Worried about getting accepted...

[live2serve]

Hi Everyone,
Over the past couple of weeks, I've gotten myself worked up into a state of worry about my acceptance to optometry school. So, in an effort to help ease some of this tension, I'm looking for the thoughts and advice of some of you who have been active in the optometry community for longer than I have.

My Background: I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering 4-5 years ago. Entering undergrad, I moved out of state, and attended PSU, where I didn't do as well as I should've, mainly due to the poor (read "non-existent") study habits I had developed through the public school system, which hands out A's and B's for doing next to nothing. Following my first 2 years at PSU, I had under a 3.0 GPA, a high-stack of student loans, and a harsh reality to face. I moved back to my home area, and took a year off to start paying off loans, and focus on what I wanted to do. Following that year sabbatical, I entered a SUNY school in the Mechanical Engineering program. Two and a half years later, I graduated summa cum laude from their program with a 3.97 GPA. This puts my total GPA for my optometry application at about a 3.31.

Now, unfortunately due to my undergrad degree, I'm quite deficient in representative science courses. I've obviously had general chems, and a boat load of physics, and I took o-chem I over last summer... all of which I have A's in. I still have to take all my bios, microbio, biochem, anatomy, physiology, etc.., of which I am simply taking all the prerequisites over the next year.

This does worry me quite a bit, as my OAT (first and hopefully only attempt) is in a couple of days, and I've spent about the past 1.5 months trying to teach myself all of this.

As far as extracurriculars, I've worked throughout all of my college career, usually between 30-40 hours per week while in school, including a semester with over 20 credit hours and an internship. I've held the same career as a network administrator for 7-8 years now. After college, for 4 years I volunteered as a leader of a youth program, which occupied about 15 hrs/wk. I've also volunteered through activities at my church like a sports ministry, and music/worship team. However, I only have 2 optometry experiences, shadowing for a day at both a VA, and a private practice.

I'm applying to UHCO, and I've had my application in from optomCAS since 8/4, and submitted my supplemental application to UHCO around the middle of the August (although optomCAS has still yet to mail the applications I guess).

Obviously I know that there's a lot riding on my OAT, but I'm still really nervous about getting in, even if I do well. What types of scores should I be looking for? Are my lack of bio classes at this point going to be a detriment? Or if I do well on the OAT, will they notice good scores despite not having taken the courses, and work as an advantage to me? If I only score average in bio, will that be good enough showing that I've taught myself a lot? Is my engineering background a hindrance? Or will it be looked upon as a positive because it brings diversity and a different background to the field? Will my 3.31 be looked upon more highly than that, because of the dedication and effort shown throughout the entirety of my Engineering experience?

I guess I'm just feeling a bit unsure, and starting to question myself and my abilities.

Sorry for the long-winded post, and thanks in advance.

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[KHE]

Hi Everyone,
Over the past couple of weeks, I've gotten myself worked up into a state of worry about my acceptance to optometry school. So, in an effort to help ease some of this tension, I'm looking for the thoughts and advice of some of you who have been active in the optometry community for longer than I have.

My Background: I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering 4-5 years ago. Entering undergrad, I moved out of state, and attended PSU, where I didn't do as well as I should've, mainly due to the poor (read "non-existent") study habits I had developed through the public school system, which hands out A's and B's for doing next to nothing. Following my first 2 years at PSU, I had under a 3.0 GPA, a high-stack of student loans, and a harsh reality to face. I moved back to my home area, and took a year off to start paying off loans, and focus on what I wanted to do. Following that year sabbatical, I entered a SUNY school in the Mechanical Engineering program. Two and a half years later, I graduated summa cum laude from their program with a 3.97 GPA. This puts my total GPA for my optometry application at about a 3.31.

Now, unfortunately due to my undergrad degree, I'm quite deficient in representative science courses. I've obviously had general chems, and a boat load of physics, and I took o-chem I over last summer... all of which I have A's in. I still have to take all my bios, microbio, biochem, anatomy, physiology, etc.., of which I am simply taking all the prerequisites over the next year.

.

I would think it would be unwise and mostly a waste of time to try to take the OAT before you take the prerequisite classes. You might be able to teach yourself some, or perhaps even most of the material through self study but why put yourself through that aggrivation? Take the pre reqs first and then take the OAT.

As far as your GPA goes, you are certainly not the first person to initially perform poorly in college and certainly won't be the last. Obviously, a 3.9 in a mechanical engineering program would show that you have the ability to handle complex material and lots of it. If you do well on the OAT, I see no reason why your overall GPA would be a hinderence.

 

[live2serve]

I would think it would be unwise and mostly a waste of time to try to take the OAT before you take the prerequisite classes. You might be able to teach yourself some, or perhaps even most of the material through self study but why put yourself through that aggrivation? Take the pre reqs first and then take the OAT.

As far as your GPA goes, you are certainly not the first person to initially perform poorly in college and certainly won't be the last. Obviously, a 3.9 in a mechanical engineering program would show that you have the ability to handle complex material and lots of it. If you do well on the OAT, I see no reason why your overall GPA would be a hinderence.

