Optometry in the UK, practicing in Canada

[Uk'er]

I have sent away my application to the UK for optometry. Right now, I am a 3rd year pre-optometry student at the University of Waterloo. Anyway, I have had zero luck finding out what is required in order to practice in Canada after receiving your Doctor of Optometry in the UK. I realize Waterloo has the bridging program now, but no one has been able to tell me whether when the Canadian Board of Optomterists assess my qualifications whether I would be able to write the Ontario exam right away, go into the 1 month bridging program, or the 1 year program. Also, can anyone say whether there is an advantage to doing the 4 year program at Glasgow Caledonian over the 3 year anywhere else in the UK? If anyone has graduated from the UK and is now practicing in Canada or trying to, any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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[Scottish Chap]

I have sent away my application to the UK for optometry. Right now, I am a 3rd year pre-optometry student at the University of Waterloo. Anyway, I have had zero luck finding out what is required in order to practice in Canada after receiving your Doctor of Optometry in the UK. I realize Waterloo has the bridging program now, but no one has been able to tell me whether when the Canadian Board of Optomterists assess my qualifications whether I would be able to write the Ontario exam right away, go into the 1 month bridging program, or the 1 year program. Also, can anyone say whether there is an advantage to doing the 4 year program at Glasgow Caledonian over the 3 year anywhere else in the UK? If anyone has graduated from the UK and is now practicing in Canada or trying to, any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Be VERY careful about this one. Optometry training in the U.K. is VERY different from the U.S. or Canada. It is generally a four-year undergraduate degree, entered from high school. It's not like medical degrees (where you can call yourself doctor in any part of the world post-graduation). You may face major issues in trying to practice in North America later on where optometry is recognized at the doctoral level, unlike the U.K. In addition, as best as I can tell (grew up in U.K. and reside permanently in the U.S. now), British optometrists don't know as much or give the same depth of care; it's GREAT care--I make no bones about it--but many of the diagnostic procedures conducted in North America by an optometrist would only be administered by a physician (ophthalmologist) in the U.K. To address your question about the length of training: Scottish undergraduate degrees are four years long because they have one less year of high school compared to English students, whose bachelors degrees are generally only three years long, if earned in England.