Getting in w/o a degree ?

[gochi]

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Hi,

Im a Canadian student. I plan on applying to NECO, NOVA, PCO and ICO.

I know a BSc degree is not required, but If I dont have one, will it drasically effect my chances of getting in. Another factor to consider is that Im from Canada, so obviously students studying in the US will get priority!


thanks

 

[mlongo1]

I got in w/o a degree and many factors against me...I got in to the only school i applied to - ICO.

m

 

[gochi]

WELL DONE!

What was your gpa like, and did you reside in Illinois when you applied ?

thanks-alot

 

[jefguth]

Hi,

Im a Canadian student. I plan on applying to NECO, NOVA, PCO and ICO.

I know a BSc degree is not required, but If I dont have one, will it drasically effect my chances of getting in. Another factor to consider is that Im from Canada, so obviously students studying in the US will get priority!


thanks

Having a BSc is not a big deal as long as its not a requirement. As long as your stats are good no one is going to care. The only reason more ppl don't do it is b/c they didn't know what they wanted to do before graduating or just didn't think it was an option.

I did it, 3 yrs at Waterloo, 86% avg, 360TS, 340AA. BTW, residency in IL is not an issue for ICO b/c it is a private institution (no state funding, everyone pays the same tutition regardless).

 

[gochi]

Having a BSc is not a big deal as long as its not a requirement. As long as your stats are good no one is going to care. The only reason more ppl don't do it is b/c they didn't know what they wanted to do before graduating or just didn't think it was an option.

I did it, 3 yrs at Waterloo, 86% avg, 360TS, 340AA. BTW, residency in IL is not an issue for ICO b/c it is a private institution (no state funding, everyone pays the same tutition regardless).

I dont know what the future holds....many ppl say its heading down the drain....regardless Im still going to go into optometry because its somewhat satisfying..

Holycrap jefguth!!! you had an 86% avg and still didnt get into UW....why did you choose ICO over PCO, NECO ?

So, did you do a BSc, I cant seem to tell 🙂

thanks

 

[jefguth]

I dont know what the future holds....many ppl say its heading down the drain....regardless Im still going to go into optometry because its somewhat satisfying..

Holycrap jefguth!!! you had an 86% avg and still didnt get into UW....why did you choose ICO over PCO, NECO ?

So, did you do a BSc, I cant seem to tell 🙂

thanks

I chose ICO b/c it was the only US school I applied to, and b/c it is relatively close to home since my parents live in one of the border cities. Its either a 6hr drive or a $26 train fare to get home. Also, I didn't like the idea of living and going to school in some far out suburban area like where PCO is located. Also, ICO's director of admissions encouraged me to apply when she visited Waterloo. Otherwise I was planning to wait a year to try out US schools.

I do have a BSc, however I recieved it a year after entering ICO, its not an honours degree though b/c I only spent threee years at UW.

 

[gochi]

I see....but did you get rejected from Waterloo, even though you had a 3.6 GPA ?

 

[IndianaOD]

I see....but did you get rejected from Waterloo, even though you had a 3.6 GPA ?

It would be great if the US schools were so competitive. As another doctor was telling me "all you need at ICO is a checkbook." While this might not be exactly true, I wonder about the quality of students sometimes. Oh...and no I'm not bashing ICO. However, they do take a lot of students who don't get in other places. (Disclaimer: I know this is true at for several not getting into IU, just figure it applies elsewhere also). I don't blame anyone who goes to ICO, I'd go there too if it didn't work elsewhere. Place is EXPENSIVE though, ouch😱 .

 

[jefguth]

I see....but did you get rejected from Waterloo, even though you had a 3.6 GPA ?

Yes, rejected. But that was my first time application, a significant number of people at UW applied multiple times. I just wasn't interested in indefinately delaying my career for the sake of waiting for Waterloo. In all fairness though, I know a number of ppl that got in with similar stats as my own, only their GPA had probably been treading upwards, while mine had been treanding downwards from a 90ish% in first year.

Its true, schools like ICO do have some people entering with less than stellar GPA's. But for me, since I am a foreigner, all the schools were going to be expensive... so I chose from the one I had the better experiences dealing with while I was in charge of the pre-optometry club. UI had the absolute worst person in charge of admissions a few years ago, took months to respond to emails, and then when she visited Waterloo was four hours late and missed the entire event I set up for UI. Not that it should matter much, but that really made me question their organization. Too bad, I hear bloomington is beautiful.

