i haven't been able to shadow my optometrist yet; and i'm afraid i wont' have much time this summer or during the school year due to work and school. i feel the only time i will have is when i'm on vacation, which basically means inconsistency in shadowing.

how many hours are enough for Opt. schools?

i'm currently working for an opthalmologist right now so would that count? i also volunteer for an eye clinic, and i've seen refractions and full eye exams. what else are opt. schools looking for as far as experience.

and also, what are good questions to ask an optometrist? i already have a list, but i dunno if it's sufficient.

thanks,

btw: what opt school is good for clinicals? and which shool begins seeing patients the earliest? as in, do any schools begin seeing patients in the 2nd or 3rd year?

PCO has one of the best clinical programs. With this new curriculum that started last year, we begin our clinicals in the spring semester of the 3rd year. That increases the amount of patients we see by a lot!

As far as volunteering, you mentioned that you volunteer at the eye clinic, and I'm sure there are quite a few OD's there, so that should be sufficent.

As long as you know an OD's scope of practice, and can show that at the admissions interview you should be fine. Since you work for an Ophthalmologist, they might ask you why not become an Ophthalmologist at your interview. Be prepared.

As far as what to ask an Optometrist, I think there was a thread on this before, I'll try to find it for you.

Good Luck :)

clinicals: at UHCO you start seeing patients second year.

JG777,

I wasn't sure if you meant which programs start their rotations earlier or in which programs do you first start to see patients. With PCO, I've heard we start seeing patients in our 1st semester (several times), and it increases each semester. But our actual rotations start in the spring of the 3rd year.:)