arrrrghh

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carizma12

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so i just spoke with an optometrist today, and she basically told me not to go to NOVA because of the reputation. she told me to either choose PCO, ICO or NECO. i dont know what to do because i was JUST about to decline my seat at PCO. Now I will probably definitely go to my NECO and ICO interviews..

Is NOVA that bad?
 
I really don't think reputation matters..as long as you get your degree you are set...
 
carizma12 said:
so i just spoke with an optometrist today, and she basically told me not to go to NOVA because of the reputation. she told me to either choose PCO, ICO or NECO. i dont know what to do because i was JUST about to decline my seat at PCO. Now I will probably definitely go to my NECO and ICO interviews..

Is NOVA that bad?
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A friend of mine said Nova accepts around 110 students but are only allowed to let 60-70 graduate. They make the curriculum really hard for this purpose. He said a lot of students from Nova who were dismissed ended up transferring to Puerto Rico to finish. Not sure if it's true though.
 
why would they only want 60-70 graduates? doesn't that make their school look bad?
 
I dont think thats true. I really dont think schools do that weed out process anymore. I wouldnt go to NOVA just cause of the chance of getting caught in the hurricane (JK). Honestly, do your research, go with what you feel best. Im assuming that you've been to all the schools you've listed, use your information from those to decide which one you wanna go to. You can hear rumors about all schools, but go where you feel like you'll have the best exeperince.
 
the optometrist i spoke to said that reputation matters if i want to practice in the states - and people look at which school you came from.

i really liked NOVA, but i get all these bad impressions from other people. i have a feeling that if i graduated from NOVA, this optometrist wouldnt hire me, where as if I graduated from ICO or PCO she would. she was really firm about me reconsidering NOVA.

I dont know what to do!!! SOOOO CONFUSED AND STRESSED OUT!!:scared: 😕 :scared: 😕
 
goodness, the Optometrist that I volunteered for told me that her first choice was NOVA...that was like 8 years ago..but she couldnt go because of family problems...she told me that she loves the school! come on, she has her own practice now and is doing great...I don't know what your optometrist is talking about, but my optometrist is pretty successful now...she graduated from undergrad in 3 years!
 
i think it was 8 or 6 years..not sure..but go with what you like...getting your degree is awesome enough..
 
i really dont know what to do - how she said it basically turned everything around for me and made me reconsider my options. there are a lot of postings on how NOVA isnt one of the best schools - but i dont see any proof or evidence of why..and what is so bad about it.

she also said optometrists like to hire ppl from PCO/ICO.
 
uuughhh!! listening to this frustrates me so much more too!! my parents aren't being supportive of me going to that NECO interview afterall and are telling me to stick to NOVA. greattt... so what am i to do now?? such complications
 
yvipine said:
uuughhh!! listening to this frustrates me so much more too!! my parents aren't being supportive of me going to that NECO interview afterall and are telling me to stick to NOVA. greattt... so what am i to do now?? such complications
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I am in the exact same SITUATION! My parents dont seem to understand that I want to see all the schools and choose the best one. They think I should stick to NOVA (for low tuition, and since I already made my deposit)

I am so stressed out right now!
 
carizma12 said:
I am in the exact same SITUATION! My parents dont seem to understand that I want to see all the schools and choose the best one. They think I should stick to NOVA (for low tuition, and since I already made my deposit)

I am so stressed out right now!
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wow... i never thot we'd be deal with the SAME thing thinking over the SAME schools!! (except for PCO for me, i didn't apply there). But geeess!!! can't they just understand??? so frustrating!
 
yeah this is the most frustrating thing i've ever dealt with. two months ago i was stressed about getting in. now im stressed about where to go. i see grey hairs already.

yvipine - what areyou doing to do? go to the NECO interview? when is it again?

i want to make mine earlier.. march if possible...
 
carizma12 said:
yeah this is the most frustrating thing i've ever dealt with. two months ago i was stressed about getting in. now im stressed about where to go. i see grey hairs already.

yvipine - what areyou doing to do? go to the NECO interview? when is it again?

