Am I competitive for optometry school?

[AustinPeayprez]

Hello, I am a senior double major in chemistry and biology at Austin Peay State University and I currently have a cumulative 4.0 GPA. I am the student body president, I'm in a fraternity, in every honor's society at APSU, am director of the peer mentor program and much more. Also I have about 15 hours of job shadowing a few optometrists.

I use to be Pre-Med because I was really fascinated with the eyes and aspired to be an opthamologist and it wasn't until an optometrist came and spoke at our university that my mind changed. I realized optometry is what I ultimately want to pursue and this summer I have been trying to get ready to apply.I really want to go to University of California at Berkeley, University of Houston, Ohio State, or Illinois College of Optometry. I am taking my OAT in 3 weeks and when I took a practice test, all of my subscores were between 330-400. What are my chances?

Thank you! I'm a Caucasian male if that helps any.

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[Jonbrout]

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[Shnurek]

You do realize that you'd probably never do any complicated surgeries in your career? Sure now it seems that optometry is a good choice but what happens 10, 20, 30 years down the road? Will it be enough for you? If those are really your stats I'd strongly recommend that you shadow many optometrists and medical doctors of all types and spend many hours researching because you are basically determining your life here.

There was a survey that 30% of optometrists would do surgery if they would have to do a 2 year residency. Right now this is not possible so it is a gamble with your future.

 

[mintyjulep]

Hello, I am a senior double major in chemistry and biology at Austin Peay State University and I currently have a cumulative 4.0 GPA. I am the student body president, I'm in a fraternity, in every honor's society at APSU, am director of the peer mentor program and much more. Also I have about 15 hours of job shadowing a few optometrists.

I use to be Pre-Med because I was really fascinated with the eyes and aspired to be an opthamologist and it wasn't until an optometrist came and spoke at our university that my mind changed. I realized optometry is what I ulimately want to pursue and this summer I have been trying to get ready to apply.I really want to go to University of California at Berkley, University of Houston, Ohio State, or Illinois College of Optometry. I am taking my OAT in 3 weeks and when I took a practice test, all of my subscores were between 330-400. What are my chances?

Thank you! I'm a Caucasion male if that helps any.

First things first. On all applications, make sure you double check your spellings of:

-ophthalmologist
-UC Berkeley
-Caucasian

The admissions committees will , too.

 

[Bioflare]

Hello, I am a senior double major in chemistry and biology at Austin Peay State University and I currently have a cumulative 4.0 GPA. I am the student body president, I'm in a fraternity, in every honor's society at APSU, am director of the peer mentor program and much more. Also I have about 15 hours of job shadowing a few optometrists.

I use to be Pre-Med because I was really fascinated with the eyes and aspired to be an opthamologist and it wasn't until an optometrist came and spoke at our university that my mind changed. I realized optometry is what I ulimately want to pursue and this summer I have been trying to get ready to apply.I really want to go to University of California at Berkley, University of Houston, Ohio State, or Illinois College of Optometry. I am taking my OAT in 3 weeks and when I took a practice test, all of my subscores were between 330-400. What are my chances?

Thank you! I'm a Caucasion male if that helps any.

You trolling? Just in case I'll explain myself, anyone who has done a little research at least into the statistics for the entering class would know they are already on top with a 4.0 GPA. If you are scoring that, even if you score an average 310 OAT you would still be highly competitive as scholarships/awards from schools are still based on entering GPA and not proficiency on the OAT.

You should have no trouble getting into any of the Optometry Colleges with that GPA. That being said you should still rethink the path to become an ophthalmologist. If you have your mind on doing anything close to surgery Optometry isn't the field to do so... not yet at least.

Anyways GL you won't need it with your stats

 

[AustinPeayprez]

First things first. On all applications, make sure you double check your spellings of:

-ophthalmologist
-UC Berkeley
-Caucasian

The admissions committees will , too.

Thanks for the concern. I actually wrote this post three different times because my computer kept timing out; hence, the simple mistakes. However, I will point out that ophthalmology contains the "l" and ophthamologist can either be spelled with the "l" or without the "l", the others were just simple mistakes.

 

[AustinPeayprez]

You do realize that you'd probably never do any complicated surgeries in your career? Sure now it seems that optometry is a good choice but what happens 10, 20, 30 years down the road? Will it be enough for you? If those are really your stats I'd strongly recommend that you shadow many optometrists and medical doctors of all types and spend many hours researching because you are basically determining your life here.

There was a survey that 30% of optometrists would do surgery if they would have to do a 2 year residency. Right now this is not possible so it is a gamble with your future.

