Thank you.
We’ve got your request.
Someone from Oxford will call you soon, usually today. Until then, there’s nothing you need to do.
You've already done the hard part.
Deciding is the part people put off for years. Everything after this is smaller than it looks — a conversation, some numbers, a date on a calendar. And you won’t be doing any of it on your own.
WHY THIS WAS A GOOD CALL
Three reasons to feel good about it.
1
One diploma, two roles
One diploma qualifies you to work as both a physiotherapist assistant and an occupational therapist assistant. Twice the doors for the same 61 weeks.
2
You watch people get their lives back
Rehab is slow and then suddenly it is not. Being the person beside someone on the day they walk again is a rare thing to be paid for.
3
Placements with employers you’d want to work for
POTA students complete 400 placement hours with employers like Baycrest, St. Joseph’s, Humber River, Lifemark and Paramed — the same organizations that hire PTAs and OTAs. Career Services helps you turn placement performance into a job offer, and keeps helping after you graduate.
PTA/OTA
The shape of it, in three numbers.
LENGTH
61 weeks
CAMPUS
Toronto & Scarborough
CREDENTIAL
Diploma
Your advisor will confirm all of this against the current calendar — nothing is fixed until you say so.
WHAT IT ACTUALLY FEELS LIKE
Sixty-one weeks, from the inside.
EARLY
The first stretch is anatomy, movement and the conditions you will see — strokes, joint replacements, injuries, dementia. It is the language of rehab, and it is denser than most people expect.
MIDDLE
Then it moves into your hands. Transfers, exercise prescription, gait aids, splinting, activities of daily living — practised on each other in the lab until you can do it while talking a nervous client through it.
LATER
You go out on placement, one on the physio side and one on the OT side, and the training becomes a job. Somewhere in there it stops feeling like school, and a team starts treating you like staff.
YOU'LL BE IN GOOD COMPANY
Nobody in the room got there by accident.
If you are worried you'll be the oldest, the newest, or the only one starting over — you won't be. A typical cohort looks something like this.
PSWs and kinesiology grads
People already close to the work who want a credential that gets them onto the rehab team.
Straight out of high school
Nineteen, sure they want healthcare, and not willing to wait four years to start.
Starting over mid-career
Leaving a physical job or an office, with a family at home and a reason to finish.
WHERE IT LEADS
Two roles, a rehab team, and someone’s first steps.
Graduates work in hospitals, private physiotherapy and OT clinics, long-term care, retirement residences and community rehab programs — often moving between physio-side and OT-side work in the same week.
Your advisor can talk you through which employers hire near you, and what the first year on a rehab team usually pays.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Three easy things, and none of them hard.
1
An advisor calls you
Usually the same day, from a local Ontario number. Miss it and they'll email and try again — you won't be forgotten.
2
You talk it through
Tuition, funding, campus, and how it fits around the life you already have. Ask anything. Nothing is signed on a phone call.
3
You pick a start date
Whichever intake suits you. The decision stays yours, and the date can move if your circumstances do.
Until then: sit tight. There's nothing you need to prepare, send, or fill in.
I worked as a PSW for six years and hit a ceiling. This diploma qualified me for both roles at once — I was hired into a hospital rehab team before I’d even finished my placement.
DL
D. L.
PTA/OTA graduate
IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING
When will someone call?
Usually the same business day. Evenings and weekends roll over to the next working morning.
Am I committing to anything?
No. The call is information, not enrolment. Nothing is signed, nothing is owed, and you can stop at any point.
Should I have anything ready?
Nothing formal. Your availability and which campus is easier to reach is all your advisor needs.
Would rather not wait, or something isn't right? Call us and we'll sort it the same day.