i want to make mine earlier.. march if possible...
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i already scheduled it on the 2nd of april only cause the 26th and the 30th is full. but IF i go, i'd be going behind my parent's back so i wouldn't have to deal w/ their nagging. uughhh. you're right, this is the most frustrating thing i've had to deal with. 😡
 
yvipine said:
i already scheduled it on the 2nd of april only cause the 26th and the 30th is full. but IF i go, i'd be going behind my parent's back so i wouldn't have to deal w/ their nagging. uughhh. you're right, this is the most frustrating thing i've had to deal with. 😡
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wow.. .we have SO much in common right now.. it's almost scary.... mine is for the 2nd as well - but i was going to check and see if they had any openings on the 30th because the ticket is a lot cheaper then..
 
carizma12 said:
wow.. .we have SO much in common right now.. it's almost scary.... mine is for the 2nd as well - but i was going to check and see if they had any openings on the 30th because the ticket is a lot cheaper then..
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my energy is really draining out because of this.... i don't like it 🙁 and yeah, the 30th is cheaper, i think it's because it's flying over during the weekday instead of the weekend to make it for the 2nd's interview
 
ttn003 said:
goodness, the Optometrist that I volunteered for told me that her first choice was NOVA...that was like 8 years ago..but she couldnt go because of family problems...she told me that she loves the school! come on, she has her own practice now and is doing great...I don't know what your optometrist is talking about, but my optometrist is pretty successful now...she graduated from undergrad in 3 years!
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hmm... but the optometrist you worked for didn't end up going to NOVA, so i don't know if her opinion that NOVA really is a good school is valid =/
 
I dont know if this will influence you or not?

-there is a rumor at my school right now that NOVA lost their accreditation this year....and I know for a fact that they have had a hard time keeping their accreditation. Also, they are known to have a lower passing rate on the National Board exams, with the Board requirements changing I would PERSONALLY be quite wary of going to a school who can barely keep it together enough to keep their academic standing, let along try and rely on them to have re-evaluated their curriculum enough to ensure that their students will be rady for the new National boards.

But, that's just my 2 cents...Goodluck with your decisions....
 
you're right.. but i think its the whole "reputation" thing. i doubt she knows too much about the school - but she must have heard things somewhere in order to make that judgement.
 
carizma12 said:
I am in the exact same SITUATION! My parents dont seem to understand that I want to see all the schools and choose the best one. They think I should stick to NOVA (for low tuition, and since I already made my deposit)

I am so stressed out right now!
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Ditto... they told me to pick b/w what ive been accepted for already 😱 You will get part of your depoist back wont you? I mean i know for PCO they only keep 100 of the 500 you sent in. So like 500 dollars compared to like 30000+ a year for school isnt that much. I honestly havent heard anything really bad about NOVA until now, but then agian I never applied. I had a friend go for an interveiw there last year, and he liked the school. To far away for us though, so he ended up going for PCO instead.

NOVA lost their accreditation this year....and I know for a fact that they have had a hard time keeping their accreditation.
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Where have you been looking to find information like this? Cause its kinda intersting. I would be kinda wary if this is true. If your school looses accreditation while your attending it poses major problems for you... you'll lose your money, not to mention time, and trouble for getting accepted else where. I dont think they've lost their accreditation, cause I highly doubt they'd be conducting interviews, but they coulda had a review of it. I would find out for sure about this.
 
Yes - I as well would like to know where you got that information. That will make a HUGe impact on my decision to go to NOVA or not.
 
hm...hope this info. will somewhat help you making the decision...

During my interview at NOVA with two 3rd year students, I asked them about how many people were accepted that year and how many are currently enrolled. They told me about 120 students were accepted and as of now there are about 90 students in their class.
 
white_lily07 said:
hm...hope this info. will somewhat help you making the decision...

During my interview at NOVA with two 3rd year students, I asked them about how many people were accepted that year and how many are currently enrolled. They told me about 120 students were accepted and as of now there are about 90 students in their class.
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So what does that mean?
 