KHE,
Thanks for the response. I as well was not thrilled about (nor initially planning on) taking the OAT yet, but I am applying for the Fall of 2010 entry, and the academic adviser I've spoken with a number of times, asked me to take it now for two reasons. First, so that they can gauge where I am at, and where I need to focus my studies. Second, so that if I don't do as well as they would like, I will have one more chance before the application deadline to try again.

So, being between a rock and a hard-place, I decided to just suck it up, study and see how well I can do. I've been putting in an average of about 5-6 hours per day (after work+class, and on the weekends), for the past month and a half. I have a solid general understanding of the material at this point, but obviously remain concerned. Not much else I can do though?!

 

[KHE]

KHE,
Thanks for the response. I as well was not thrilled about (nor initially planning on) taking the OAT yet, but I am applying for the Fall of 2010 entry, and the academic adviser I've spoken with a number of times, asked me to take it now for two reasons. First, so that they can gauge where I am at, and where I need to focus my studies. Second, so that if I don't do as well as they would like, I will have one more chance before the application deadline to try again.

So, being between a rock and a hard-place, I decided to just suck it up, study and see how well I can do. I've been putting in an average of about 5-6 hours per day (after work+class, and on the weekends), for the past month and a half. I have a solid general understanding of the material at this point, but obviously remain concerned. Not much else I can do though?!

Well you can take it and hey, you never know what will happen but it seems generally unwise to attempt a test like that without at least having a substantial number of the pre-requisites done. It seems like it's mostly a waste of time and money more than any sort of hinderence to your application.

But let us know how you do. Good luck!

 

[blysssful]

Is my engineering background a hindrance? Or will it be looked upon as a positive because it brings diversity and a different background to the field? Will my 3.31 be looked upon more highly than that, because of the dedication and effort shown throughout the entirety of my Engineering experience?

My roommate (another SUNY-O student) has an engineering background and she felt that it very much helped her stand out. It's a good indicator that you'll approach problems from a different perspective, and that is certainly a great thing. Admissions committees care a lot about positive trends (from what I understand it means much more to them than just the overall average).

As for the OAT... I agree that it's a bad idea to take it before you take those prereqs. I was a bio major and obviously had quite a bit of bio under my belt when I took the test. I still felt like they threw a LOT of random stuff at me. If it were organic or physics, I would say it wouldn't be a big deal, but the bio section covers a LOT of material.

Good luck!

 

[captainnerd]

All in favor, say aye. "Aye." (in other words, you'll be alright).

 

[live2serve]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Here's an update for you. I just got back from taking the OAT. Unfortunately the bio was harder than any of the practice exams I took. I've been scoring between 340-360 on bio with kaplan exams, and on the opted practice exam. Didn't do as well on this one :-/ Also, the organic chem on the OAT was almost ENTIRELY straight Organic-II equations, which I haven't taken either. All of the practice ones were SIGNIFICANTLY easier at least giving some Oragnic-I reactions, Sn1, Sn2, even IUPAC naming... I don't think there was ANY of that on the OAT. On the other hand, I thought that the general chem was easier on the OAT than on the practice exams, and the physics was about the same. So without further ado, here's my scores:

QR-340
RC-370
BIO-300
GC-360
OC-280
PH-350
TS-320
AA-330

So, yeah... not the best scores, but I guess could've been worse considering everything I haven't taken yet.

Now the question is, will the school take the low Bio and OC scores into consideration after looking at my transcripts? Will they even notice I haven't taken the classes for them, and thus be more lenient since I will still have to take the classes before matriculation? Or will they make me take the whole thing over again, despite the rest of the scores which are decent?

Any thoughts or advice? Thanks.

 

[foreseen]

Your scores are really good, you'll probably be able to explain the classes you haven't taken in the interview (which you have a descent chance at). I was told by my kaplan instructor that the RC score is very important, that's the first score schools look at!

 

[blysssful]

Now the question is, will the school take the low Bio and OC scores into consideration after looking at my transcripts? Will they even notice I haven't taken the classes for them, and thus be more lenient since I will still have to take the classes before matriculation? Or will they make me take the whole thing over again, despite the rest of the scores which are decent?

Any thoughts or advice? Thanks.

They might not look at it as poorly considering you didn't take the courses... however, they will have absolutely no problem telling you that you need to retake the test again if that's what they feel.

 

[live2serve]

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess in the end, it really all just boils down to the discretion of the school. It's just hard to convince myself not to worry about it!

 

[SonofanOpt]

I apologize if I add more concern, but I am pretty sure that if it has been more than 4 years since you took a pre-req the schools will not accept them. If I am wrong, I'm very sorry, but I just wanted to throw that out there to warn you ahead of time.

 

[live2serve]

I apologize if I add more concern, but I am pretty sure that if it has been more than 4 years since you took a pre-req the schools will not accept them. If I am wrong, I'm very sorry, but I just wanted to throw that out there to warn you ahead of time.

SonofanOpt,
According to the UHCO application paperwork, it's 10 years, and in fall of 2010, none of mine will be more than 10 years. The only one even close is psychology at 9 years I think. Most of the pre-reqs I'm taking now, or before next fall. A very valid thought though. Thanks for bringing it up.