Experience in the field

[ToePUG]

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Hi, has everyone who applied have experience in an optometry clinic? I have none and had to leave that entire section of the application form (to waterloo) blank. I know that it helps to have some experience, but is it required?

 

[optEXTREME]

well i know that (i think) all the schools i applied to required a letter of rec from an optometrist and i shadowed an optometrist (through my college) to get that LOR. you should most def try to get experience. i shadowed for 1 summer (40 hrs total) and i didn't feel like it was that much...but the lady i interviewed with told me that that was a lot/really good experience. so you could just approach optometrists in your town and ask them if you can shadow them for a day/half a day.

 

[ToePUG]

What does shadowing entail? Just observing an optometrist at work?

 

[daysend85]

The only school i was interested in that required of a letter of rec from an optometrist was Nova, and i thought it was strange to have such a requirement. Yes, you should get experience by shadowing an optometrist. You shadow as long as you want and at as many different places as you want. It's not that big of a deal. It's more for you to find out whether or not optometry is for you. I simply called up a local private optometrist and asked her if I could shadow her for a day and she was fine with it. I got something out of it, and it was only for a day. Shadowing for 40 hrs is a little extreme I think, but it just depends on what works for you. Yes, if you work for an optometrist's office, it will look good on your application. Is it required? No. I only had one day of shadowing and never worked in an office and was accepted. Quite a few of my fellow students worked in offices but many others like myself, haven't. Hope this helps!

 

[optEXTREME]

my school has an internship program so that's how i was able to get my shadowing experience done--the internship was also put on my transcript.

what i did was: visual acuity, patient history, shadowed the doc during exams, dispensed glasses, helped patients select frames

 

[mtrlOATgal]

externship?!?! that is sooo cool... imagine mcgill let us do it- i love mcgill guys-= but seriously we have top notch research facilities but it is super hard for ppl to get into these labs even if they have high grades.... i mean i didnt get to see those mcgill cloned pigs....mwahaha i should sneak in to do some photos with them and post them ....wait i might get arrested if they think i;m trying to steal the cloned piggies...

 

[ToePUG]

Hahaha, I'll be your accomplice! They've got that cute little picture of them on the McGill homepage, just makes you want to pet the little guys!

 

[mtrlOATgal]

omg do you think they would let us see them? i;m sure their in this high security thing where you need a pass to get in..... how;s your ID working these days? mwahahaha hmm ok no i think we should ask permission- maybe they will let us if we tell them we are optometry-to-be students 🙂

er we marvel at the amazing advancement in science that McGill has made and we are so proud and humbled to be a part of their great reign...I mean institution... and even though we slave over their subjective marking-essays and crazy impossible multiple choice type D questions...we would love to take photos avec leurs piglets bc one day we may work with them to find a cure for myopia as optometrists🙂... does that sound good?🙄

 

[UWOpt2009]

Hi, has everyone who applied have experience in an optometry clinic? I have none and had to leave that entire section of the application form (to waterloo) blank. I know that it helps to have some experience, but is it required?

I applied and was accepted 3 years ago without any experience in an optometry clinic. The only 'experience' i had was that i worked in a vision science research lab one summer, but that had absolutely nothing to do with clinical optometry. So, having no experience is not an absolute deal-breaker.

Having said that, I would highly recommend doing some shadowing or finding a job in a clinic. They actually asked me about my shadowing experience during the interview, and you can imagine that it was a little uncomfortable telling them that i didn't have any; i quickly changed the topic and started talking about that job i had in the research field.

I also don't remember there being a specific section on the application asking about it. They may have changed the app since then, or else i'm just forgetting.

 

[Habitual Rx]

What does shadowing entail? Just observing an optometrist at work?

When I shadow the ODs I work for, I do things from just sitting and observing & listerning to procedures to viewing various eye diseases through some of the instrumentation.

After an interesting exam, the OD will explain what the patient had, how it is caused and what they can do in their power to correct/treat it.

Of course I ask many questions just to get an insight into further information, etc.

We also crack jokes and go for coffee...