Shadowing question for SCO?

[PandaVol]

Hi, I have a question for anyone who's getting interviewed or has been already interviewed/accepted at Southern College (or anyone's opinion in general!)

I know SCO heavily emphasizes shadowing in multiple environments when admitting students. The director of admissions emailed me & said that everything looks good on my apps, except he told me to try to get in more shadowing with different doctors before my interview. The problem is I have only had about a month between the email he sent & my interview. Due to my schedule, I don't think I will have the opportunity to shadow anyone else BEFORE the interview like he asked. Obviously, it would be best if I could squeeze in some more hours between now & then. But say I'm not able to, how bad do you think it would hurt my chances?

Some relevant background info about me:
I've worked as both an optician & a technician for one optometrist a couple years back.

2 of my LORs were from 2 different optometrists. One that I worked for (as optician & tech), & the 2nd who has been my optometrist since I was a kid.

However, I have technically never "shadowed" my own optometrist since I've been with her so long & am familiar with her practice. Note: I am graduating this December & will be working for her from January to August of next year. So I will have plenty of experience with 2 different optometrists before school starts, just not before my interview.

The point --> Even if my interview goes well, what are the chances that I get rejected anyways because of my lack of "shadowing" before the interview? Am I just psyching myself out at this point?

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[Snakedoctor1]

No one can answer this question. If you can't fit in another shadow visit, you're only choice is to go to the interview and do as well as you can. I interviewed at SCO two years ago and it was very laid back. I didn't have a lot of shadowing experience either, and I was frank with them about time constraints that prevented me from shadowing as much as i wanted. I was accepted, so make of that what you will.

 

[PandaVol]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[jzwashere33]

Thanks for the feedback!

Did they end up accepting you? I recently shadowed at SCO and they emailed me back and said the interview went well, but they can't determine a decision because concerned about my shadowing hours; advised me to shadow 10 more hours and get the optometrist to email them a summary and for me to write a one page paper on the experience lol

 

[PandaVol]

Oh wow, a paper on shadowing experience? I didn't know they did that. But yeah, I ended up getting accepted. Originally, they told me I had a significant amount of shadowing hours which looked really good, but that was all with one optometrist. So they "suggested" that I get in a few more hours with a couple different optometrists before my interview, but I never did... Turns out they never mentioned it to me again & I was accepted 4 days after my interview.

 

[jzwashere33]

Oh wow, a paper on shadowing experience? I didn't know they did that. But yeah, I ended up getting accepted. Originally, they told me I had a significant amount of shadowing hours which looked really good, but that was all with one optometrist. So they "suggested" that I get in a few more hours with a couple different optometrists before my interview, but I never did... Turns out they never mentioned it to me again & I was accepted 4 days after my interview.

Haha wow lucky you..and yeah..IDK what to think about the feedback I received lol but I need to get on it because I'm sure the slots are filling up fast