I have heard that NOVA's board pass rates are low. What I'm not convinced of, however, is that your school will have any great affect on your future in optometry. If you want to work for an optometrist, I'd imagine that your interview with the hiring optometrist would be the deal-maker. If you start your own practice (which a majority of OD's do, it seems), you will surely not pay yourself less.

Maybe a call to the school will clear up the confusion about accreditation?

Good luck
 
if this helps....i emailed Fran from NOVA and asked about their accreditation. She told me that they were recently reviewed by the accreditation team, but they only had 'great recommendations' on the school. She did suggest that if I wanted to ask further about it, then I could talk to the Dean. I guess that means that they're still accredited?
 
They have to be accreditied still... I dont think they can hold interviews if they werent. The accreditation ppl review schools all the time from what Ive heard, it doesnt mean its for a bad reason. I dunno if theres only 90ppl stil enrolled, I thought that it was hard to transfer to other schools so does that mean that 30ppl dropped out? That seems highly unlikely to me, espically with the amount you pay for tution.
 
Hm...I don't know. They told me that those people couldn't keep their grades above 70% which is one of the school requirements so they couldn't stay there.
 
I too heard from various optometrists when I was initially applying to use NOVA as a back-up school. The reason being NOVA is the newest of the optometry schools, about 15 years I believe, and they are still ironing the wrinkles out in their curriculum. However, the main reason I didn't chose to go there is because I was turned off at the fact that I would be with students pursuing other professions. And yes, I heard the board rates there are low too. Hope this isn't offending anyone applying there, I'm only going by what other optometrists I've worked for told me.
 
If you go to their website, you can see that they're accredited. True they did lose their accredidation, but that was years ago. Since then, they've changed their program around and have been receiving good marks. If I remember correctly from the interview; they recented got reviewed by the board again, and will have their accredidation until at least the time the entering class (2007) graduates (forgot the exact years).

Finally, their board scores for the past couple years have been good. From their Assistant Dean:

Part I: 89% for FIRST time takers
Part II and III: over 90%

Plus, keep in mind that the boards are changing for the entering class, SOOO everyone is going to be on the same page.
 
The office that I work at has two doctors from Nova. They are both great, and said that they loved being at NOVA..

As far as employment goes, there will be someone that will want to hire you.. and there will be someone that won't want to hire you. It may be due to education, age, race, sex.. any of those. Regardless of equal opportunity, .. that just the way it works.
 
I hate to be blunt but somebody has to say it.

Optometrists are 90% image 10% real quality. So of course the choice as to which school you go to is going to be important. If you want to push the Gucci glasses for $$$ you have to go to a "Gucci" school. Also, optometrists hire people who have graduated from their own school first, so go by numbers and longevity. That would be PCO, then ICO (the old ICO school doesn't count), then NECO, last NOVA.

NECO and NOVA's passing rates just down right stink so take those out of your equation. Don't go by location, it is deceptive, NECO may be close to Harvard but the old farts their seriously need to go take their continuing education and find out what is going on in eye care IN THIS CENTURY!

The remaining two are private and have also been known to weed people out so you have a tough choice. The weeding out philosophy does exist, that group of students who went to PR was during the time NOVA was fearing the lose of their accreditation. So they made a major "clean up." PR has great scores when it comes to the accreditation committee. Why I don't know. But NOVA has always been under a watchful eye with the accreditors. Why I don't know, but that is the way things are.

Just my two euros (worth more than two cents).
 
fonziefonz said:
I don't know what else to say other than your reasoning employs quite weak logic.
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Seems to be the norm. So-called bluntness does not equal much in the way of truth. Your argument, Opii, is only full of conjecture and snappy buzz words. There's no substance whatsoever. Sorry.
 
I had the same reaction when I spoke with an optometrist before my interview at Nova. She told me that Nova has some accreditation problems in the past. When I asked her why, though, she didn't have an explanation. She just said she heard about it. When I checked out Nova, it was a great school. So in conclusion, I suggest you choose the school YOU like instead of basing your decision on conjectures and hearsay. Good luck with your decision!
 
hfpepperbean47 said:
Seems to be the norm. So-called bluntness does not equal much in the way of truth. Your argument, Opii, is only full of conjecture and snappy buzz words. There's no substance whatsoever. Sorry.
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I love how PRE - optometry students think they know so much. you'll learn at your personal expense.
 
