Career changer here...Help Please

[pilotmatt]

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Hello everyone! My name is Matt and I am new to this board. I am thankful that I found a forum to posts questions. Well here is my life story (condensed)...I am 26 years old and had ambitions of becoming an airline pilot. After obtaining my private pilots certificate and accumulating flight hours I have decided not to continue with flying for a career. My main reason for this is that the airline industry is very unstable post 9/11 and cockpit jobs are very very hard to obtain unless one has military experience. I have always been interested in optometry since high school days, but always thought I would become a pilot. Well, after much thought and discussion with my wife I have decided to pursue optometry. I currently have 21 undergraduate credits and about a 3.2 GPA. I know that I am a mere infant in the process of becoming an optometrist, but very serious about my endeavors. I work for Ford Motor Company where I make body panels for Ford products. It is a good job, pays well, but I dread going to it everyday. There is not much people interaction and it is a dark and gloomy place to work. A typical blue collar job. I am the only one in my family (both sides) to even attempt college, let alone be a professional. I never had a great academic example to relate to. My parents just told me to "get by" and not really care too much about school. One of my big fears is that I wonder If I can "Do it". Does anyone here ever experience such fear? I live in Northwest Indiana, so IU is pretty much my first choice for schools when the time comes. My plan is to attend an IU satellite campus close to where I live and finish my undergrad. Then transfer to IU. Well, that is all for now thanks for reading! I would really appreciate any thoughts or advice you guys/gals could give me! Thank you very much for your time!!

-Matt (the new guy)

 

[Tigger27]

I would really appreciate any thoughts or advice you guys/gals could give me! Thank you very much for your time!!

-Matt (the new guy)[/QUOTE]

Matt, good for you for finding what you want and going for it. I, too, am a non-traditional student / career changer. I am not going into optometry (just browsing the forum in procrastination of what I need to be doing!), so I cannot relate in that regard - but I can empathize with the difficulty and excitement of your situation. After working for several years with kids w/behavior disorders, I decided to go to med school. I went back to an undergrad institution to do the prerequisite classes, and it was very tough to go back after being out of school so long. But I'm writing to tell you it can be done, and you will be that much better of an optometrist because of the dedication you are having to show now. I've been accepted to multiple med schools now, and am in a position I never dreamed I'd be in - having to decide where to go! (I'm leaning toward either Emory or U.Chicago) So don't give up on your dream! So while I can't give any O.D. specific advice, I can tell you that in my experience, non-traditional students have a lot to offer to schools and your life experience will put you at an advantage. Just wanted to give you some living proof, so to speak, that it can be done! Good luck!

 

[HYCW]

Hi Matt! From a fellow career changer, I can understand completely where you're coming from and want to say--hang in there, if you set your mind to it you can definitely do it!

My biggest piece of advice would be to first *definitely* get shadowing experience, not only for your future optometry school applications but to make sure you know that this is what you want. When I graduated from college, I went into product management. After several years, I realized that while I enjoyed my job, I didn't love it and nor did I see myself there in 10 years. So I did some research, talked to folks, and more importantly, volunteered to figured out what career might suit me best and voila--optometry opened itself to me. But it was only after I shadowed several professions did I figure that out because on paper, a lot of things can look interesting.

As for whether you can do it, of course you can! 🙂 If you're very worried, you can dip your toe into the water first to determine how comfortable you are with the pre-req load. You can start slow (1 or 2 classes as you work part-time) or do as I did and go full blast. I was very worried I wouldn't be able to handle all of the pre-reqs so I gave myself one "trial" semester to go to school full-time, load up on science courses, and see where I landed. I took Bio, Chem, Physics, and Micro at the same time. It was HARD (especially after not taking any science since high school!) but afterwards, I knew that if I set my mind to whatever I wanted, I could do it. Know also that if you take courses at a community college, especially at night, you will meet MANY people in the same boat as you. All of my lab partners have been a tremendous support because we're all going through the same thing (but they're mostly pre-med, pre-pharm or pre-dent...I've only met two other pre-opts).

As Tigger27 said, you'll be a better candidate for optometry school than most because of your background in the "real world." Plus, going back to school will show dedication to your new career choice. When I was shadowing, I got to know other pre-opt students and the majority of them weren't 100% sure of optometry as their career but were applying anyway. I think that'll come across in their applications/interviews.

Best of luck!!!

 

[r_salis]

Welcome, Matt! I'm a career changer, too -- I was a software engineer for over 10 years before I realized I liked people a lot better than machines. I talked to many optometrists and did a lot of research and decided that optometry was the perfect field for me. Like HYCW, I jumped into my pre-reqs with both feet as a test of whether I'd be able to handle being back in school. It was a lot of work, but I found I'm a much better student now than I was when I was younger. I'm now in my 2nd year of optometry school, and I have no regrets. 🙂

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress!

 

[file014]

Dude you could easily go to IUN or PUC and as long as you take the pre-req classes and keep your GPA about where it is, youll be fine.

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