Calling all non-geniuses....

[muleque]

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Browsing through this forum I've realized that I'm surrounded by whiz kids. Apparently the average OAT is 380, not 300. (Or only the high scorers dare post here). My 330 was good enough to get me an interview and I sure as heck don't plan on taking it again. Anyway, I'd like to know if any other "average" students are on this board so we can start a support group!

 

[mencantatodo]

haha, 330 represent! (my score as well)

i've noticed the trend about the 380+ people posting, too. you're not alone!

 

[JackCM]

Don't worry, not everyone here is a genius. I had a 340 AA and 330 TS and got 4 interviews out of 5 schools I applied to, and have 1 acceptance so far (from the 1 interview I went on). You don't need a 380!

 

[mencantatodo]

Don't worry, not everyone here is a genius. I had a 340 AA and 330 TS and got 4 interviews out of 5 schools I applied to, and have 1 acceptance so far (from the 1 interview I went on). You don't need a 380!

where are your interviews to? i know PCO on monday 🙂 (i'll be there wednesday)

good luck!

 

[cpw]

You guys are in good company. I had a 340AA/330 TS myself 🙂 It's still a very good score and will get you into school.

I applied to three schools: UHCO,SCCO and UCB... I got into all of them but UCB.

You definitely don't need a 360+ OAT for most schools. If you're gunning for UCB, though, it'll help.

 

[JackCM]

My acceptance is from IU, then I have PCO and ICO. I also got an interview at NOVA but I withdrew my application after I got into IU, since I don't want to live in Florida.

 

[aam0050]

I got 340 AA & TS and got accepted to all three schools I applied to. There are so many factors that go into your acceptance, and your OAT is just fine! 👍

 

[muleque]

Well, the way I see it is that if most interviews are indeed closed file, once you've been invited to an interview you've already cleared the OAT hurdle and it's probably not going to surface in the interview. You're there because your OAT, GPA, and extracurriculars were strong enough; now they just want to get to know you to see if you're a good fit for the program. The interview's about character, communication skills, and knowledge about and passion for optometry. Anybody agree/disagree?
This may make me sound like an underacheiver, but I was perfectly happy with a 330. I tried not to stress out too much about the OAT. It's just interesting to see how many people take it so seriously when the schools really probably don't weigh it as much as we think.

 

[beatnik10884]

Well,I have applied to SCO and NOVA with 320 AA and 330 TS, which is low. My GPA is ok too 3.64 I recieved an interview invite from NOVA but yet to hear from SCO my school of choice, I'm so worried.

 

[JackCM]

Well I had a closed file interview and the first questions were my GPA and OAT scores... so I'm not sure how true that is.

 

[spanisheyes]

the purpose of the closed-file interview is so they dont have any bias and they try to give everyone an equal opportunity to represent themselves. But when it comes down to making a decision they definitely look at your gpa oats and interview score altogether

 

[TheZoosh]

hey guys, first of all im loving the idea of this thread! secondly, i got 340 TS and 330 AA.. have any of you with similar scores gotten invited for interviews to SUNY yet?? its the only place i want to go and i havent heard from them yet.. shoot me!

 

[cmec429]

i'm only a junior in hs... but i heard the SUNY optometry school was best... waht score do u need to get there???

 

[amoura04]

hey guys, first of all im loving the idea of this thread! secondly, i got 340 TS and 330 AA.. have any of you with similar scores gotten invited for interviews to SUNY yet?? its the only place i want to go and i havent heard from them yet.. shoot me!

I got an interview at SUNY before I even took the OAT! They told me as long as I score above 320 on all or most of the subsections, then I'm a qualified candidate to get accepted.

 

[muleque]

Yeah, I took a tour of SUNY this summer and Dr. Johnston said they like to see above a 320 on the OAT. I got the feeling from him that the OAT is somewhat of a formality, and that it's more important NOT to get a bad score than it is to get a really good score. Of course the OAT factors in, but I think a 360 gets you a 10 on the OAT criteria just like a 390 does. Unless your GPA and extracurriculars are really suffering, I think spending $200 to retake the OAT after getting a 340 or 350 is not really necessary. Hopefully I'm making sense here.