Advice for Pre-Optometry Student

[preoptstudent3]

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Hello, I would like advice on how to make myself a better candidate for optometry school. I am very nervous. Here up some of my stats:

• Undergrad at University of Houston / Major: Biotechnology (completion 2022)
• Science GPA: 3.72 (Taken almost all of the pre-optometry courses... only pysch. left)
• Total GPA: 3.9
• Pre-Pharmacy Club - 101 hours of volunteering
• American Chemical Society - 28 hours of tutoring chemistry
• Ambassador of the College of Technology - basically recruit students to UH, give speeches about college
• Houston Scholars Program - learning about basics of research
• Work Experience: Certified Pharmacy Technician at Kroger, Junior manager at Office Depot (Do they care about work experience??)
• Two scholarships for research? (Do they care about scholarships??)

I plan on joining the pre-optometry club in a couple days + will be shadowing a private optometrist a couple times a week soon.

I was wondering what would make me a better candidate? Also, I would like to know how you approached studying for the OAT? How long did you study for? What materials did you use? I want to take the OAT summer 2021 and apply early decision.

Thank you!

 

[Optgal96]

Hi, with a decent GPA and OAT score, you can get in almost anywhere. You're a great candidate so far! Focus on the OAT next and aim for 300+.

One advice for the OAT: Do lots of practice problems and take some full-length exams.

 

[julianak]

Join the OAT Bootcamp Study Group on facebook! very good tips over there

 

[Vbasc]

The only thing I would suggest is shadowing an optometrist!! Pharm is great but a lot of schools want to know why you SPECIFICALLY chose optometry and like to see a few different docs shadowed (primary, peds, contacts, etc.) As for the OAT a lot if it is basic memorization - I worked out of the kaplan book for 2-3 months and did 3-4 sections total each day (more if the sections were short, each from different subjects. Took about 3-4 hours studying each day and at the end of the day and week reviewed all my notes. The practice exams they give you are a lot harder than the actual exam - its mostly memorization so if you did well in your ore-reqs studying should just be a review for you!! Good luck!!! Also there's not an "early decision" for optometry. It's rolling admissions so the cycle opens June 30th and you have until May to apply. I sent in my apps early September (oct-nov is still considered early), heard back for interviews within a few days, and after the interviews its only a few days to a week to hear a decision!

 

[preoptstudent3]

The only thing I would suggest is shadowing an optometrist!! Pharm is great but a lot of schools want to know why you SPECIFICALLY chose optometry and like to see a few different docs shadowed (primary, peds, contacts, etc.) As for the OAT a lot if it is basic memorization - I worked out of the kaplan book for 2-3 months and did 3-4 sections total each day (more if the sections were short, each from different subjects. Took about 3-4 hours studying each day and at the end of the day and week reviewed all my notes. The practice exams they give you are a lot harder than the actual exam - its mostly memorization so if you did well in your ore-reqs studying should just be a review for you!! Good luck!!! Also there's not an "early decision" for optometry. It's rolling admissions so the cycle opens June 30th and you have until May to apply. I sent in my apps early September (oct-nov is still considered early), heard back for interviews within a few days, and after the interviews its only a few days to a week to hear a decision!

Thank you so much for your reply. I was able to find an optometrist about a 1.5 months ago to shadow (even through COVID)! I do want to shadow another type of optometrist, so I'll keep looking.