Opii said:
I hate to be blunt but somebody has to say it.

Optometrists are 90% image 10% real quality. So of course the choice as to which school you go to is going to be important. If you want to push the Gucci glasses for $$$ you have to go to a "Gucci" school. Also, optometrists hire people who have graduated from their own school first, so go by numbers and longevity. That would be PCO, then ICO (the old ICO school doesn't count), then NECO, last NOVA.

NECO and NOVA's passing rates just down right stink so take those out of your equation. Don't go by location, it is deceptive, NECO may be close to Harvard but the old farts their seriously need to go take their continuing education and find out what is going on in eye care IN THIS CENTURY!

The remaining two are private and have also been known to weed people out so you have a tough choice. The weeding out philosophy does exist, that group of students who went to PR was during the time NOVA was fearing the lose of their accreditation. So they made a major "clean up." PR has great scores when it comes to the accreditation committee. Why I don't know. But NOVA has always been under a watchful eye with the accreditors. Why I don't know, but that is the way things are.

Just my two euros (worth more than two cents).
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Hey Opii,

Your post kinda confused me, so can you clear some things up?

First off, when you say, "Optometrists are 90% image 10% real quality."
...does that mean all optometrists are quacks? I would hope that more then 10% of eye care is "quality", otherwise, I would imagine everyone with incorrect prescriptions and undiagnosed diseases.

"If you want to push the Gucci glasses for $$$ you have to go to a "Gucci" school."
... what do you mean by that? Do patients/customers really know the differences between schools in their decision to buy those "Gucci" glasses? In fact, do patients going in for eye care (not just material objects now) generally look at your diploma, see the school you went to, and decide to leave/stay based on that alone? Or do you mean that eyewear retailers only sell designer glasses to optometrists of a certain school?

"NECO and NOVA's passing rates just down right stink so take those out of your equation."
...True, NECO's passing rates are a lil lower then the other schools, but have you checked NOVA's passing rates lately?...89% for 2006.That's not as high as some of the other schools, but I don't think they "down right stink". The more recent past years were also around there.

"PR has great scores when it comes to the accreditation committee. Why I don't know. But NOVA has always been under a watchful eye with the accreditors. Why I don't know, but that is the way things are. "
...where are you getting these score reports? Do you know someone on the board who tells you that they're secretly watchful of NOVA, while in actually, they're giving "good recommendations" to the school?
 
Opii said:
I love how PRE - optometry students think they know so much. you'll learn at your personal expense.
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Even if we're PRE-optometrists, it doesn't mean we're clueless. If anything, we're researching more about the schools, and the profession. True, we have no experience, but that's why we're on the forums, to learn from other's experiences.

We appreciate the experiences other share, but it's A LOT more helpful if the comments others made had background info/data. Otherwise, negative comments (that put down students and the profession) are just arbitrary and are rightfully taken with a grain of salt.

So, instead of having us learn at our own personal expense, please spare us the hardships by telling us WHY you say thing things you do, and with what evidence. That way, we can take what you say into consideration, and perhaps heed it as useful advice.

Thanks
 
Opii said:
I love how PRE - optometry students think they know so much. you'll learn at your personal expense.
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Thanks for the underline, Opii, apparently you have all the answers? Is that what I should be led to believe? So to have any clue at all a person must have already started optometry school? Yet again, there is NO SUBSTANCE in your writing/opinions. Do you also like the sound of your own voice?
 
Opii said:
I hate to be blunt but somebody has to say it.

Optometrists are 90% image 10% real quality. So of course the choice as to which school you go to is going to be important. If you want to push the Gucci glasses for $$$ you have to go to a "Gucci" school. Also, optometrists hire people who have graduated from their own school first, so go by numbers and longevity. That would be PCO, then ICO (the old ICO school doesn't count), then NECO, last NOVA.

NECO and NOVA's passing rates just down right stink so take those out of your equation. Don't go by location, it is deceptive, NECO may be close to Harvard but the old farts their seriously need to go take their continuing education and find out what is going on in eye care IN THIS CENTURY!

