Class of 2026

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Date OptomCAS submitted: 9/21/2021
Date verified: 9/22/2021
OAT Scores: AA:290/ TS 270
Major: Natural Science/ Biology
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.31/3.01
Schools applied: KYCO
Interviews extended/date: KYCO (01/20/22)
Interviews accepted/date: KYCO (01/20/2022)
Interviews declined/date:
Rejections/date:
Acceptance/date:
KYCO (02/16/2022)

extracurricular activities: I tech for a Dr. that owns 6 locations in rural/city/and corporate settings. I have been doing this for about a year so, thousands of hours spent with patients, shadowing, sometimes scribing, etc. before this I shadowed for about 200 hours at my local eye dr. office. Various clubs in school, and random volunteer experience (probably only like 10 hours)

my stats may seen low, but I had extenuating circumstances my sophomore year of college that caused me to fail two classes (which I retook and got As in) I also had to withdraw from 3 classes that year to deal with everything. I hope this post can help others who may feel hopeless, if optometry is truly your passion, it is achievable. Life happens to everyone and the only thing we can control is how we react to it. I took time to learn from my misgivings, and took the steps to attempt to recover from my situation.

I will be attending KYCO class of 2026!!

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Date OptomCAS submitted: 9/21/2021
Date verified: 9/22/2021
OAT Scores: AA:290/ TS 270
Major: Natural Science/ Biology
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.31/3.01
Schools applied: KYCO
Interviews extended/date: KYCO (01/20/22)
Interviews accepted/date: KYCO (01/20/2022)
Interviews declined/date:
Rejections/date:
Acceptance/date:
KYCO (02/16/2022)

extracurricular activities: I tech for a Dr. that owns 6 locations in rural/city/and corporate settings. I have been doing this for about a year so, thousands of hours spent with patients, shadowing, sometimes scribing, etc. before this I shadowed for about 200 hours at my local eye dr. office. Various clubs in school, and random volunteer experience (probably only like 10 hours)

my stats may seen low, but I had extenuating circumstances my sophomore year of college that caused me to fail two classes (which I retook and got As in) I also had to withdraw from 3 classes that year to deal with everything. I hope this post can help others who may feel hopeless, if optometry is truly your passion, it is achievable. Life happens to everyone and the only thing we can control is how we react to it. I took time to learn from my misgivings, and took the steps to attempt to recover from my situation.

I will be attending KYCO class of 2026!!
Congrats on your acceptance! I’m a current KYCO student, dm if you have any questions! :D
 
Date Of Optomcas Submitted: 2/7/22
Verified: 2/8/22
GPA(Cumulative//Science): 3.50/3.76
OAT: AA: 360 TS: 380
Major: Medical Science (Outside the U.S.)
Schools Applied: NOVA, UIWRSO, KYCO
Interviews Extended: KYCO(2/9), UIWRSO (2/16), NOVA (3/3)
Interviews Accepted: KYCO(2/14 in person), UIWRSO (2/23 virtual), NOVA (3/7 virtual)
Interviews Declined:
Rejections:
Acceptance:
KYCO(3/7), UIWRSO (3/2), NOVA (3/10)
Extracurriculars/Experience:

Although I applied very late, I was accepted by all the schools and given a considerable amount of scholarship. It's never too late, don't give up hope! Good luck to everyone!!
 
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Date OptomCAS submitted: 2/28 for SUNY, 3/8 for NECO
Date verified: 3/2 for SUNY, 3/9 for NECO
OAT Scores: 330 AA/310 TS
Major: Psychology on Neuroscience Track & Biology Dual Degree
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.864/3.77
Schools applied: SUNY and NECO
Interviews extended/date: 3/4 (SUNY), 3/10 (NECO)
Interviews accepted/date: 3/17 (SUNY), 3/18 (NECO)
Interviews declined/date:
Rejections/date:
on hold at SUNY 3/23
Acceptance/date: 3/24 NECO
Extracurriculars: 4 years in marching band with 2 years on Uniform Staff; 2 years as psychology TA, 1 year as junior writing peer reviewer; 300+ hours of shadowing with my optometrist; summer research intern at Beth Israel; 1 year as Microbio lab TA.

I submitted everything fairly late in the cycle, but I was able to get in and officially enroll in my dream school, NECO. It was my number one choice and I'm glad to be a student in the Class of 2026! Good luck to whoever reads this and is working on their applications!
 
