First off, I'd just like to apologize in advance for creating another topic related to a question that is likely asked far too often on this website. That being said, I am really concerned about my chances of getting into optometry school.
I attend a major North American university, majoring in molecular biology with a GPA around 3.0. My GPA was higher after my first two years, but during my third year I was battling addiction (world of warcraft addiction lol) and as a result my grades were less than stellar and my gpa dropped from about a 3.3 to a 3.0.
I've written the OAT, and I scored decently well. My Total Science average was 370 and my Academic average was 360, these put me in the 94th and 95th percentile respectively. I'm happy with that score and I don't think I'll need to re-write the exam.
My volunteer and work experience is quite extensive, I've maintained a job at a major company for 4 years, one that is involved with money and the public. In addition to this I have experience with tutoring and in a commercial lab. My volunteer experience is a mixture of an overseas mission, coaching for a community sports league and other various things in my local community.
With respect to letters of reference, I can get one from an employer, someone involved with my volunteer experience and (hopefully) my optometrist. I've yet to do any shadowing in an optometric setting, but I will be asking my optometrist if I can shadow him prior to him writing my letter of reference.
So, that's my basic application bio and here are my questions.
1. Is my gpa way too low to be accepted? I will be applying to 5 or 6 schools within the US, most of which have an average gpa of 3.3-3.4. Can my OAT score help me out here, or should I return for another year of undergraduate school to raise my gpa? Also, my grades from my current semester should raise my overall gpa, should I wait until January when those grades are on my transcripts, or would that do more harm than good considering the 'rolling admissions' system in place?
2. Will I be at a significant disadvantage not having a letter of reference from a professor? I attend a very large institution, and with classes sizes ranging from 150-400 students it's difficult to get to know a professor enough where they'd be comfortable writing a letter of reference for me?
3. Will I like optometry? I went into school with really no idea what I wanted to do. The optometry program is appealing to me because it's only four-years, has a high level of autonomy in the workplace, allows for the pursuit of business objectives and will train me in a skill needed in poorer parts of the world (I plan on returning to the country I volunteered in later on, and being able to provide them with optometric care would be awesome). That being said, I'm more of a 10-4 kind of guy than a 9-5 person, I'm not a huge fan of working weekends and I'm looking to have a high earning potential. Will optometry provide me what I'm looking for?
4. Are average incomes really as high as they are reported (around $100 000-150 000/year) or are these averages inflated due to a few well-established practices/O.D.s making way more?
5. When I'm 50 will I hate my job and wish I went the grad school - PhD route? Does the job get monotonous, or does it provide you with a challenging and rewarding career for a long time?
6. Can personal essays help my application? I like to think I'm an above-average writer, and I'm hoping this requirement in addition to my OAT score can work to make me a highly competitive applicant despite my low GPA.
Again, I apologize for the wall of text, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot for your time!!
I attend a major North American university, majoring in molecular biology with a GPA around 3.0. My GPA was higher after my first two years, but during my third year I was battling addiction (world of warcraft addiction lol) and as a result my grades were less than stellar and my gpa dropped from about a 3.3 to a 3.0.
I've written the OAT, and I scored decently well. My Total Science average was 370 and my Academic average was 360, these put me in the 94th and 95th percentile respectively. I'm happy with that score and I don't think I'll need to re-write the exam.
My volunteer and work experience is quite extensive, I've maintained a job at a major company for 4 years, one that is involved with money and the public. In addition to this I have experience with tutoring and in a commercial lab. My volunteer experience is a mixture of an overseas mission, coaching for a community sports league and other various things in my local community.
With respect to letters of reference, I can get one from an employer, someone involved with my volunteer experience and (hopefully) my optometrist. I've yet to do any shadowing in an optometric setting, but I will be asking my optometrist if I can shadow him prior to him writing my letter of reference.
So, that's my basic application bio and here are my questions.
1. Is my gpa way too low to be accepted? I will be applying to 5 or 6 schools within the US, most of which have an average gpa of 3.3-3.4. Can my OAT score help me out here, or should I return for another year of undergraduate school to raise my gpa? Also, my grades from my current semester should raise my overall gpa, should I wait until January when those grades are on my transcripts, or would that do more harm than good considering the 'rolling admissions' system in place?
2. Will I be at a significant disadvantage not having a letter of reference from a professor? I attend a very large institution, and with classes sizes ranging from 150-400 students it's difficult to get to know a professor enough where they'd be comfortable writing a letter of reference for me?
3. Will I like optometry? I went into school with really no idea what I wanted to do. The optometry program is appealing to me because it's only four-years, has a high level of autonomy in the workplace, allows for the pursuit of business objectives and will train me in a skill needed in poorer parts of the world (I plan on returning to the country I volunteered in later on, and being able to provide them with optometric care would be awesome). That being said, I'm more of a 10-4 kind of guy than a 9-5 person, I'm not a huge fan of working weekends and I'm looking to have a high earning potential. Will optometry provide me what I'm looking for?
4. Are average incomes really as high as they are reported (around $100 000-150 000/year) or are these averages inflated due to a few well-established practices/O.D.s making way more?
5. When I'm 50 will I hate my job and wish I went the grad school - PhD route? Does the job get monotonous, or does it provide you with a challenging and rewarding career for a long time?
6. Can personal essays help my application? I like to think I'm an above-average writer, and I'm hoping this requirement in addition to my OAT score can work to make me a highly competitive applicant despite my low GPA.
Again, I apologize for the wall of text, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot for your time!!