The remaining two are private and have also been known to weed people out so you have a tough choice. The weeding out philosophy does exist, that group of students who went to PR was during the time NOVA was fearing the lose of their accreditation. So they made a major "clean up." PR has great scores when it comes to the accreditation committee. Why I don't know. But NOVA has always been under a watchful eye with the accreditors. Why I don't know, but that is the way things are.

Just my two euros (worth more than two cents).
Click to expand...

If anybody would like to check it out you can go to the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education's website and you'll find that every single school is accredited. no schools are on probation, or in trouble, or under any "eye," watchful or otherwise. If you email or contact the schools they will more tha likely send you a copy of the letter outlining the most recent results of the review for accreditation and if it says they have to work on something, fine. if not, fine. either way you look at it the accrediting board thinks all the schools meet the guidelines so you might wish to consider not talking about stuff you have no idea about, please.
 
carizma12 said:
so i just spoke with an optometrist today, and she basically told me not to go to NOVA because of the reputation. she told me to either choose PCO, ICO or NECO. i dont know what to do because i was JUST about to decline my seat at PCO. Now I will probably definitely go to my NECO and ICO interviews..

Is NOVA that bad?
Click to expand...


well I have known Fran for several years. she's a nice lady who has helped me alot, and i thank her for her help. when it comes to Nova, i have heard every story about NOVA (good, bad and ugly).

Yes nova had accreditation problems in the past, reason being is that they were accepting a crap load of students with low credentials. i know this because i know an OD that had very low undergrad grades with high OAT's. it is harder to get into NOVA's 4 year OD program now than 6 years ago. Nova is a great school, new in technology, its an okey program, but if you want top notch OD education, PCO, ICO, IU and perhaps NECO will take care of that. back then you can get in to the NSUCO with low stats, thats the reason they had soo many applicants in their early years. and they paid the price for it.

NSUCO is one of the toughest programs out there. 10-15 students at least have left and dropped out in their first year for the last several years. they have one of the highest drop out rates. some schools average 3-4. NSU is pretty high. my histology professor said to me " Nova is a good school, but their are other schools with more bang for the buck" if you get his drift.

i have a long time friend who is in her 3rd year of Nova, she likes it but for the most part in addition, she hates a lot of how they run the program . "most of the time i feel they are trying to get rid of me" was the most alarming thing she said even though she has good grades.

NSU optometry was my primary choice a few years ago, i applied to that school with someone who wanted to become an opthalmologist, unfortunately he didnt do so hot in the MCAT, so he applied to one school, namely Nova. what do you know he got in.

i know the faculty very well, Dr. Reich, and Dr. Loshin, are the assistant dean/ dean of NSUCO. nice people by the way, but i do question seriously how they run their program.

my stats arent all that great for OD school even though i did a masters with nearly a 3.5 GPA. the truth is that Nova is only a few min drive from my home of Ft. Lauderdale Florida.

Someone here said that Nova is a backup school for me. well your not alone in that sense.
 
When I was at Nova, we had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with a number of current students, at all different levels in the program. The great majority said that there was absolutely nothing they didn't like and that the workload was very do-able (and these were just random students who we told to give their honest opinion). Only two students had a complaint about Nova, and it was that the number of patients that they see in the clinic during third year should be higher than it is currently. In my opinion, talking with actual students is really the best way to get a feel for the school.
 
FL Opt Girl said:
When I was at Nova, we had the opportunity to talk one-on-one with a number of current students, at all different levels in the program. The great majority said that there was absolutely nothing they didn't like and that the workload was very do-able (and these were just random students who we told to give their honest opinion). Only two students had a complaint about Nova, and it was that the number of patients that they see in the clinic during third year should be higher than it is currently. In my opinion, talking with actual students is really the best way to get a feel for the school.
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yep thats all true to a certain point.
 
sharpshooter24 said:
well I have known Fran for several years. she's a nice lady who has helped me alot, and i thank her for her help. when it comes to Nova, i have heard every story about NOVA (good, bad and ugly).

