Admissions committees in occupational therapy: A case study of decision-making

This study was designed to examine the decisions and values of faculty members in selecting a class for an entry-level master's degree in occupational therapy in one university. A case study design was used to describe and analyze the reflections of a faculty faced with an applicant pool larger than the number of spaces in the class.; The first gate in the pipeline under the control of a profession is admission to its academic programs. This dissertation research examines this first gate, the practices and normative values of an admissions committee in deciding who should become an occupational therapist.; The central research questions in my study are: (a) how do individuals form their decisions in selecting students for admission to a health profession? and (b) how do group dynamics inherent in the admissions committee influence the individual group members? The importance assigned to diversity characteristics (gender, race and disability status) in selecting a class also was examined.; The data collection procedures included prolonged observation of faculty participants, interviews of staff participating in the admissions process, audiotapes of admissions committee meetings and written records documenting reasons for faculty decisions.; The results of the study were: (a) pressures external to the committee were introduced into the deliberations on applicants; (b) members followed majority rule norms rather than consensus; (c) the non-cognitive measures were valued highly and (d) members of the committee engaged in satisficing rather than optimizing to manage its work.; Another result of this study shows that a heterogeneous class composition had great value for this program but diversity by race, gender and disability status was not a priority for the decision-makers. One conclusion of this study is that admissions committees make judgments that reflect both the values of the profession and the values of the program faculty in its criteria.{09}Gatekeepers need to share and to articulate explicitly these values. This would enhance the decision making of a committee by acknowledging the influence of values, a critical component of group dynamics.