Advice for application

[canadiancal]

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I am planning to apply to U.S. optometry schools for the fall of 2007. I am looking for some advice to make myself a strong applicant. For info, I have a bachelor's degree in Pharmacy (Canadian) with a cumalative GPA of 3.15. I have the odd C grade, but they are in difficult classes (med chem, etc) I have to take physics this next year and a general chem course. In addition, I am checking to see if I have to re-take my first semester organic chem course (60%) as I had a poor grade. Otherwise, my pre-req GPA is 3.2 thus far. As a pharmacist I have years of experience with dealing with the public.. as far as volunteer experience goes, I was on the University council when I was completing my under-grad. I luckily know a few optometrists, so a letter of reference and some experience shadowing are no problem. Are any schools particularly Canadian friendly? I was hoping to gain admittance in either PCO or Ferris State as they are closest to Canada. Thanks for any advice...

 

[paganinio]

work hard

 

[jefguth]

I would say that PCO, NECO, ICO, and SUNY, and maybe Pacific, are the most Canadian friendly, if only b/c so many of their students are Canadian. Ferris State in my emails with them have been friendly and encouraging, but just b/c it is a small school there aren't many Canadians and likely not quite the same awareness of issuess affecting Canadian students. I interviewed at ICO last week, and many of the staff, facutly and students were very aware of the things affecting us. Also, I am told that SUNY actually reserves many of their work-study placements for Canadians b/c they are not eligable to work off-campus. There are alot of little things that could really make the experience more enjoyable.

I think your GPA will be just fine for US Optometry schools, but a great OAT score won't hurt either. Applying early will also give you a great advantage, get right on that in September/ August - I regret waiting so late in the year to apply to ICO, despite my 3.7-3.8, I am competing for only 20 or 30 spots in their class now, instead of 150 if i had applied earlier.

Your 60% in Ochem shouldn't be too much of a problem for you since its still an acceptable C. But you should still check with the admsissions offices of the schools that you do apply too.

Best of luck!

 

[sco1styear]

Just wanted to let you know that in my class at SCO there are at least 3 from Canada and two others that were originally from Canada but moved to the states before coming to optometry school. Best advice: Don't rule any schools out, visit any you may be interested in and all schools that I ever asked for information from where more than happy to send it to me. Good luck!

 

[canadiancal]

Thanks for the info. I actually know an optometrist that graduated from SCO (2002) In comparison with other schools, how does it rank in terms of cost of living etc. With the CDN dollar, it is going to cost me a small fortune to get my degree south of the border.

 

[sco1styear]

From our website: (check out www.sco.edu)
Non-regional tuition for the 2004-05 academic year is $18,996. For those students holding a regional seat, tuition is $13,996. Southern College of Optometry has the lowest tuition amongst the eight private optometry schools and has the lowest non-regional tuition of all optometry schools. Books and equipment will vary between $600/year to $3,800/year. Remember your equipment purchases are an investment since you will be using the same equipment as a practicing optometrist.

Another important factor in calculating expenses is cost of living. Memphis annually ranks amongst cities with population over 500,000 as to having one of the lowest cost of living. In fact, most SCO students without families can easily budget their personal costs to under $1,000 per month