Unite for Sight v. Pre-Optometry Club

[Bre926]

So I recently went to my school's pre-health advisor to see when our pre-optometry club would be re-established. It turns out the club is still inactive and probably will continue to be. Because we have a unite for sight chapter on campus it kind of conflicts with our pre-optometry club, and having them both on campus is a waste since they tend to be redundant of each other

So my question is for those who have both a unite for sight chapter and pre-optometry club on campus. How do the two differ? What activities do you do that are exclusive to the pre-optometry club? Even if you don't have unite for sight, what kind of things does your pre-optometry club do? And what do you do at you meetings? My advisor told me that although she does think having them both on campus is redundant, she would support me if I wanted to get the club started up again. Thanks!

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[jvelos3]

I think there is a major difference between the two.

In my view...
Unite for Sight is more strictly volunteer and fundraiser based while a pre-optometry club has volunteering and fundraising but focuses more on helping the members with pre-optometry such as information on schools, pre req courses to take, how to set up a strong application, etc.

 

[Bre926]

I agree, and thats what I wanted to do if I got the club re-established. But for some reason my pre-health advisor thinks it would be redundant.

 

[blysssful]

I think there is a major difference between the two.

In my view...
Unite for Sight is more strictly volunteer and fundraiser based while a pre-optometry club has volunteering and fundraising but focuses more on helping the members with pre-optometry such as information on schools, pre req courses to take, how to set up a strong application, etc.

Agreed.... Unite for Sight is meant to be for anyone interested in helping the cause, not just people who want to go to optometry school!

 

[NPEYE]

Unite for sight is for everyone not just pre-optometry students.

 

[Bre926]

Yes, I understand and was told that very early on. Anyone can participate in Unite for Sight, not just optometry related students. I'm just trying to get ideas for an pre-optometry club, and ideas that would really establish it from unite for sight, since my advisor believes they would be redudant.

 

[JeffChou]

Yes, I understand and was told that very early on. Anyone can participate in Unite for Sight, not just optometry related students. I'm just trying to get ideas for an pre-optometry club, and ideas that would really establish it from unite for sight, since my advisor believes they would be redudant.

We had both at our school. The pre-optometry club had a heavy emphasis on admissions and academic advising. Optometry school representatives came to speak on campus at our club events, sharing about their schools and their admissions criteria. We also had guest speakers come in and share about their careers in optometry, do panel discussions, Q&A's, etc. There were also fundraising and volunteer events similar to what Unite for Sight does, but they are still two fundamentally different clubs with different objectives. Our pre-optometry club focused on preparing students specifically for optometry school-wise, and career-wise.

Although some events would be redundant, you could restart your pre-optometry club with a couple of supporters and really focus on optometry. You may even want to propose some joint volunteer events with Unite for Sight to make more of a collaborative effort in "uniting for sight" rather than compete for volunteers. I'm not sure how that would work out with their membership rules, but you never know until you try.

Good Luck