defend your school...

[sparikh]

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Is ICO a weed-out school?

I think that they try to help you out in anyway possible.

 

[in_translation]

FYI: From ICO's website.

"Does ICO "weed-out" students?
No, ICO does not seek to "weed-out" or lose a single student we accept. Sometimes this question is asked out of fear or because a student has heard a rumor that "ICO is a weed-out program". So much time and energy goes into selecting candidates we believe are most qualified to become optometrists, it makes no sense for us to eliminate anyone from the program once they begin. It is in the College's and the student's best interest for every accepted student to graduate!

We do recognize that the curriculum is challenging, and realize that some students benefit from assistance beyond class and laboratory involvement. For these reasons, ICO has an academic enrichment program in place to help. Services such as review sessions, one-on-one and group tutoring, academic advising and study skills enhancement programming are offered at no additional cost to ICO students. It is our desire to retain every single student that we accept, and see them graduate with an O.D. degree.

Having said that, it is also important to realize there have to be academic standards. ICO's academic standards are indeed high. Do we do this to make life hard on our students or to encourage dropping out? Quite the contrary, we are mindful of our obligations to the future of the profession of Optometry and to the quality of care afforded patients. We will not compromise those obligations by lowering the academic standards. We hope that by maintaining high academic standards our graduates will be prepared to provide the best care possible."

 

[polkadot]

So if I got an A, but everyone else did better than me, they'd bump me down to a B?

They don't curve down at Berkeley, just up. So if you have a legitimate A, then you get an A. But if the mean is a 80, then all the grades go up. One of our classes was only a half-semester, so the final exam was the grade for the entire class.

Bottom line is that you really have to make a concerted effort to fail here, at least that's my impression so far.

 

[ucbsowarrior]

As for "weed-out" schools, do they weed out people based soley on poor performance or poor performance compared to others?? If that's the case, it's scary to think that even though you pass on paper, they'd adjust marks to kick you out. Also, wouldn't that really promote competition in a school which produces professionals that are supposed to work together? 😕

People usually get weeded out due to:

grades (main reason)
abuse from select faculty/instructors (happens)
bad reputation with faculty
political reasons
conspiracies (not that common, but happens)

if you think select faculty members will stand up for you, you might be right, but there are those that will also sell you out. i've seen it go both ways, so to all you students out there....the rule of thumb is swallow your ___________ (you can fill in the blank ) and suck up with some of the low lives that populate the faculty (notice i said 'some', not 'all').

i draw these conclusions from many students and practicing optometrist. most on this forum can only draw from their own experiences - which is very limited in scope and time.

have a great day 👍

 

[anchan]

I just wanted to clarify that I don't have a dislike for NECO. I think NECO is an ok school, but that doesn't negate the fact that it ranks higher than normal on the weedout list. These facts are based on statistics that the admissions committee may possibly provide you upon request. No one is bitter, I would just advise those that are borderline applicants to stay clear of those schools that are known to dismiss students for poor academic performance. If you feel that you are an above average student than I guess you have nothing to worry about....other than seeing some of your peers suffer through some of the courses....and some will be dismissed after second semester....this can be assured. i'm bringing reality to the game? information that is negative, but useful to those on this forum. the happy happy mentality isn't going to get students too far when they graduate it's better to be realistic when you make life altering decisions. all the best in your principals of opto course getting accepted into opto school could be the best or worst day of your life in hindsight....better be careful 😀

hahaha, alright well i guess i'll try to to defend NECO to put some fears aside for the future applicants. as for weeding out, it is not the mandate of the school to weed any one out. i think this goes for any optometry school, the admissions committee doesn't sit there for many hours sifting through apps and have you go through the long process of applying just to haphazardly select candidates for their schools. the people that they select are individuals who they believe will be able to succeed as optometrists and perhaps fit best at the particular school, therefore it's not in their interest just to wipe you off the plate after the first year. besides, they also need your money, which for a private instituition like NECO is something they dont' want to lose.

as for the drop out rates at NECO, some of the upper years have experienced high rates of attrition, i have inquired about this and haven't really come up with anyting in particular as to why this was so. the current second year class had 3 people drop out after the first year (out of a class of 110), though these were all due to personal reasons as far as i know. in my current class, i know of people who did poorly during the midterms and were immediately contacted by student affairs offering them any assistance that they required (tutors, guidance, counselling, etc) which wouldn't support a policy of "weeding out". also i know that the student body at NECO gets along very well and we all generally try to help each other out, though of course there are certain individuals who will always be competitive and by nature will alwyas try to outdo you, but good for them. the majority of the class helps each other in any way we can.

if at the end of the year your academic performance is still poor (GPA under 2.0), i believe your file is reviewed and you are evaluated as an individual. depending on where you stand there's prolbaby several options they take, maybe holding you back a year....extra credit hrs? ...repeating particular courses etc. but also as someone mentioned in another thread, maybe optometry just isn't for you and it might be in your best interests to pursue other career paths.

looking straight at the statistics for attrition rates wo'nt tell you the whole story, people drop out out of the program for many reasons and you cna't just point it down to the school weeding out people.

anyway, i'm sure there are more burns to be poured onto NECO (yes there could be many....), i'll try my best to counter them.

 

[ariel winter]

thanks for this post! i am very looking forward to attending NECO next year! 🙂

hahaha, alright well i guess i'll try to to defend NECO to put some fears aside for the future applicants. as for weeding out, it is not the mandate of the school to weed any one out. i think this goes for any optometry school, the admissions committee doesn't sit there for many hours sifting through apps and have you go through the long process of applying just to haphazardly select candidates for their schools. the people that they select are individuals who they believe will be able to succeed as optometrists and perhaps fit best at the particular school, therefore it's not in their interest just to wipe you off the plate after the first year. besides, they also need your money, which for a private instituition like NECO is something they dont' want to lose.

as for the drop out rates at NECO, some of the upper years have experienced high rates of attrition, i have inquired about this and haven't really come up with anyting in particular as to why this was so. the current second year class had 3 people drop out after the first year (out of a class of 110), though these were all due to personal reasons as far as i know. in my current class, i know of people who did poorly during the midterms and were immediately contacted by student affairs offering them any assistance that they required (tutors, guidance, counselling, etc) which wouldn't support a policy of "weeding out". also i know that the student body at NECO gets along very well and we all generally try to help each other out, though of course there are certain individuals who will always be competitive and by nature will alwyas try to outdo you, but good for them. the majority of the class helps each other in any way we can.

if at the end of the year your academic performance is still poor (GPA under 2.0), i believe your file is reviewed and you are evaluated as an individual. depending on where you stand there's prolbaby several options they take, maybe holding you back a year....extra credit hrs? ...repeating particular courses etc. but also as someone mentioned in another thread, maybe optometry just isn't for you and it might be in your best interests to pursue other career paths.

looking straight at the statistics for attrition rates wo'nt tell you the whole story, people drop out out of the program for many reasons and you cna't just point it down to the school weeding out people.

anyway, i'm sure there are more burns to be poured onto NECO (yes there could be many....), i'll try my best to counter them.