Date OptomCAS submitted: 7/14
Date verified: 7/15
OAT Scores: 330 AA / 310 TS (took OAT on 7/28)
Major: Rehabilitation Science
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.30 / 3.12
Schools applied: NECO, NSU, SUNY, ICO, PCO, MCPHS, AZCOPT, Midwestern Chicago, UMSL, OSU, Houston,
Interviews extended/date: NECO, NSU, SUNY, PCO, MCPHS, AZCOPT, Midwestern Chicago, UMSL, OSU
Interviews accepted/date: NECO (8/20), NSU (8/23), AZCOPT (8/18)
Interviews declined/date: SUNY, PCO, MCPHS, Midwestern Chicago, UMSL, OSU
Rejections/date: None, but have not heard anything from ICO or Houston about an interview
Acceptance/date: NECO (9/1), NSU (8/25), AZCOPT (8/24)

Will be attending NECO!!! yay :)
I just committed to NECO as well! Hope to see you there in August!
 
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This forum gave me hope, so I hope I could give it to others.

Date OptomCAS submitted: 2/27/2022
Date verified: 2/28/2022
OAT Scores: AA:350/ TS 340
Major: Psychology
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.3/3.2
Schools applied: SUNY, PCO, MCPHS
Interviews extended/date: SUNY (03/01/22), PCO (02/28/22), MCPHS (02/28/22)
Interviews accepted/date: SUNY (03/21/22), PCO (03/14/22), MCPHS (03/14/22)
Interviews declined/date:
Rejections/date:
Acceptance/date: SUNY (04/07/22), PCO (03/17/22), MCPHS (03/16/22)

Extracurricular activities: I took three gap years, 2 of which I scribed in Urgent Care and private practice, and then the last one I scribed in an ophthalmology office, I did not get a chance to shadow optometrists, but I made it clear that I had done a lot of research about different modes of practice and optometric specialties through the optomcas essays and the interview. Also, the fact that I had experience working with MD's,DO's, and PA's, confirmed the fact that I really wanted to do optometry. I had also done some volunteer work with the red cross during covid.

I applied really late and only to three schools and I was not expecting to get any interviews, let alone get into all three. But this shows that no matter how late you apply if you work hard on the application and be confident during interviews, you can still get in.
 
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Date OptomCAS submitted: 10/19
Date verified: 10/20
OAT Scores: 310AA/330 TS
Major: Biology
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.23/3.04
School applied: SCCO, WUCO, UIWRSO, NOVA, UHCO, UAB, NSU
Interviews extended/date: SCCO (10/25), WUCO (11/02), UAB (11/19), UIWRSO (11/11), NOVA (11/19), UHCO (01/21/2022)
Interviews accepted/date: SCCO (11/09), WUCO (11/12), UIWRSO (12/01), NOVA (12/06), UHCO (01/31/2022)
Interviews declined/date: UAB (12/09)
Rejections/date: Waitlisted for SCCO
Acceptance/date: UIWRSO (12/08), NOVA (12/08)

Still deciding on which school to attend.

Have you heard back from SCCO ?
 
Date OptomCAS submitted: 9/8/21
Date verified: 9/9/21
OAT Scores: 300 AA/290 TS
Major: Biology
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.03/2.72
Schools applied: UIWRSO, NSUCO, UAB, SCO, UHCO, ICO
Interviews extended/date: NSUCO (9/17)
Interviews accepted/date: NSUCO (10/18)
Interviews declined/date:
Rejections/date:
Acceptance/date:
Have you heard back from any schools? My stats are pretty close to yours.
 
This forum gave me hope, so I hope I could give it to others.

Date OptomCAS submitted: 2/27/2022
Date verified: 2/28/2022
OAT Scores: AA:350/ TS 340
Major: Psychology
GPA (Overall/Science): 3.3/3.2
Schools applied: SUNY, PCO, MCPHS
Interviews extended/date: SUNY (03/01/22), PCO (02/28/22), MCPHS (02/28/22)
Interviews accepted/date: SUNY (03/21/22), PCO (03/14/22), MCPHS (03/14/22)
Interviews declined/date:
Rejections/date:
Acceptance/date: SUNY (04/07/22), PCO (03/17/22), MCPHS (03/16/22)

Extracurricular activities: I took three gap years, 2 of which I scribed in Urgent Care and private practice, and then the last one I scribed in an ophthalmology office, I did not get a chance to shadow optometrists, but I made it clear that I had done a lot of research about different modes of practice and optometric specialties through the optomcas essays and the interview. Also, the fact that I had experience working with MD's,DO's, and PA's, confirmed the fact that I really wanted to do optometry. I had also done some volunteer work with the red cross during covid.

I applied really late and only to three schools and I was not expecting to get any interviews, let alone get into all three. But this shows that no matter how late you apply if you work hard on the application and be confident during interviews, you can still get in.
Hi! I'm currently enrolling in a community college as a first year student. I've been trying to find someone who majors in Psychology who has gotten into an Optometry school to ask about some stuff. I was wondering how were you able to do so and get all the pre-requisites in? I also want to know if you were able to focus on hobbies and a social life as well? Thank you so much! I hope you can answer.
 
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