Suny, how hard to get there?

[Faefly]

Hi everyone. I have some questions.

How hard is to get into Suny?
What is the average Oat scores and GPA to get there?
How many shadowing & volunteering hours are preferable?
What kind of LORs do they require?
Is applying in October considered late?
What is the deal with job experience, is that really necessary?

Thanks for the help.

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[evorage]

http://sunyopt.edu/pdfs/admissions/SunyAdmissions.pdf

 

[Faefly]

http://sunyopt.edu/pdfs/admissions/SunyAdmissions.pdf

Thank your for your reply, this link and their website, don't mention how many hours of shadowing or volunteering they want
Does that mean they don't consider it a priority?

 

[pentaholic94]

Thank your for your reply, this link and their website, don't mention how many hours of shadowing or volunteering they want
Does that mean they don't consider it a priority?

There isn't a required number of shadowing hours for any school (except for the Salus Scholars program). Shadowing is considered a plus for you though, since schools want to see that you've been exposed to optometry as a career and that you know what you're getting yourself into. I'm not sure if they take not having any shadowing experience at all as a negative thing on your app, but it certainly doesn't look good, in my opinion.

 

[Faefly]

There isn't a required number of shadowing hours for any school (except for the Salus Scholars program). Shadowing is considered a plus for you though, since schools want to see that you've been exposed to optometry as a career and that you know what you're getting yourself into. I'm not sure if they take not having any shadowing experience at all as a negative thing on your app, but it certainly doesn't look good, in my opinion.

Thank you so much for your reply. My only problem right now is that Suny wants a Letter of Recommendation from the health community at my school and I already have graduated and I never have a health advisor, so I find it hard to attain this now. What written on their website that it is a must unless my school doesn't have it. Also, the professors I know have already written me Lor for dental schools.

 

[pentaholic94]

Thank you so much for your reply. My only problem right now is that Suny wants a Letter of Recommendation from the health community at my school and I already have graduated and I never have a health advisor, so I find it hard to attain this now. What written on their website that it is a must unless my school doesn't have it. Also, the professors I know have already written me Lor for dental schools.

If your school doesn't have a pre-health committee, then you don't need to have a composite letter sent in. You still just need two letters from professors who can assess your success in a science course and one from an optometrist. Check with your school if they have a pre-health committee, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary to get a composite letter, even if your school has one. I'm sure SUNY won't contact the school to make sure the school has one before reading your individual LoRs.

I applied with two letters from professors, one from my manager at work, and one from an optometrist. I still received an interview and was accepted for admission.

 

[Faefly]

If your school doesn't have a pre-health committee, then you don't need to have a composite letter sent in. You still just need two letters from professors who can assess your success in a science course and one from an optometrist. Check with your school if they have a pre-health committee, but I don't think it's absolutely necessary to get a composite letter, even if your school has one. I'm sure SUNY won't contact the school to make sure the school has one before reading your individual LoRs.

I applied with two letters from professors, one from my manager at work, and one from an optometrist. I still received an interview and was accepted for admission.

congratulations
Do you mind sharing your stats? and shadowing hours

 

[pentaholic94]

congratulations
Do you mind sharing your stats? and shadowing hours

Overall GPA was a 3.6 and OAT scores were 400 AA/380 TS. I had two positions as an optometric assistant over the course of two years, one was paid and one was unpaid. The paid one I spent on average 15 hours/week and the unpaid one I spent about 5-10 hours/week.

 

[Faefly]

Overall GPA was a 3.6 and OAT scores were 400 AA/380 TS. I had two positions as an optometric assistant over the course of two years, one was paid and one was unpaid. The paid one I spent on average 15 hours/week and the unpaid one I spent about 5-10 hours/week.

wow, your scores are awesome, congratulations.

I am starting to think I don't have a chance unless I get very high OAT score.
What were your recourses for studying OAT?

 

[pentaholic94]

wow, your scores are awesome, congratulations.

I am starting to think I don't have a chance unless I get very high OAT score.
What were your recourses for studying OAT?

Thanks, but you definitely shouldn't let this deter you from trying to get in. Everyone is different and they all have different things that make them stand out to admissions.

I studied using the big Kaplan book to cover bio/chem/ochem and then the Princeton Review for physics. I also used Chad's videos to review chem/ochem/physics. RC and QR I didn't really bother to study much for them bc QR was always super easy for me and RC idk how to study for that lol

 

[Faefly]

Thanks, but you definitely shouldn't let this deter you from trying to get in. Everyone is different and they all have different things that make them stand out to admissions.

I studied using the big Kaplan book to cover bio/chem/ochem and then the Princeton Review for physics. I also used Chad's videos to review chem/ochem/physics. RC and QR I didn't really bother to study much for them bc QR was always super easy for me and RC idk how to study for that lol

Thank you. But aren't there any websites where they have practice online tests.
I'm studying for dat now, my plan to take Oat after dat, I guess they both are very similar except for Physics, I love physics I will be watching chad's videos for physics afterward.

 

[namushkee]

Thanks, but you definitely shouldn't let this deter you from trying to get in. Everyone is different and they all have different things that make them stand out to admissions.

I studied using the big Kaplan book to cover bio/chem/ochem and then the Princeton Review for physics. I also used Chad's videos to review chem/ochem/physics. RC and QR I didn't really bother to study much for them bc QR was always super easy for me and RC idk how to study for that lol

How long did you study the OAT for?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[pentaholic94]

Thank you. But aren't there any websites where they have practice online tests.
I'm studying for dat now, my plan to take Oat after dat, I guess they both are very similar except for Physics, I love physics I will be watching chad's videos for physics afterward.

I used Kaplan's free online practice test, which is offered every so often, but it's the same test every single time and it's not as long as the actual OAT, which makes it difficult to really get a feel of the timing of the test. There were some free practice tests that came with the Princeton Review, but you need to buy the book to get access to it. oatquestionoftheday.com was really helpful for some practice problems. Besides that, I used a lot of DAT practice tests to prepare for the natural sciences section since that was gonna be exactly the same.

How long did you study the OAT for?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I spent a total of 3 months studying, which is an excessively long time, but I gave myself that much time because I knew I was going to be working a lot that summer (~30 hours/week) and I still also wanted to enjoy the summer after graduating from undergrad.