Am I insane or... (very very late application)

[Kayle]

I would really like to hear your brutally honest opinions. I have been pondering this for months already if I should apply for the fall 2017 at NOVA. I have confirmed with them that they are still considering candidates for interviews until the end of april.

I have not taken the OAT's yet and this would be my first time. I haven't even got a chance to take a practice test yet. I am seriously considering taking the exam in around March 20th and sending in my application and everything to hopefully meet the deadline of April 1st.

In order to prepare for the exam, I am taking a break from work and dedicating myself to studying up until then. I do have 2 years of experience in a Optometry Office, going on my 3rd year now. My GPA was a 3.08.

Your advice and opinion is greatly appreciated.

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[dhockey94]

You need to have your transcripts in on Optomcas. Then you need to enter them and once everything is paid for, it takes a week or two just to verify your application before schools get them. You also need letters of recommendation and to fill out the rest of the application. If all of this is done and all you need to do is take the OAT then you can submit your application before taking the test. If that is not done, I would not recommend spending the money applying this year. Especially if you're not prepared to take the OAT. Its already very late in the cycle. Yes they may still be interviewing, but classes are getting close to being full.

 

[generallyspeaking]

Granted when I did my optometry applications in 2008, before Optomcas was implemented, I applied in late April and still got in. I only studied 1 month for the OAT and did stellar on it, and even though I applied on the last day of interviews at my school, I along with someone else who interviewed that same day both got in.

If you've got it together and can get on top things, by all means give it a shot. After all, you miss all arrows you don't fire. But if you can't see yourself rushing to get it in, there is no shame in waiting I suppose.

 

[nikkih564]

I'd just like to mention that it can sometimes take a while for OAT scores to be processed and made available to schools. If NOVA's deadline is for a complete application including official score reports, you may want to consider taking the exam earlier than March 20th. I took the exam Jan 30th and it was verified Feb 15th, although the ada site says it can take up to 3-4 weeks. I nearly missed a deadline because I didn't realize it would take so long and the school would not review my file until the official scores were in.

Other than that, definitely take as many timed practice tests as you can. For me personally, pacing myself was almost just as much of a challenge as the content itself (this is not the case for everyone though). Worst case, you can use those scores for the next cycle and apply early. Good luck!

 

[KHE]

I would really like to hear your brutally honest opinions. I have been pondering this for months already if I should apply for the fall 2017 at NOVA. I have confirmed with them that they are still considering candidates for interviews until the end of april.

I have not taken the OAT's yet and this would be my first time. I haven't even got a chance to take a practice test yet. I am seriously considering taking the exam in around March 20th and sending in my application and everything to hopefully meet the deadline of April 1st.

In order to prepare for the exam, I am taking a break from work and dedicating myself to studying up until then. I do have 2 years of experience in a Optometry Office, going on my 3rd year now. My GPA was a 3.08.

Your advice and opinion is greatly appreciated.

Normally I would encourage anyone to apply and let the school reject you. Don't reject yourself.

In your case, though I would wait. You're GPA is not sky high. You're going to have a much better chance applying early in a cycle than you would at the end, even with a good OAT score.