Become an optometrist three years after high school?! That does not sound right.

[Neil45]

I went for an interview with my optometrist last week, and he told me that there are eigth universities in the UK that offer an optometry degree to students after three years of high school! So that means at 21 years of age, you can become an optometrist(4 years if you want to practice in Canada or US). It is strange though. Considering that a pharmacy degree takes four years to complete in the UK and it is not widely regarded as a doctoral profession. Anyway, I was looking up on one of the universities that my optometrist advised me to look up on the internet, it is called Aston University. Here is a link to the program(http://www.aston.ac.uk/prospective-students/ug/pros2006/lhs/02lhsopt.jsp). It sounds like a very good optometry program. Furthermore, becoming an optometrist after three years of high school will save alot of time and money than if I choose to do the long way which is becoming an optometrist eight years after high school here in Canada. Does anyone think it is a good idea to apply to the optometry program? Or should I do the "normal" way and get a bachelor's degree first, then apply to optometry school? Is it true that what you learn in the undergraduate years to get a bachelor's degree will correspond a lot to the optometry program?

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[Kristene9]

I went for an interview with my optometrist last week, and he told me that there are eigth universities in the UK that offer an optometry degree to students after three years of high school! So that means at 21 years of age, you can become an optometrist(4 years if you want to practice in Canada or US). It is strange though. Considering that a pharmacy degree takes four years to complete in the UK and it is not widely regarded as a doctoral profession. Anyway, I was looking up on one of the universities that my optometrist advised me to look up on the internet, it is called Aston University. Here is a link to the program(http://www.aston.ac.uk/prospective-students/ug/pros2006/lhs/02lhsopt.jsp). It sounds like a very good optometry program. Furthermore, becoming an optometrist after three years of high school will save alot of time and money than if I choose to do the long way which is becoming an optometrist eight years after high school here in Canada. Does anyone think it is a good idea to apply to the optometry program? Or should I do the "normal" way and get a bachelor's degree first, then apply to optometry school? Is it true that what you learn in the undergraduate years to get a bachelor's degree will correspond a lot to the optometry program?

Optometry is a Bachelor's degree in the UK. As far as I know they bascily just learn to refract, and are not allowed to administer drugs. Also, I dont think they can practice in the US. I think you have to be from an accreated univeristy and those are not. I might be wrong, but I've worked with people from the UK and I do know that there rules are very different from ours.

 

[cpw]

duplicate thread ... closing