Pre-Med to Pre-Optometry shadowing question

[fmu16]

Hi everyone!
I am a rising senior with a 3.8 gpa (overall and science) and I am in the process of applying to optometry school (I'm taking the OAT next month). I have been on a pre-med track ever since I started college because I thought that med school was what I wanted until I did some shadowing and got a job in the medical field. I have done about 15 hours of optometry shadowing so far and am planning to do some more next semester (another 35-45 hours), but my question is, will my pre-med shadowing experience (35-45 hours) and my experience working in a Pediatrics office for almost 2 years count/look good on an optometry application since they are both clinical? Also, does it matter if I am still in the process of getting the semester long (35-45 hour) optometry shadowing experience when my application is submitted or will those hours not really count since they haven't been completed?
Thanks in advance!

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[Mark2K8]

I don't know if your physician shadowing will necessarily look good on the application itself, but it will come of use when in the interview they ask you "why optometry" and you can reference how you 'narrowed' it down by gaining experience in other health fields till you found the right one. I had shadowed general physicians, pharmacists, dentists, podiatrists e.t.c. and I made sure to mention all those when explaining why I picked optometry as it was the one I enjoyed the most e.t.c.

 

[caitlinfollansbee]

If it were me, I'd still put it on my application. I would think that any kind of healthcare experience would be valuable. When it comes to ethics, insurance, working with patients, many fields have a lot of similarities! Plus you can tell them that you learned from that experience that it's something you decided you didn't want to do. I shadowed at a retinal clinic, and although I am obviously wanting to become an optometrist, specializing in ocular dz is something I decided I wouldn't be a good fit for me, but I wouldn't have known had I not had the experience. And when I say I don't want to specialize in it, I mean it showed me that private practice as opposed to working in a referral clinic like that, was what I was more interested in (for several different reasons). It was an incredible experience, but long-term, it's not something I would want to focus my entire practice on. You should go ahead and email the schools and see what they say. Every single school I've emailed has been extremely nice and excited to be able to help.