application process

[jav316]

hello, i was wondering if anyone could explain the timelines of the application process - i'm new to this as i have been previously thinking about dentistry.

my question what is considered an early application (i know you can apply to med and dental beginning in june)?

also, if i take the oat in october, when could i expect to go through interviews? this is a career change for me. i have been working for 2 years with a clin research company and am trying to plan to volunteer and travel in march 2006 through the summer before matriculating. for those going through the process now, do you think this is feasible? or will i be absent for a critical part of the app process?

thanks for reading and any responses

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[cunikki]

Umm I think that I applied relatively early in the process; in august/september... a lot of schools have a specific date that they start accepting applications on. I know that many schools (SCCO, Nova, NECO). you can apply until the middle of march

I took the October OAT and was getting interviews shortly after i got my results (first of December) but some schools (PCO) will offer you an interview without the scores....
I got interview invites for Jan and Feb based on those scores and I felt like most schools were pretty early in the interview process. I think that you should probably be all set by March if you apply in September
Two things to note.... 1-now that you can take the OAT online if you are interested i think that you could probably interview earlier than Jan/Feb if you were interested. For me .. i had some issues about when to schedule interviews because i didnt think i would get interviews at all schools that i applied to; and some schools want a deposit within two weeks; which is kinda hard if you still have interviews planned at schools a month away.
2- of the schools i applied to; the only one that seemed to have very stringent policies on apps is Berkeley; all materials are due to them by Dec 15th and then they have only one interview day late in feb. this made it sort of tough because i ended up scheduling other interviews in the middle/late Feb so i wouldnt be forced to put down a deposit before i had interviewed there.

I think it is very doable for you because i honestly had no idea i was applying to optometry school until late July/early August.. and i was able to shadow someone, get LORs from that person and a college professor i hadnt seen in 1.5 years and fill out my apps in enough time that i got january interview dates.
let me know if you have any other questions

 

[jav316]

thank you so much! i did not know you could take the oat online. that is very helpful. are you planning on matriculating this year? that's great that you received interviews so shortly after submitting your scores! if you don't mind me asking, were your grades on the higher end or the average range. i still don't have a good feel for the competitiveness of these programs.

i honestly hadn't thought about optometry until recently and i can see myself really enjoying this field...

Umm I think that I applied relatively early in the process; in august/september... a lot of schools have a specific date that they start accepting applications on. I know that many schools (SCCO, Nova, NECO). you can apply until the middle of march

I took the October OAT and was getting interviews shortly after i got my results (first of December) but some schools (PCO) will offer you an interview without the scores....
I got interview invites for Jan and Feb based on those scores and I felt like most schools were pretty early in the interview process. I think that you should probably be all set by March if you apply in September
Two things to note.... 1-now that you can take the OAT online if you are interested i think that you could probably interview earlier than Jan/Feb if you were interested. For me .. i had some issues about when to schedule interviews because i didnt think i would get interviews at all schools that i applied to; and some schools want a deposit within two weeks; which is kinda hard if you still have interviews planned at schools a month away.
2- of the schools i applied to; the only one that seemed to have very stringent policies on apps is Berkeley; all materials are due to them by Dec 15th and then they have only one interview day late in feb. this made it sort of tough because i ended up scheduling other interviews in the middle/late Feb so i wouldnt be forced to put down a deposit before i had interviewed there.

I think it is very doable for you because i honestly had no idea i was applying to optometry school until late July/early August.. and i was able to shadow someone, get LORs from that person and a college professor i hadnt seen in 1.5 years and fill out my apps in enough time that i got january interview dates.
let me know if you have any other questions

 

[cunikki]

thank you so much! i did not know you could take the oat online. that is very helpful. are you planning on matriculating this year? that's great that you received interviews so shortly after submitting your scores! if you don't mind me asking, were your grades on the higher end or the average range. i still don't have a good feel for the competitiveness of these programs.

i honestly hadn't thought about optometry until recently and i can see myself really enjoying this field...

no problem; yeah i will be going to scco in the fall... my grades were pretty average... 3.1 gpa... 350 total oat; 330 science... so nothing incredible... i started out wiht the assumption that it would be a lot more competitive to get in; so i applied to 5 schools; i ended up getting interviews everywhere; but dropped 2 interviews after i got accepted at the first 3 schools...
the online oat just started; i am not sure if its necessarily better; i think that you get your scores a lot quicker... but i think it would be hard to do the math and the reading passages online. honestly i feel like optometry is a great choice and that people with pretty average grades can still get in...
i really hadnt thought about optometry until recently too; so its kinda weird that i am already in a school but im very excited; i think its a really awesome career!
good luck!