Careers › Health

How to become a Occupational Therapist

Helps people do the everyday activities that matter to them again.

Apply early

Selection programmes like this often close months before the standard application deadline, and marks alone don’t guarantee a place. See the Dates page for the exact closing dates.

What does a Occupational Therapist actually do?

More about this career

Helps people regain the skills for everyday life – dressing, working, going to school – after injury, illness or disability, which is a different focus from physiotherapy’s emphasis on movement itself. OTs work in hospitals, schools, mental health settings, and increasingly in disability and community-based rehabilitation.

Where this degree can take you

  • Paediatric OT
  • Mental Health OT
  • Hand Therapist
  • Community Rehabilitation Worker

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy
  • Life Sciences

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the programmes we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 8 of 8 programmes
  • Life Sciences – asked for by 7 of 8 programmes
  • Physical Sciences – asked for by 6 of 8 programmes
  • Mathematical Literacy – asked for by 2 of 8 programmes

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each programme links to the page it came from.

Programmes that lead here

8 programmes at 8 universities. More are added as we verify them.

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

School of Health Care Sciences

SMU APS 25

  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 3 (40% or more)
  • Two more subjects – Two further subjects at level 3 or better.

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against SMU’s own admission-requirements page for this school (points and subject minimums match). Closes 31 July 2026 for undergraduate programmes (applications open 1 April 2026) - notably earlier than most universities in this batch.

Source: View the official page (smu.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Stellenbosch University

Selection programme

B Occupational Therapy

Medicine & Health Sciences · 4 years

Stellenbosch aggregate 60 %

  • Mathematics: 50%
  • Life Sciences: 50%

Every Stellenbosch programme is a selection programme. The figures shown are the published minimum requirements - the actual selection threshold is usually higher. About 50 students are selected.

Source: View the official page (files.su.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Cape Town

Selection programme

BSc Occupational Therapy

Health Sciences · 4 years

UCT Faculty Points Score 340 out of 600

  • Mathematics: 60% OR Mathematical Literacy: 70%
  • Physical Sciences: 65% OR Life Sciences: 65%
  • English: 65% if it is your Home Language, 65% if it is your First Additional Language
  • Next 3 subjects: 60%
  • NBT – NBTs are compulsory and must be at Intermediate level or above.

The 340 shown is the APS sub-minimum (out of 600). Selection: Band A FPS 730, Band B WPS 782, Band C 565 / 580 / 670. About 70 places.

Source: View the official page (uct.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older document

Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

Health Sciences · 4 years

UKZN APS 30 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 3 (40% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 3 (40% or more) OR Physical Sciences: level 3 (40% or more)

Read 2026-10-04 from the table in the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure (CAO code KN-W-BOT); published APS range 48-30. First to third choice only. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of Pretoria

Selection programme

BOT (Occupational Therapy)

Health Sciences · 4 years

UP APS 30 points

  • English: level 4 if it is your Home Language, level 4 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)

A selection programme. Most UP closing dates are 30 June; Veterinary Science closes 31 May. Grade 12 applicants apply with their final Grade 11 results.

Source: View the official page (drupalwebprod-files.up.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Free State

Selection programme

Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

Health Sciences

UFS AP score 33 points out of 49

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 5 (60% or more)

RAW-CONFIRMED against the 2027 Undergraduate Prospectus, replacing a 2025 rule book found via web search - Mathematics and Physical Sciences at level 4 (50%) matched exactly; English and Life Sciences are both level 5 (60%), not previously shown. Selection-form closing date is 31 May, earlier than UFS’s general closing date.

Source: View the official page (ufs.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of the Western Cape

BSc Occupational Therapy

Community & Health Sciences

UWC weighted points 33 points out of 65

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Another language – Another language (Home or First Additional) at level 3.
  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 3 (40% or more) OR Mathematical Literacy: level 5 (60% or more)

Raw-read 2026-10-04 from UWC’s own 2026 programme rules (the "Program Overview" PDF on the programme page, Calendar 2026). UWC points are its own weighted score (see the calculator note).

Source: View the official page (uwc.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of the Witwatersrand

No cut-off published

Bachelor of Occupational Therapy

Health Sciences · 4 years

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: level 4 if it is your Home Language, level 4 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more) OR Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Job shadowing – A job shadowing certificate of attendance (minimum 16 hours) is required.

CONFIRMED 2026-10-02 by a direct fetch of the live course-finder page (both figures and the Life Sciences AND/OR Physical Sciences alternative, previously shown as Physical Sciences only): Wits Health Sciences uses a Composite Index (75% school average across 5 subjects, 25% NBT), not APS, and does not publish the cut-off scores - the NBT must be written in person by 17 August.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every programme above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?