Any optometry students with no BA?

[samwY]

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Are there any students here that are in or got accepted into optometry school without an undergraduate degree?

If so, what kind of GPA and OAT scores did you have?

I was wondering if I should get a biology major or if I should just finish the optometry pre-requisites and do well on the OAT.

Would a degree better my chances of getting accepted?
Do admission councils look at the student as a whole? For example, would a student with a high OAT score, and high GPA not need a degree? And a person with an average OAT, average GPA, be recommended to get a degree before acceptance?

I need to know, because my scheduling for summer quarter is coming up. Thanks!

 

[ppa93]

Are there any students here that are in or got accepted into optometry school without an undergraduate degree?

If so, what kind of GPA and OAT scores did you have?

I was wondering if I should get a biology major or if I should just finish the optometry pre-requisites and do well on the OAT.

Would a degree better my chances of getting accepted?
Do admission councils look at the student as a whole? For example, would a student with a high OAT score, and high GPA not need a degree? And a person with an average OAT, average GPA, be recommended to get a degree before acceptance?

I need to know, because my scheduling for summer quarter is coming up. Thanks!

I think they do care about Bachelor Degree. I think you must have at least 3.8GPA plus at least 360AA to gain admission. I dont have a bachelor degree, but I applied to PCO any way cos I just wanna give it a try. My gpa is 3.67 and OAT 330AA, 360TS. I got an interview, but I havent known the admission decision yet. I think they are still waiting for people with Bachelor degree.
I hope that helps.

 

[samwY]

I think they do care about Bachelor Degree. I think you must have at least 3.8GPA plus at least 360AA to gain admission. I dont have a bachelor degree, but I applied to PCO any way cos I just wanna give it a try. My gpa is 3.67 and OAT 330AA, 360TS. I got an interview, but I havent known the admission decision yet. I think they are still waiting for people with Bachelor degree.
I hope that helps.

When you said 3.8GPA and 360AA is needed to gain admission, did you mean that toward students without BA's? If you meant it for everyone, then that your infomation is false.

Average GPA is about 3.2 for all the optometry schools, and about 6-20% of the accepted students do not have BA's.

I need more personal details from people who actually had no BA degrees but got accepted. Or graduates who did not have BA degrees.

Thanks 🙂

 

[nmu preopt]

When you said 3.8GPA and 360AA is needed to gain admission, did you mean that toward students without BA's? If you meant it for everyone, then that your infomation is false.

ppa meant with no ba/bs degree.

 

[PLPrincess]

When you said 3.8GPA and 360AA is needed to gain admission, did you mean that toward students without BA's? If you meant it for everyone, then that your infomation is false.

Average GPA is about 3.2 for all the optometry schools, and about 6-20% of the accepted students do not have BA's.

I need more personal details from people who actually had no BA degrees but got accepted. Or graduates who did not have BA degrees.

Thanks 🙂

I suppose it all depends where you apply...I got accepted to NECO after 3 years undergrad, 3.4-3.5 GPA and an average/low OAT score, however my school has some sort of an affiliation with NECO....

When I interviewed at ICO it seemed like you needed to be a REALLY outstanding candidate to get in after 3 years....They were actually quite rude to be honest (well the guy that reviewed my application with me was anyway, the interviewer was nice).

I really don't know if the difference is the affiliation or what, but NECO was my first choice and I got in, so whatever.

PM me if I can answer any specific questions for you....

 

[pre-opt]

Like PLPrincess said, it really depends upon where you apply. Some schools don't require a degree (but still prefer it), while other do require a degree. I do not have a bachelors degree. The school that I was accepted into usually only take 1 or 2 (max) students without a degree. I had a 3.95 GPA and a 350 AA OAT. I took most of my pre-reqs at a community college, but had a special circumstance. I am actually a Psychology major. I took a risk by being a Psychology major because I didn't know how the optometry schools would feel about it (especially considering I was trying to get in after 3 years). Although 1 interviewer didn't like that I was only a 3rd year psychology major, the other interviewer said that it was more important that I had good work experience (which I did). I'm not sure if this is the best piece of advice for everyone, but I would suggest to major in whatever you find interesting. I just didn't want to not get into optometry school and then be stuck with a degree that I didn't want.

Although you don't want to have a really bad GPA, I would definately say from my experience that a good OAT is more important. If you do well on the OAT, you should be fine.

Hope this helps!!!

I suppose it all depends where you apply...I got accepted to NECO after 3 years undergrad, 3.4-3.5 GPA and an average/low OAT score, however my school has some sort of an affiliation with NECO....

When I interviewed at ICO it seemed like you needed to be a REALLY outstanding candidate to get in after 3 years....They were actually quite rude to be honest (well the guy that reviewed my application with me was anyway, the interviewer was nice).

I really don't know if the difference is the affiliation or what, but NECO was my first choice and I got in, so whatever.

PM me if I can answer any specific questions for you....

 

[samwY]

Like PLPrincess said, it really depends upon where you apply. Some schools don't require a degree (but still prefer it), while other do require a degree. I do not have a bachelors degree. The school that I was accepted into usually only take 1 or 2 (max) students without a degree. I had a 3.95 GPA and a 350 AA OAT. I took most of my pre-reqs at a community college, but had a special circumstance. I am actually a Psychology major. I took a risk by being a Psychology major because I didn't know how the optometry schools would feel about it (especially considering I was trying to get in after 3 years). Although 1 interviewer didn't like that I was only a 3rd year psychology major, the other interviewer said that it was more important that I had good work experience (which I did). I'm not sure if this is the best piece of advice for everyone, but I would suggest to major in whatever you find interesting. I just didn't want to not get into optometry school and then be stuck with a degree that I didn't want.

Although you don't want to have a really bad GPA, I would definately say from my experience that a good OAT is more important. If you do well on the OAT, you should be fine.

Hope this helps!!!

What school did you get into?

 

[samwY]

Like PLPrincess said, it really depends upon where you apply. Some schools don't require a degree (but still prefer it), while other do require a degree. I do not have a bachelors degree. The school that I was accepted into usually only take 1 or 2 (max) students without a degree. I had a 3.95 GPA and a 350 AA OAT. I took most of my pre-reqs at a community college, but had a special circumstance. I am actually a Psychology major. I took a risk by being a Psychology major because I didn't know how the optometry schools would feel about it (especially considering I was trying to get in after 3 years). Although 1 interviewer didn't like that I was only a 3rd year psychology major, the other interviewer said that it was more important that I had good work experience (which I did). I'm not sure if this is the best piece of advice for everyone, but I would suggest to major in whatever you find interesting. I just didn't want to not get into optometry school and then be stuck with a degree that I didn't want.

Although you don't want to have a really bad GPA, I would definately say from my experience that a good OAT is more important. If you do well on the OAT, you should be fine.

Hope this helps!!!

What school did you get into?

I really want to get into SUNY Optometry.

 

[pre-opt]

If you were talking to me, I was accepted into UMSL's program. I only applied to UMSL because this was the school that best fit my needs (close to home and instate tuition).

What school did you get into?

I really want to get into SUNY Optometry.

 

[PLPrincess]

What school did you get into?

I really want to get into SUNY Optometry.

Try finding out how many students they accept each year without an undergrad degree. That should at least give you a ballpark of where you stand.