Pco (salus)

[drummergirl1719]

hi guys can somebody that is already enrolled in the PCO program tell me a little bit about how their program works? i might be considering applying here.

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[ABaverage]

Are you asking for curriculum or are you asking for experience?

 

[jc328]

You are in school for 2.5 yrs, and then onto externship around the country for 1.5 yrs. You can find most info about the program at:
http://www.salus.edu/optometry/index.html

 

[Moptometry]

I have heard nothing but great things about PCO. Pacific/ICO were my top choices but after i talked to a 09 OD graduate, I m thinking PCO is probably the best school, from my point of view.

 

[Cappuchino]

I have heard nothing but great things about PCO. Pacific/ICO were my top choices but after i talked to a 09 OD graduate, I m thinking PCO is probably the best school, from my point of view.

Do you mind explaining your reasoning/what you heard from that 09 grad?

 

[ABaverage]

Well.. except for the fact that clinic is in a ghetto area and you have to drive there from campus. =)

 

[Moptometry]

Do you mind explaining your reasoning/what you heard from that 09 grad?

Ya sure. So last week i decided to go find an OD who works in a commercial practice like The Bay or Sears. So i went to The Bay and ask the reciptionist if I can i shadow their optometrist and she started talking about Resume and cover letter and all that JAZ till the Optometrist came out himself. He was like ya sure come in He asked me where i wana go and i told him about the schools i like and i mentioned PCO last and he was like , i graduated from PCO in 09. I was so happy when i heard that, All OD's i have shadowed have graduated from Waterloo so i couldnt wait for him to just talk about a US school. First thing he said was about the internship. PCO has 18 months of that while other schools have 12 . He told me they sent him to south Calorina for 2 months(and other places of course) and he saw Avg 25 patients a day while he worked 5 days a week. He then told me he had seen around 3000-3400 patients by the time he graduated, around 500 retinal detachment while his buddy from Waterloo has seen 10
This guy who is around 26 is probably the most confident young OD i have seen, he told me there is no diseases he has not seen. Then he started talking about the school and the profs. He told me phili is a ghetto city, but then he mentioned you learn more in a ghetto... and he said that the faculty is great. He basically remembered and named 4 of his profs and told me they all have written the books that optm schools use or have had parts in Boards.
HE told me that he loved PCO and if he was to decide on what school to go to, he would choose PCO again. I could see it in his face, this guy had a blast for 4 years . Now he works for 2 places, one is a commercial place (2 days a week) and a private practice (3 days a week.) He told me about all this in 15 min and i am going back in 10 days to start shadowing him. I wana know more about PCO from a student, it was very exciting. Definitely applying to PCO this year.

 

[Cappuchino]

Ya sure. So last week i decided to go find an OD who works in a commercial practice like The Bay or Sears. So i went to The Bay and ask the reciptionist if I can i shadow their optometrist and she started talking about Resume and cover letter and all that JAZ till the Optometrist came out himself. He was like ya sure come in He asked me where i wana go and i told him about the schools i like and i mentioned PCO last and he was like , i graduated from PCO in 09. I was so happy when i heard that, All OD's i have shadowed have graduated from Waterloo so i couldnt wait for him to just talk about a US school. First thing he said was about the internship. PCO has 18 months of that while other schools have 12 . He told me they sent him to south Calorina for 2 months(and other places of course) and he saw Avg 25 patients a day while he worked 5 days a week. He then told me he had seen around 3000-3400 patients by the time he graduated, around 500 retinal detachment while his buddy from Waterloo has seen 10
This guy who is around 26 is probably the most confident young OD i have seen, he told me there is no diseases he has not seen. Then he started talking about the school and the profs. He told me phili is a ghetto city, but then he mentioned you learn more in a ghetto... and he said that the faculty is great. He basically remembered and named 4 of his profs and told me they all have written the books that optm schools use or have had parts in Boards.
HE told me that he loved PCO and if he was to decide on what school to go to, he would choose PCO again. I could see it in his face, this guy had a blast for 4 years . Now he works for 2 places, one is a commercial place (2 days a week) and a private practice (3 days a week.) He told me about all this in 15 min and i am going back in 10 days to start shadowing him. I wana know more about PCO from a student, it was very exciting. Definitely applying to PCO this year.

Wow, you are so lucky that you found someone who graduated from the states to shadow. Be sure to ask more about his transition process from the states back to Canada (I assume that he is a Canadian who went to PCO for school, then back to Can). All 3 optometrists that I shadowed were waterloo grads lol.

Have fun shadowing him and best of luck with your application process!

 

[Moptometry]

feel free to msg me if you have questions about PCO.I am gona ask him plenty of questions , i can add urs to that too
I know i have been blessed with cool/chill young ODs. The first one i shadowed told me he's gona write me a reference letter and i didn't even ask him for it.

All the best

 

[Vanish]

Would I have a chance at getting into PCO with a 3.2 gpa if I did well on the OATS?

 

[advise2u]

Would I have a chance at getting into PCO with a 3.2 gpa if I did well on the OATS?

Absolutely. With OAT scores mostly 300 and above and good LORs and shadowing you are in.

 

[OptomHope]

It is super nice to hear about grads from the US coming back to canada. I am personally trying to determine right now whether schools in the states are better than Waterloo. Based on the amount of experience you get i think the schools in the states win, but i'm not so sure that the didactics are as good in the U.S... just based on board passing rates alone. I'd love to know how the job search process would be for a U.S grad versus a waterloo grad.. if you could provide any insight on this that would be great!!

 

[physicslover]

I spoken to many optometrists and surprisingly many of them were from the states!! I think I had liek 1-2 Waterloo grads but the rest were all from the states. They all loved their times there and told me that they had way better clinical scope than Waterloo did.In terms of job search, I don't believe there is much difference for US grad vs Waterloo except maybe perhaps in Waterloo you would have been allowed a chance to network more with local optometrists.