Thanks for the advice! I am interning for a dermatologist and gastroenterologist next month and at the clinic I am currently job shadowing, I have been following around the ophthamologist as well during various surgeries. I like optometry for many reasons, one is the flexibility of their schedules, the copious interaction with patients, the availability to participate in missions, etc.

 

[nicmc]

You are most definitely competitive! Good luck in making the final decision. I am sure you will also have several scholarship offers. On a side note- if you decide to pursue Optometry, be prepared to answer why you chose optometry over medicine in an interview with a school. My profile was just like yours, and I got asked that question in the open-file section in every interview I attended. Best of luck!

 

[mintyjulep]

Thanks for the concern. I actually wrote this post three different times because my computer kept timing out; hence, the simple mistakes. However, I will point out that ophthalmology contains the "l" and ophthamologist can either be spelled with the "l" or without the "l", the others were just simple mistakes.

Since when? Where did you come up with that information?

It's "ophthalmologist/ophthalmology," two Ls, period. Go into the Optometry forum and asks the ophthalmologists in there (Visionary, thiaeyemed). Even people in optometry will ream you for misspelling that.

 

[DrSpontaneouz83]

It always astounds me to see people with the stats: I have a 5.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale, 400 OAT, I won the nobel peace prize, and founded my own hospital. Do I have a chance in optometry school? lol..Come on.....

 

[Commando303]

It always astounds me to see people with the stats: I have a 5.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale, 400 OAT, I won the nobel peace prize, and founded my own hospital. Do I have a chance in optometry school? lol..Come on.....

I simply assume the original poster is pulling a leg with the thread. I'm surprised so many people have replied.

 

[itek2OD]

Seriously?

 

[AustinPeayprez]

Actually, I was being serious. I have always wanted to live in California and love the city of Berkeley, but also realize it seems to be one of the most difficult to get into. My fear is that my minimal hours of job shadowing (10-15 hours) will not suffice when applying to the University of California at Berkeley, since they have that program for their pre-optometry students to get hands on experience.

 

[Shnurek]

Just a heads up: Ironically, California is one of the worst places to practice as an OD.

 

[Mobileyes]

Really? Why is that? And how would you rate states in terms of best/worst places to practice? I'm genuinely interested! I'm from CA, and hoping to get into schools outside of the state.

 

[Shnurek]

Well most of this is anecdotal and came about from my own conclusions and from talking with other OD's but here are the objective facts first:

-California: There are three optometry schools in this state so that entails an over-saturation of OD's post graduation.

-New York + Florida: OD's cannot prescribe oral medications.

-Massachusetts: (worst state to practice medically) OD's can't rx orals and can't treat glaucoma even.

Subjective:
Most doctors of all types gravitate towards cities/regions that are desirable to live in. This includes ophthalmologists (OMD's). In states that have a lot of OMD's the state legislation is more cordial to them and they limit OD's scope of practice and business practices.

So in California, with an oversupply of both OD's and OMD's there is quite a bunch of conflict. This is not even mentioning the high taxes in California.

Basically in my opinion, optometry is a profession best practiced in less populated states that are not as desirable to live in (if you enjoy big cities). This fits in with the legislative victories in Oklahoma and Kentucky where OD's now have a lot more autonomy.

 

[Mobileyes]

Oh, I see. I knew about the over-saturation, it's one of the reasons I decided to apply elsewhere. I thought you meant medically, as in, ODs aren't allowed to do/prescribe/treat etc.

 

[Shnurek]

That too, because the OMD's take most of the medical patients. Also there were conflicts about the treating of glaucoma by optometrists. There was a law that stated they had to observe an OMD treating it for a certain amount of months before they could get a certification that they can do it by themselves. AKA more BS just to keep OD's from doing what they are trained to do because they "steal OMD patients". I'm sure some Cali OD's can tell you more but this is just random stuff I've picked up.

Its good to know the bad stuff too

 

[bobbio]

Yes, you're a competitive candidate. If you do well on the OAT then you'll get in for sure. But as others have already mentioned, if you have a hint of interest of going to medical school I would look into those fields a little more before diving head first into optometry. I see a lot of people go into optometry because it's medically related but then become disappointed because they realize they'll be performing refractions a majority of their time instead of various procedures.

 

[AustinPeayprez]

I took my OAT and this is what I got.

Bio-320
RC-370
Quant-330
Gen Chem-350
Org. Chem-360
Phys-300
TS-330
AA-340

Should I retake it due to my low Physics score?

 

[KHE]

I took my OAT and this is what I got.

Bio-320
RC-370
Quant-330
Gen Chem-350
Org. Chem-360
Phys-300
TS-330
AA-340

Should I retake it due to my low Physics score?

I would apply with that. Those are good scores.