competitive?

[Canadian26]

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wow where are you from? at my school, barely anyone has a 3.9 (including humanities majors) much less premeds. with As being capped at around 20% for most science classes, if 3.9 is average, there are going to be many sad faces here come feb 👎 and for sure more then 20% of ucla premeds make med school (im guessing here but i find it hard to believe most wont make it, bright kids here) here a 3.7 and a 36 MCAT (+internship +volunteer experience) is knocking on the door of UCLA med. Pharm average is easily 3.4 . maybe ucla is just freaking hard but a 3.9 is almost impossible. i guess it varies by region

I go to Univeristy of Alberta, and havinga 4.0 average here is not unheard of. We're graded on the curve, meaning that its mandatory for a certian precentage of the ppl to have a A/A+. If someone here has a 3.4 average they gernerally wouldnot even consider applying to med school. Its just that competetive. Pharmacy is usually pretty close the same, although I know ppl who got in with about a 3.6, since the Pcat is not neccessary anymore all the emphasis is placed on GPA.

OAT IMO is not comparably to MCATs as opt schools do not weight it as much. for med school mcats and gpa are kinda used to screen people before sending out the secondary application (yes i know some schools send secondaries out left and right) but to med schools with so many applicants they tend to weigh more on mcats and gpa to grant an interview

I think thats more of a states thing to tell you the truth, Mcat here is all good but its only worth somethin liek 15% of your entire application, where as when ppl apply to the states the Mcat is way more emphasized even more than the GPA.

There are ways to make alot of money in Optometery, you just have to be willing to work for it. I know alot of ODs that are making alot of cash, way above average. 2 of them practice in the states, and a bunch are back here in Canada. Pharmacy is something I never found apealing, its not all that its cracked up to be. Pharms,basically after I think 3-5 years of practicing reach the hieght of they're earning capacity (this is in canada Im not sure about how the states works).

 

[still_confused]

canadian26, thxs for the enlightenment, in the states we are usually graded on a curve as well, just to never get an A-/B+ will require super hardcore studies/genius that us lazy americans are not use to ! 😉 canada is probably a lot more competitive with less medical schools, and probably even worst for for optometry since there is only 2 with one in french!

money is always there for those willing to work hard an take risks, that shouldnt be different between canada and the US 🙂


good luck if you are applying or in your studies if you are in OD school!

 

[concord]

I think in consideration of numbers of schools out there, it really depends. You have thousands of applicants applying to medical schools and fact of the matter is... 25-50% of people interviewed, are accepted into medical schools. However, you have about a 10-20% chance of being interviewed on average for a medical schools. Someone mentioned earlier about 750 applicants get interviewed and ~250 gets accepted ? Well... Out of those 750, I'm sure there were about 4000 applicants. However, there are only a few optometry school and they can't ACCEPT everyone who apply, so of course they'll have to pick the best of the best... and usually that means people with high gpa, and oat scores.

The higher your score, the more competitive you are. And concerning what is more competitive... why don't we talk about the CLASSES taken instead of average GPA, average MCATs etc because those numbers are funny sometimes.

I had to take 126 credits in 2 years for medical school, which included about 20-30 different classes from Anatomy physiology to complementary medicine. I am pretty sure as a medical student, I have to learn everything about the eye from muscular movement, innervation, blood supply to testing which specific muscle is damaged. On top of that... I also have to know ... heck.. I even have histology of the eye...

Sorry to make this short.. but got a paged for a surgery... to make this long story short... I think everything is just as competitive... there is a plus and down side to everything. And being a future DO.... I certainly don't look down on people who are going to optometry school because we need them just as much.

 

[sia_simba]

""" think in consideration of numbers of schools out there, it really depends. You have thousands of applicants applying to medical schools and fact of the matter is... 25-50% of people interviewed, are accepted into medical schools. However, you have about a 10-20% chance of being interviewed on average for a medical schools. Someone mentioned earlier about 750 applicants get interviewed and ~250 gets accepted ? Well... Out of those 750, I'm sure there were about 4000 applicants. However, there are only a few optometry school and they can't ACCEPT everyone who apply, so of course they'll have to pick the best of the best... and usually that means people with high gpa, and oat scores.

The higher your score, the more competitive you are. And concerning what is more competitive... why don't we talk about the CLASSES taken instead of average GPA, average MCATs etc because those numbers are funny sometimes.

I had to take 126 credits in 2 years for medical school, which included about 20-30 different classes from Anatomy physiology to complementary medicine. I am pretty sure as a medical student, I have to learn everything about the eye from muscular movement, innervation, blood supply to testing which specific muscle is damaged. On top of that... I also have to know ... heck.. I even have histology of the eye...

Sorry to make this short.. but got a paged for a surgery... to make this long story short... I think everything is just as competitive... there is a plus and down side to everything. And being a future DO.... I certainly don't look down on people who are going to optometry school because we need them just as much """

The above Post is actually made by me... someone was logged onto SDN. Sorry to concorde though I probably know who you are medicine. =)

 

[still_confused]

"And being a future DO.... I certainly don't look down on people who are going to optometry school because we need them just as much."


as an future OD, i will not complain about how OD's need to do laser surgery and cataracts, we all have a role and people need to realize it and do it, instead of whining and bashing others.

oh and i will not look down on you even though you are not a MD 😉

just kidding, just what is up with all this animosity among groups anyways? i sure hope patients dont get to see some of the posts people post here, they will never see a physician (fake or not) again!

and in OD school, they also take a bunch of anatomy,physiology, and histology classes as well. there are some things people need to know about, the body is a comprehensive being, and not learning these things whether you specialize in them or not, is just plain dangerous.

 

[sia_simba]

Well, just to be comprehensive, its not to say that people in optometry school don't take those classes... I know they do because a close female friend of my goes to opt school. But what they learn is not as in depth in other areas, but I guess i just undermine myself because opt school is only specialized for the eye... why would they care about the toe nail ? hehehe.. silly me.

Well don't worry about it still_confused, and MD can look down on me all he/she wants.. they just jealous that we make the same amount of $$$... and you know what though..

Being a future OD for you... you can look down on me as well because you will make more $$ than me. hahaha!!! But fact of the matter is, we bicker on these forums because we don't know more. To a certain extent, we're all just as ignorant whether you're an MD, DO, OD, etc. if we bicker about stuff like this.

 

[boon]

Well it is kinda silly just to think optometrists aren't recognized in other countries such as Mexico, France, Russia, Iran....does it mean you don't get respected? I mean really, being an american citizen is already respected enough because you're likely to make more money here in america than any other countries, even
with a non-degree seeking.But still, I'd say as a doctor's job is to help and care for the people in needs of. So I guess it is not because we make so much money or whoever is richer.

Anyways, I guess it is hard to tell the competitive between the Health education field (doctors). I had that wondered because like what about the MCAT, DAT, OAT, PCAT.....it seems the % to do better than others in the OAT, while compare to having the same % in other tests, you would have a lower score. I guess it is kinda getting complicated...

 

[busupshot83]

Canada does anything US does.

Except go to war with Iraq 🙄 .

 

[gsinccom]

what about central and south america. it seems that this is where all the opt schools take their students on service missions. can opts practice there?