 

[gochi]

Yes, rejected. But that was my first time application, a significant number of people at UW applied multiple times. I just wasn't interested in indefinately delaying my career for the sake of waiting for Waterloo. In all fairness though, I know a number of ppl that got in with similar stats as my own, only their GPA had probably been treading upwards, while mine had been treanding downwards from a 90ish% in first year.

Its true, schools like ICO do have some people entering with less than stellar GPA's. But for me, since I am a foreigner, all the schools were going to be expensive... so I chose from the one I had the better experiences dealing with while I was in charge of the pre-optometry club. UI had the absolute worst person in charge of admissions a few years ago, took months to respond to emails, and then when she visited Waterloo was four hours late and missed the entire event I set up for UI. Not that it should matter much, but that really made me question their organization. Too bad, I hear bloomington is beautiful.

I see...so is it possible to get into Waterloo with a 3.4-3.5 gpa ???

It would be great if the US schools were so competitive. As another doctor was telling me "all you need at ICO is a checkbook." While this might not be exactly true, I wonder about the quality of students sometimes. Oh...and no I'm not bashing ICO. However, they do take a lot of students who don't get in other places. (Disclaimer: I know this is true at for several not getting into IU, just figure it applies elsewhere also). I don't blame anyone who goes to ICO, I'd go there too if it didn't work elsewhere. Place is EXPENSIVE though, ouch😱 .

I see...well Im in my first year but im just wondering if its worth it, the 200g's, the separation from friends/family...no one knows what the future holds and I might just be loosing 200g's on a declining carreer.



Also, since you say that ICO is sorta like a back-up school...then does it matter if I take a full course load or not ?

 

[jefguth]

I see...so is it possible to get into Waterloo with a 3.4-3.5 gpa ???

I don't think it's likely, but i'm sure its possible.

 

[gochi]

alright...how are you finding ICO compared to Waterloo ?

I dont understand one thing about your decission to ICO...you could have done one more year and upped youre GPA, then you could ave gotten into UW and wouldnt have to spend alot of money...

why are schools in the states so much more expensive...

 

[UWOpt2009]

I see...so is it possible to get into Waterloo with a 3.4-3.5 gpa ???

I know some people in my class had an undergrad average in the 80-82% range. I don't know what that works out to in the 4.0 system.

 

[jefguth]

alright...how are you finding ICO compared to Waterloo ?

I dont understand one thing about your decission to ICO...you could have done one more year and upped youre GPA, then you could ave gotten into UW and wouldnt have to spend alot of money...

why are schools in the states so much more expensive...

Its impossible to compare undergrad and optometry school, they are worlds apart. For me the biggest difference is the amount of daily stress encountered and the amount of time spent on school work. Some days it just really doens't feel like it's worth all of the stress, anxiety, and BS. And in truth, it's probably not. Thanks to optometry school I'm 23 years old and developing eyelid wrinkles...WTF?

Yes, I could have stuck in out at UW another year, but once you're entering fourth year, its really difficult to make much of a dent in your GPA, I would have needed some really stellar grades just to marginally lift my average a little bit. But most importantly, I could not stand the feeling of being stuck in some dead end science program with no good career prospects at the end of my BSc. Additonally, I also had an acceptance to UofT Pharmacy to choose between, so while ranking choices, another year of undergrad was a DEAD last.

US schools are expensive b/c they do not get government subsidies for foreign students. In reality its probably costs roughly the same amount of money to educate an optometrist at UW as it does at any American school, the US schools are just not getting any subsidies to educate you.

 

[gochi]

I see.....man, I didnt know Opto school was going to be this hard, I would expect Dentistry to be this hard. But again, you dont have to get , all A's but it sounds like its pretty hard to maintain a 2.0, based on your description.

What chance do you think I have to get into UW, b/c I really dont want to leave Canada..too scary.. its my first yr (2.6 GPA on 2 math, 2 bio, 1 chem , 1 psyc) so I still have alot of courses to up my gpa!!

g-luck

 

[IndianaOD]

I see.....man, I didnt know Opto school was going to be this hard, I would expect Dentistry to be this hard. But again, you dont have to get , all A's but it sounds like its pretty hard to maintain a 2.0, based on your description.

What chance do you think I have to get into UW, b/c I really dont want to leave Canada..too scary.. its my first yr (2.6 GPA on 2 math, 2 bio, 1 chem , 1 psyc) so I still have alot of courses to up my gpa!!

g-luck

Why would you think dentistry would be harder than optometry? The eyes and "vison" is a much more complex concept to me than teeth. Not only do we have the usual anatomy and physiology etc..., we also have physics/optics and a lot of neurology since the visual process extends the full length of the brain. A case of unharmonious anomylous retinal correspondence is no cake walk, if you could even diagnose the condition. Don't let the refraction jockeys at commercial opticals confuse you. Optometry school training far exceeds our scope of practice.

