Career switch to optometry

[midlifeOD]

I am new to this forum, but I thought this would be an appropriate place to start seeking some information. I am contemplating going to optometry school. This would be a significant life shift for me as I have a master's degree in another field (non-science) and have been out of graduate school for 10 years. I would like to know how difficult optometry school will be with a family? Thoughts from others who have done it? Advice from other Non-Trads? Anything would help in my decision making process. Thank you.

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[362.04]

"...his would be a significant life shift for me as I have a master's degree in another field (non-science) and have been out of graduate school for 10 years..."

Dear midlifeOD,

From your logistical questions, I would assume that you have firmly established optometry as a career field. Is this correct?

362.04
SDN Optometry Mentor

 

[IndianaOD]

If you are a bit older and need an income to retire of off I would go do dental school.

 

[midlifeOD]

Dear midlifeOD,

From your logistical questions, I would assume that you have firmly established optometry as a career field. Is this correct?

362.04
SDN Optometry Mentor

Dear Optometry Mentor,

I have interviewed several optometrists, researched the field and have been "soul seraching" career options for a while. I may enter into a shadowing experience. If my life circumstances of having a family did not exist I would probably already be applying to schools and working on attending. The difficulty would be uprooting my family and having 4 years of financial turmoil or more. I have found my current career to be stagnant and I am at a point of change, I do not want to make a hasty decision, but I do believe that life is a journey and that I am continually drawn back to being interested in this field. I'm not sure that interest is enough to outweigh the financial and emotional costs for my family. I am not sure that clarifies anything, but I am greatful for the advice.

 

[midlifeOD]

If you are a bit older and need an income to retire of off I would go do dental school.

My best friend is a dentist, I am not sure I would enjoy having my hands in people's mouths all day.

 

[362.04]

Dear Optometry Mentor,

I have interviewed several optometrists, researched the field and have been "soul seraching" career options for a while. I may enter into a shadowing experience. If my life circumstances of having a family did not exist I would probably already be applying to schools and working on attending. The difficulty would be uprooting my family and having 4 years of financial turmoil or more. I have found my current career to be stagnant and I am at a point of change, I do not want to make a hasty decision, but I do believe that life is a journey and that I am continually drawn back to being interested in this field. I'm not sure that interest is enough to outweigh the financial and emotional costs for my family. I am not sure that clarifies anything, but I am greatful for the advice.

Thanks.

I wasnt' married when I went to school but I will recommend that you have an understanding spouse and/or extended family for support. You might get late night laboratory sessions or study groups and "away" clinical rotations/externships that might last 4-6 weeks or more.

Even state schools have raised their "in state" tuition to th 15k/year range and I would recommend an "in state" application if you could to minimize financial stress. With that in mind, student loans are also facing more stringent requirements and they might not be so be freely given as before.

 

[midlifeOD]

In state seems like the best option. If you don't mind me asking would you do it all over again? Do you find your career rewarding, fullfilling, fun? As I read through the forums posted here I am getting some mixed messages. Seems like there is a dialogue of monetary reward not being high enough compared to other medical fields?? Could just be some disgruntled people, but I need a true picture before making the leap. Again thanks for your insight.

 

[r_salis]

I made a career switch to optometry from a non-science background several years out of school. I didn't have any kids at the time, but was (and am) married. I'm really happy I did it. I went from having a career I wasn't happy doing to a job with a flexible schedule that I love.

As one of the other posters said, if you're looking to get the best bang for your buck tuition-wise you'd be better off going into dentistry. For me, that didn't make sense because I wanted to go into optometry -- but I was careful to weigh the financial cost (tuition plus opportunity cost of 4+ years not working) of going back to school, and made sure the decision made sense. Being happy with your job is great, but not if you're in debt for 1,000 years to do it. If I had had to go into debt to go to optometry school I probably wouldn't have done it, quite honestly.

One thing to consider with the time/financial committment is that you may need to take some undergrad courses to fulfill the science pre-reqs -- it's possible to do it part-time while you're still working, but depending on the university you're attending some of the classes may only be offered during the day. Depending on how many classes you need, this could add another 1 to 1-1/2 years to your school committment.

The workload in optometry school can get pretty intense, but it's do-able. Much of it is 9-to-5-ish in terms of schedule, but a lot of it involves early/late hours and long days, so if you have a family you'll be relying a lot on your spouse/family for support.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[StushOD]

Transitioning from your career to optometry is difficult to say the least. I am 30 yrs old, married (with no kids, yet) and I came from a Non-Science background. I have spent the majority of the last 2 years away from work (75% estimate) taking classes, doing research, doing volunteer work, shadowing and volunteering for OD's, ect. This is a part of changing careers that can not be ignored, since it can be a very long and frustrating process trying to convince the schools that you are able and willing to do what ever it takes to devote yourself to this field. If I would have known that it would have taken so much time an energy, not to mention loss of income, when I started I am not sure I would have gone through it.

HOWEVER, I AM GLAD I DIDNT KNOW IT THEN! Because I could not picture myself continuing in any field that my education trained me for, and I really LOVE the field of optometry. Anything you really want is worth working hard for. Decide what you want, and dont let anything stop you. You only get 1 chance at life, and to accomplish this.

