How Likely Am I to get into Optometry School?

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JAB1215

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Hey everyone. I just finished my sophomore year at a well-known University and I am planning to apply to Optometry schools next summer; however, I am worried about getting in. I currently have a 3.39 GPA (science GPA 3.258 and non-science GPA 3.471); however my grades progressed pretty significantly from freshman to sophomore year - freshman year I had a 3.0 & first semester sophomore year - 3.78 & second semester sophomore year - 3.60; do Optometry schools take into consideration this progression of grades as well as the level of the University you attend? (the freshman weed out classes killed me). I also shadowed at SUNY College of Optometry at the beginning of this summer and just began shadowing my optometrist, who I will be shadowing once a week for the rest of the summer, and I will be shadowing another optometrist in a metro-optics multiple days a week in August. I am also going to be volunteering at a hospital once a week during this summer as well. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can strengthen my application/ if I have a good chance of being accepted? Thanks!

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From how it sounds, it sounds like you will be applying a year early? Will you basically just be applying without getting your bachelors degree or are you just ahead in your curriculum? From what I have researched from different schools, you should probably make sure that the schools you plan to apply to will accept students who are applying without a bachelors degree, if that is your case. I believe there are a couple schools who do not take students unless they have it first! Here are the average stats for the 2015 entering class for the Optometry schools:

http://www.opted.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ASCO-Profile-of-the-Entering-Class-2015.pdf

You can see there's a column for % with Bachelor's Degrees, so I would double check with any of those schools if they are any of the schools you are considering applying to! Aside from that, I believe that it's completely likely you could be a good applicant. Schools will notice the upward trend in your grades if it is significant enough to notice. The biggest issue I see with people who are applying within 3 years of undergrad instead of 4 is that you have less time to strengthen yourself as an applicant. If you get in a decent amount of shadowing, have a decent GPA and OAT scores, it's completely possible though! Good luck! :)
 
Thank you for your help!! Yes, I was planning to apply next summer as a rising senior, before getting my bachelor's degree because I thought that was the correct timeline. I know a lot of health related professional schools like to see applicants take a gap year, but I thought that you could apply before graduating college and avoid taking a gap year? I did come across that website once and didn't realize, that column for % with bachelor's degree is referring to those who are applying with a bachelor's degree, not those who are entering optometry school with a bachelor's degree?
 
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@JAB1215, you are correct! Schools just want to see a bachelor's degree before you enter their program! I am doing the same thing to avoid a gap year. That column for % is for those who enter optometry school without a bachelor's degree so that won't apply to you! Hope that makes sense!
 
Thank you for your response! To my original post, I should have also added that I plan to apply to SUNY, PCO, MCPHS, and New England College of Optometry; does anyone know how many schools students usually apply to? I've looked up each school's stats for GPA/OAT, but was just wondering if anyone had some experience with these schools and can give an opinion as to if I would be a strong applicant (SUNY is my top choice at this point). Also, does anyone know what optometry schools look for in respect to summer experience? Is shadowing and volunteering at a hospital enough experience? (I should have about 80 hours of shadowing in a lot of different optometry settings and about 70 hours of volunteering by the end of the summer). From my research, it seems as though shadowing is a big part of the "experience" that schools look for. Thanks!
 
Thank you for your help!! Yes, I was planning to apply next summer as a rising senior, before getting my bachelor's degree because I thought that was the correct timeline. I know a lot of health related professional schools like to see applicants take a gap year, but I thought that you could apply before graduating college and avoid taking a gap year? I did come across that website once and didn't realize, that column for % with bachelor's degree is referring to those who are applying with a bachelor's degree, not those who are entering optometry school with a bachelor's degree?
Ohh ok! Sorry, I misunderstood your wording and thought you were trying to apply early in!

Yeah, I definitely think you could be a competitive applicant! As for the schools you are interested in, I would recommend that if you are really interested in attending a certain school then to consider taking their "recommended courses" to strengthen you as an applicant (if they have an courses they recommend you take). Shadowing I believe is a really big thing that schools look for because it gives you a lot of exposure to the field. The number of hours you have done is really great as is, especially since you've gone to so many different practices. I would make sure to keep up and stay in touch with at least one of the Optometrists you have shadowed to make sure that you can get a really great letter of recommendation from them when application time comes around!

As for the schools you are applying to, I haven't done much research into any of them but I know that MCPHS is one of the newer Optometry schools. Because of that, you can see that their averages for their entering class is lower than a bunch of other schools since they are still trying to build a name for their school and whatnot. I know that they do rolling admissions and basically continue to take applications until they fill all their seats.

I'm going to be applying this cycle, and I most likely will apply to ~5 schools (depending on my OAT scores and $$$, haha)... I would say everyone is different but most people probably apply to around that number of schools because when you register for your OAT you are allowed to pick 5 schools to send your scores to. Any schools you choose to send your scores to past those 5 cost additional $$ :arghh:.
 
Thank you for your help!! Yes, I was planning to apply next summer as a rising senior, before getting my bachelor's degree because I thought that was the correct timeline. I know a lot of health related professional schools like to see applicants take a gap year, but I thought that you could apply before graduating college and avoid taking a gap year? I did come across that website once and didn't realize, that column for % with bachelor's degree is referring to those who are applying with a bachelor's degree, not those who are entering optometry school with a bachelor's degree?

To clarify, taking a gap year is not that common. Most people apply a year before they finish undergrad, and the percent with bachelor's degree does refer to people entering Optometry school with a degree, it has nothing to do with whether or not they have finished undergrad prior to their application. Take the OAT in the summer so you can get your application in as quickly as you can after the cycle starts.
 
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