Yes nova had accreditation problems in the past, reason being is that they were accepting a crap load of students with low credentials. i know this because i know an OD that had very low undergrad grades with high OAT's. it is harder to get into NOVA's 4 year OD program now than 6 years ago. Nova is a great school, new in technology, its an okey program, but if you want top notch OD education, PCO, ICO, IU and perhaps NECO will take care of that. back then you can get in to the NSUCO with low stats, thats the reason they had soo many applicants in their early years. and they paid the price for it.

NSUCO is one of the toughest programs out there. 10-15 students at least have left and dropped out in their first year for the last several years. they have one of the highest drop out rates. some schools average 3-4. NSU is pretty high. my histology professor said to me " Nova is a good school, but their are other schools with more bang for the buck" if you get his drift.

i have a long time friend who is in her 3rd year of Nova, she likes it but for the most part in addition, she hates a lot of how they run the program . "most of the time i feel they are trying to get rid of me" was the most alarming thing she said even though she has good grades.

NSU optometry was my primary choice a few years ago, i applied to that school with someone who wanted to become an opthalmologist, unfortunately he didnt do so hot in the MCAT, so he applied to one school, namely Nova. what do you know he got in.

i know the faculty very well, Dr. Reich, and Dr. Loshin, are the assistant dean/ dean of NSUCO. nice people by the way, but i do question seriously how they run their program.

my stats arent all that great for OD school even though i did a masters with nearly a 3.5 GPA. the truth is that Nova is only a few min drive from my home of Ft. Lauderdale Florida.

Someone here said that Nova is a backup school for me. well your not alone in that sense.
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Hey, Sharpie, what's your beef with NSUCO? Are you p.o.'d they didn't accept you? Because all around this site you bash the program (with some concessions to quality) but then you seem to keep applying. Hmmmmmmmm. If I didn't know better, I'd have to say sour grapes? Where are you getting your dropout/failout information? Do you work in the admissions office? Where are you getting your clinic information? Do you work in the clinic? This is a site for people to gather information from *credible* sources and you keep spouting off like you have all the answers but...um....you're not in optometry school. Anywhere. So how about you "reveal" where you get all your information?
 
od2bn2009 said:
Hey, Sharpie, what's your beef with NSUCO? Are you p.o.'d they didn't accept you? Because all around this site you bash the program (with some concessions to quality) but then you seem to keep applying. Hmmmmmmmm. If I didn't know better, I'd have to say sour grapes? Where are you getting your dropout/failout information? Do you work in the admissions office? Where are you getting your clinic information? Do you work in the clinic? This is a site for people to gather information from *credible* sources and you keep spouting off like you have all the answers but...um....you're not in optometry school. Anywhere. So how about you "reveal" where you get all your information?
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got them from a good friend of mine in her 3rd year rotation. no need to bash me with an attitude, because i am not here to do. does that answer your question.
 
sharpshooter24 said:
got them from a good friend of mine in her 3rd year rotation. no need to bash me with an attitude, because i am not here to do. does that answer your question.
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Not really. You have one friend in the program out of how many? 400? What if she's wrong, and you're all over this site pretending like you have all the answers? You have NOTHING to offer about these programs from your own experience, so please state that in your posts. "This is from a friend in school there" and better yet have HER join the site and post what she thinks. Even if I don't agree with her at least I'd know she was posting her own opinions instead of filtering through you,who have proven yourself to have incorrect data and wrong information and very biassed information (they rejected you, right?) Nobody wants false and fake information here, just real stuff.
 
I'm actually surprised to be reading negative posts about NOVA...the optometrist I shadowed actually recommended that I applied to NOVA. He said that although they are newer, they have an amazing group of faculty there that would make it worthwhile to go to the school. I ended up not applying to NOVA because it's in FL and too far from home for me but I did consider it for a while.

I just wanted to throw it out there that an optometrist highly recommended NOVA saying that the education would be great (opposing those that didn't). However, he did say he'd recommend PCO over NOVA (but I think that has to do with the fact that him and his wife are PCO alums... 🙂)
 
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