If I was you, I would do more research on optometry. Learn all the negatives and positives of the field that you can. If health care is your direction, do this for many different fields and make a decision. Dont make a hurried decision. You can find many of the negatives of optometry on this forum. Take your questions to as many ODs as you can, in as many different areas as you can (Commercial, private and group practice, hospital, ect.) to get their input. Some ODs on this forum seem to be unhappy with their choice, and that is fine, but take a closer look at the reasons they are unhappy with optometry. What I have found is that many of their reasons are standard issue problems in many non health fields and I can certainly live with, having experienced many of those already.

Hope this helps.

 

[rkl_OD2be]

I am new to this forum, but I thought this would be an appropriate place to start seeking some information. I am contemplating going to optometry school. This would be a significant life shift for me as I have a master's degree in another field (non-science) and have been out of graduate school for 10 years. I would like to know how difficult optometry school will be with a family? Thoughts from others who have done it? Advice from other Non-Trads? Anything would help in my decision making process. Thank you.

I'm currently a third year optometry student, and I'm doing exactly what you are considering.

I got my undergrad degree in mathematics (circa 1992), and worked in the IT field for 12 years or so before deciding to quit & attend optometry school.

I'm married, and we have two children (currently ages 8 & 5). Our son (the younger) was 7 months old when I decided to go back to school and start the process of completing optometry school pre-reqs, & applying for admission to the schools.

It took me 3 years or so to get all the pre-reqs completed, take the OAT & apply and be accepted to optometry school. I continued to work full time while I was taking 1 or 2 pre-reqs a semester at the local JuCo at night.

We sold our home & moved ~300 miles to the closest optometry school. This has actually been a mixed blessing for our family. While we miss being close (30-40 minutes) to the "grandparents", it turns out that the schools where we live now are *MUCH* better for our children than the school back home in the small town we came from.

About the time we moved here for me to attend optometry school, our son had an MRI, which showed that there were some developmental anomalies with his brain. He has a mild type I chiari formation, as well as extensive areas of grey matter ecotopia. He was born with a mild-moderate conductive hearing loss, and was fit with hearing aids at 7 months old. He will be six in October, and still does not talk yet. He received speech therapy from the county until he was three years old, at which time he started with the "early childhood" preschools. In two weeks, he will be starting kindergarten & will be in a "special school district" classroom in a "mainstream" school.

The point of all this is not to (bore) you with the details of my situation, but to simply say, I did it, and (so far), I've survived. It hasn't been easy, but I didn't expect that it would be.

The question you need to answer (and only you can do it) is "Are you called to serve your fellow man as an optometrist?" If so, then you should go for it. If not, then another path would be right for you. If you're not sure, take some time & do some soul searching & the answer that is right for you will be apparent.

For me, I decided that I didn't want to wake up 10 years from now and live with the question "What if I had tried optometry?" For me I would've rather tried & failed rather than not attempted it & wonder "what if I had?" Another factor in my decision was after my IT job was outsourced to India. I convinced myself that I had gone as far as I was going to go in IT, and that I needed to change careers to "survive" until retirement. At that time, I was reminded of a childhood dream of being an optometrist when I grow up. So, it was kind of a no-brainer...time to grow up and realize my childhood dream 🙂 Also, I had grown weary of my daily existance in the cube where I interacted with the same 3-5 people every day for 5 years. It was time to use my given abilities to help other people rather than just myself...

I've had my doubts in the early going. Honestly, now that I'm seeing patients one day a week in clinic, I still have days where I question whether I made the right choice. It wouldn't surprise me if I still have a few of those days 5 or 10 years from now when I'm out of school & practicing optometry full time!

In closing, I'd just like to say that, 'yes' it is possible for a mid-aged family man (or woman) to go back to school & complete optometry (or any other professional) education. It is not easy, and will require an understanding & strong spouse as well as solid family support. I did it, and there are countless others who are doing it or have done it.

If you have any questions about what or how we did this, feel free to send me a PM here...

rkl_OD2be
UMSL College of Optometry Class of 2010.

 

[362.04]

In state seems like the best option. If you don't mind me asking would you do it all over again? Do you find your career rewarding, fullfilling, fun? As I read through the forums posted here I am getting some mixed messages. Seems like there is a dialogue of monetary reward not being high enough compared to other medical fields?? Could just be some disgruntled people, but I need a true picture before making the leap. Again thanks for your insight.

Dear midlifeOD,

It is a difficult question to answer because much of the value I have gotten from my practice of optometry is probably due to my own initiative and inclination.

I've always heard that if you were looking for an ideal situation to fall into your lap, it probably would be 20 y ears later before it does. However, ideal situations can occur if much forethought and consideration is given to the balance of work and family life.

What I mean is that it would make little sense to have an exciting career if it was a gigantic cost to your other lives.

 

[midlifeOD]

This is a quick note to all of you who have responded. Thank you for candid, personal and realistic responses. You have given me a large window into the many facets I should be considering. I am also encouraged to hear that others have undertaken a similar journey. The ability to communicate and recieve honest feedback from you has given me perspective and also re-ignited my drive to really dig deeper before moving forward. I hope to be able to call on your expertise again. My sincerest thanks.