reconsider if your real interest is direct clinical work without 6+ years of post-secondary training, because the OTA path (CIP 51.0803) reaches a $67,000 median COTA wage through a 2-year AAS with far less debt. Also reconsider if the OTD’s debt-to-income ratio doesn’t pencil out for you, since the $56,383 five-year bachelor’s median reflects pre-graduate roles and the licensed wage only arrives after the master’s or doctorate.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Occupational Therapy/Therapist

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Eastern Kentucky University Richmond, KY 0 61 61
University of New Hampshire-Main Campus Durham, NH 0 50 50
Long Island University Brookville, NY 0 47 47
Saint Louis University Saint Louis, MO 0 41 41
Keuka College Keuka Park, NY 0 26 26
Springfield College Springfield, MA 0 25 25
Ithaca College Ithaca, NY 0 24 24
D'Youville University Buffalo, NY 0 23 23
Worcester State University Worcester, MA 0 23 23
Saint Francis University Loretto, PA 0 23 23
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Respiratory Care Therapy/Therapist

6,344 completions/yr

Occupational Therapist Assistant

3,140 completions/yr

Rehabilitation Science

843 completions/yr

Therapeutic Recreation/Recreational Therapy

628 completions/yr

Music Therapy/Therapist

451 completions/yr

Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions, Other

374 completions/yr

Physical Therapy/Therapist

255 completions/yr

Art Therapy/Therapist

195 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Occupational Therapy/Therapist field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Occupational Therapy/Therapist worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

Can I work as an Occupational Therapist with just a bachelor’s degree?
No. Bachelor’s-level entry to OT licensure was phased out in 2007 by ACOTE, the accreditor for OT education. To sit for the NBCOT exam and earn the OTR credential required for state licensure, you need an ACOTE-accredited master’s (MS-OT) or doctoral (OTD) degree. The 501 bachelor’s and associate’s completions in this packet represent pre-professional students preparing to apply to graduate OT programs — not graduates eligible to practice.
If the bachelor’s doesn’t lead to licensure, what does it actually lead to?
It functions as a pre-OT undergraduate ramp. The direct next step is a 2- to 3-year MS-OT or a 3-year OTD, both of which lead to the NBCOT exam and state licensure. Students who decide OT isn’t the right fit commonly pivot toward Occupational Therapy Assistant (CIP 51.0803, an AAS-credentialed COTA path), Physical Therapy (DPT), Speech-Language Pathology, or graduate Rehabilitation Science (CIP 51.2314). Some take healthcare aide or rehab tech roles while applying to graduate school.
What do the BLS earnings figures actually mean for this major?
The tracked Occupational Therapists role reports a $98,340 median wage and 13.8% projected growth, but BLS lists its typical entry-level education as a master’s degree. The five-year median earnings for this major’s undergraduate completers is about $56,383 — a figure that mostly reflects students still in graduate school, working as rehab aides, behavioral health technicians, COTA-equivalents, or in healthcare-adjacent administrative roles. The licensed OT wage shows up in earnings data only after the MS-OT or OTD plus NBCOT certification.
How does this compare to becoming an Occupational Therapy Assistant?
The OTA path (CIP 51.0803) is a separate, shorter route — typically a 2-year AAS at a community or technical college, followed by the NBCOT COTA exam and state licensure. COTAs work alongside OTs in clinics, schools, and SNFs, with a roughly $67,000 median wage and 12% growth. The trade-off is real: COTAs work under OT supervision and earn meaningfully less, but they avoid the 6 to 7 years and graduate-debt load required to become a licensed OTR. The 3,140 completions in 51.0803 dwarf the 501 here, which reflects how many students choose the AAS path directly.
Which schools dominate this major, and what does that tell me?
Eastern Kentucky (61), University of New Hampshire (50), Long Island University (47), Saint Louis University (41), and Keuka College (26) lead the bachelor’s completers. Several of these — Saint Louis, LIU, EKU, and others — operate or partner with their own ACOTE-accredited MS-OT or OTD programs, which makes the 4+2 or 3+3 pipeline explicit at the undergraduate stage. Verify at any specific school whether the bachelor’s is structured as a pre-OT ramp with a guaranteed graduate seat, an open-application pre-professional track, or a general health-sciences degree that requires reapplying to MS-OT programs nationwide.
What if I finish the bachelor’s but don’t go to graduate school?
You won’t be eligible to sit for the NBCOT OTR exam, so practicing as an Occupational Therapist is off the table. Realistic landing spots include rehab aide, behavioral health technician, ABA therapist (with extra certification), early-intervention assistant, school-based paraprofessional, or healthcare administrative roles. Pay in those roles typically falls below the $46,466 associate’s-level five-year median and well below the $98,340 licensed OT wage. Some graduates pivot back into the COTA path by enrolling in a 2-year AAS-OTA program, which is a faster route to licensed clinical work than MS-OT.