Grades > experience

[dejablue10]

Hey all!

I've seen a lot of posts discussing low GPAs or OAT scores, but great experience- like working at an optometrists office for 2+ yrs.

My question is, what if you have a good GPA, decent OAT score and like 40-ish shadowing hours, plus volunteer/internship work with vision screenings? Will the grades combat the lack of experience in an optometrists office?

Thanks in advance!

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[mathcod]

I had 400/380 OAT, good GPA, and exactly 40 hours of shadowing and volunteer/instership. I got interviewed with Berkeley and rejected (feedback: my interview-day essay was incoherent and they wanted more pre-optometry experience). I interviewed with ICO on their last possible interview day and got in.

It never hurts to be well-rounded, but as long as you can show you are passionate about optometry, that should be enough in my opinion (I probably didn't sell that idea as well in my own application). 40 hours is considered a good number in my opinion.

 

[Snakedoctor1]

I had a decent GPA, an average OAT score, and even less experience/shadowing and I was accepted early in the cycle. There are many factors that schools will look at. Once you make the minimum cut on paper, other factors will probably be weighed more heavily.

 

[undecisiveone1]

I had a decent GPA, an average OAT score, and even less experience/shadowing and I was accepted early in the cycle. There are many factors that schools will look at. Once you make the minimum cut on paper, other factors will probably be weighed more heavily.

What do you mean by minimum cut? I have a low gpa but I'm not sure if it's so low that I should be super concerned. Also I'm going to apply on late July or early August and I've only started shadowing last week

 

[Snakedoctor1]

When I called various admissions departments, most of them told me about their "minimum" requirements. I don't think they are rigid, but my guess is most schools are looking for an OAT AA of 300 or above, for example. As far as I know, the only school that has a required number of shadowing hours is Pacific. 20-30 seems to be a good range, and of course more wouldn't hurt. July/August is still very early in the cycle. People get accepted in February.

 

[futureodincali2015]

My GPA was pretty low and I had average OAT scores, but a lot of experiences (worked as an optician, shadowed at different places such as the VA, private, commercial, ophthalmology office, etc) and was accepted to 6 schools. Don't worry so much about your GPA at this point (if you're already graduated or will graduate this summer) and start getting a lot of shadowing experiences done if you can! Most schools want to see that you know what you're getting yourself into and how well you know about the profession.

If your GPA doesn't meet the minimum requirements (2.0-2.5), you should consider doing a master's program or post-baccalaureate program to raise your GPA. Also, definitely look up the GPA range for each school that you're applying for because you can get a general idea of where you stand in the applicant pool.

http://www.opted.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Profile-of-Applicants-2013-Updated-2-13-14.pdf (this is from 2013 application cycle)