From teaching to optometry?

[mja1233]

Just to preface, I have been doing a lot of research on this and I am just looking into some insight from the forum here.

Long story short, I graduated two years ago with a degree in Liberal Studies ( for elementary education.) When I became a senior, I knew that teaching was no longer the best option for me, but I decided to finish anyway since I was so close. I went into my credentialing program, absolutely hated it, and ended up leaving in the middle of the program because I knew I was not going to teach and did not want to waste my money. The program was also horribly unorganized and unprofessional. Since then, I have been working in administrative jobs which are boring and do not interest me. So I began to do some soul searching.

The reason I went into teaching was to help students. I have a passion for helping others, and making a difference, but I also want fair compensation, and sanity while I do that (teaching did not offer either.) I still tutor on the side which I love, but it obviously does not pay the bills. Optometry came to mind because of all of my own personal vision struggles as a child and adult (amblyopia, myopia, binocular dysfunction), and I like the idea of working on my own, possibly owning my own business, and making more than 40k a year.

So here is my question: How hard would this transition be? I am 25 currently and still have some small student loans to pay off. I would also have to complete almost all of the science pre-reqs, and have never taken high math or science courses. My degree was pretty easy (to me), and I graduated with a 3.8 GPA. I also passed all of my exams (CBEST and CSETS) with high scores on the first try. I did take physics, biology, chem, and all the English/psych. However, I am a bit nervous about the mathematics and other science, but I know I can do it.

Any feedback would be great! Thank you.

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[generallyspeaking]

There really isn't much high math involved, in either optometry school or the pre-reqs. Basic calculus is all you need and a lot of high school and college students tend to think calculus is easier than algebra II/trig/geometry. Science pre-reqs can be difficult but the actual science in optometry school isn't that difficult aside from physiology which can be a lot if you tend to memorize rather than understand.

Having taken physics, biology, chem sounds like most of the pre-reqs to me anyways. Physiology/microbiology/immunology/anatomy are pretty intense courses in their magnitude of information presented, but the material difficulty is nowhere near being rocket science. In fact, a lot of book publishers tend to even try to dumb it down even more, where as a "Sherman's 9th edition Physiology textbook" can be read for the graduate student, or "Intro to physiology for the nursing student/health professional can be read" for the community college/vocational school student, or even "The Manga guide to biochemistry" (a real book) can be read "whether you're a medical student, an amateur scientist, or just curious about how your body turns cupcakes into energy, The Manga Guide to Biochemistry is your key to understanding the science of life."

"Kumi loves to eat, but she's worried that her passion for junk food is affecting her health. Determined to unlock the secrets of dieting, she enlists the help of her brainy friend Nemoto and his beautiful biochemistry professor, Dr. Kurosaka. And so it begins...

Follow along in The Manga Guide to Biochemistry as Kumi explores the mysteries of her body's inner workings. With the help of RoboCat, the professor's friendly endoscopic robot, you'll soar through the incredible chemical machinery that keeps us alive and get an up-close look at biopolymers like DNA and proteins, the metabolic processes that turn our food into energy, and the enzymes that fuel our bodies' chemical reactions

As you dive into the depths of plant and animal cells, you'll learn about:

• The metabolism of substances like carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and alcohol
• How the energy powerhouses known as mitochondria produce ATP
• DNA transcription and the different types of RNA that work together to translate the genetic code into proteins
• Enzyme kinetics, how they're measured, and how enzyme inhibition works"

 

[mja1233]

Thank you so much, generallyspeaking.

I've never taken calculus before, but that makes me feel a lot better. I did well in geometry and just ok with algebra II and trig. I had to work hard in those to get a good grade which I'm not opposed to. It doesn't seem so intimidating now.

I enjoyed all of my science classes. I had a few issues with class content vs exam content, but I think my lowest grade was a B in general chem. Loved physics. And I took a lot of history classes in which I had to memorize and then fully explain (usually in writing) a lot of things, so hopefully that will prepare me enough for those sciences.

That book... haha. Thank you!