Application contents?

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xjane92

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Hi!

Could someone tell me/link to me information about the contents of the Optomcas application? I know generally LORs, personal statement, transcript but it there anything else? Also what are the general guidelines for the personal statement (word count etc). Also does anyone know what other schools might require specifically! Thank you!

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Hello,

The OptomCAS application includes 4 segments:

1) Personal Information - basic info like address, birthdate, citizenship, race, etc.
2) Academic History - this is where you list the colleges you've attended and where you input your grades according to your transcripts. You will also enter in your unofficial OAT scores here. The company that runs the exam will directly send your official scores to the individual schools you've requested.
3) Supporting Information - this is the section where you will fill in your experience/extracurriculars. For me, I added all of my volunteering, shadowing, employment, and organizations that I was involved in. You will have to list the timeframe, location, the amount of hours you put in towards these experiences (an estimate would be fine), and a paragraph explaining what your job description entailed. This section is also where you will enter your LOR information. You are allowed to have up to 4 LORs and all you have to do is enter in the contact information (email) of your intended recommenders and OptomCAS will send them requests. The rest is up to your recommender to complete so there is not that much to do on your part. There is also a section to add achievements such as awards or honors received.
4) Program Materials - this section will include the schools you select to send your application to. Each program will have its own tab and you will input your personal statements for each school. Most schools, I believe, will have the same main prompt. The prompt I had for the current cycle was: Please describe what inspires your decision for becoming an optometrist, including your preparation for training in this profession, your aptitude and motivation, the basis for your interest in optometry, and your future career goals. The max limit was 4500 characters (not word!). Most schools will have additional essay questions such as "why our school?" or "what can you contribute to our school?". Some schools include these additional essay questions in the OptomCAS application but other schools will require you to submit these additional questions through their own supplemental/secondary application outside of OptomCAS so make sure you do your research for you school.

Whew, that was longer than I thought. Hope this helps. When I was applying just a few months ago it was pretty confusing trying to figure everything out about applying before the cycle started so I know how you feel! Feel free to msg me with further questions, I will try my best to help.
 
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