 

[jefguth]

I see.....man, I didnt know Opto school was going to be this hard, I would expect Dentistry to be this hard. But again, you dont have to get , all A's but it sounds like its pretty hard to maintain a 2.0, based on your description.

What chance do you think I have to get into UW, b/c I really dont want to leave Canada..too scary.. its my first yr (2.6 GPA on 2 math, 2 bio, 1 chem , 1 psyc) so I still have alot of courses to up my gpa!!

g-luck

well the absolute minimum acceptable GPA at Waterloo is 3.0, so unless you get it above that, UW will take your application and fee but then forget about you. What university do you attend? While it is possible you coulld raise your GPA to an acceptable level, I would just keep in mind that if you're stuggling now, optometry school could either be a real disaster, or a very unpleasant experience.

 

[PepsiSucks]

It would be great if the US schools were so competitive. As another doctor was telling me "all you need at ICO is a checkbook." While this might not be exactly true, I wonder about the quality of students sometimes. Oh...and no I'm not bashing ICO. However, they do take a lot of students who don't get in other places. (Disclaimer: I know this is true at for several not getting into IU, just figure it applies elsewhere also). I don't blame anyone who goes to ICO, I'd go there too if it didn't work elsewhere. Place is EXPENSIVE though, ouch😱 .

Let me once again, disprove this hypocrite. What was the range of GPA for Indiana's incoming class 2003 and other previous classes? Well below the 3.0 (2.65-4.00 I believe) this crazy loon is claiming it to be . I can't find the classes' profile but here is the 2003 incoming class'.

 

[eyestrain]

Let me once again, disprove this hypocrite. What was the range of GPA for Indiana's incoming class 2003 and other previous classes? Well below the 3.0 (2.65-4.00 I believe) this crazy loon is claiming it to be . I can't find the classes' profile but here is the 2003 incoming class'.

I don't recall him ever making such a claim.

 

[PepsiSucks]

Yeah, but he seems to be implying that there is a superiority about Indiana University by stating that people who get accepted ICO, PCO, NECO, etc because they can't get into IU. IU gpa range is on par with all the other schools and its OAT averages are only that average.

 

[gochi]

well the absolute minimum acceptable GPA at Waterloo is 3.0, so unless you get it above that, UW will take your application and fee but then forget about you. What university do you attend? While it is possible you coulld raise your GPA to an acceptable level, I would just keep in mind that if you're stuggling now, optometry school could either be a real disaster, or a very unpleasant experience.

What do you mean by struggling...I just dont do my work...i always think i can prepare for the tst's on the day fo the tst's and I end up getting 70%...

I never have really studied, but I guess with some better studying habits, like studying everyday, will probably help me get into O-School...

 

[gochi]

Why would you think dentistry would be harder than optometry? The eyes and "vison" is a much more complex concept to me than teeth. Not only do we have the usual anatomy and physiology etc..., we also have physics/optics and a lot of neurology since the visual process extends the full length of the brain. A case of unharmonious anomylous retinal correspondence is no cake walk, if you could even diagnose the condition. Don't let the refraction jockeys at commercial opticals confuse you. Optometry school training far exceeds our scope of practice.

I think it would be harder, because you have to use your hands alot..and if you somehow mess up, youre screwed..optometery isnt that hands on, I think..but I havent shadowed an optotmetrist, so I could be wrong.

 

[IndianaOD]

Yeah, but he seems to be implying that there is a superiority about Indiana University by stating that people who get accepted ICO, PCO, NECO, etc because they can't get into IU. IU gpa range is on par with all the other schools and its OAT averages are only that average.

I don't think IU is superior to all other schools. I don't have a problem with people who go to those schools, just the schools themselves. Its more private schools opening up that will further increase the OD oversupply. Schools with huge classes like ICO (I talk about ICO because its the closest OD mill to me) just flood the workforce and make walmart very happy. They graduate 2-3x what other schools do. You don't have to agree with me at all, just grow up and try to leave the name calling at home.
If you like schools that are in it to make a buck instead of educate students and give back with research then that's your preference. Awhile back I interviewed a student who was awful 2 interviews in a row. Got right in to ICO. 😱

 

[Oilersfan69]

What do you mean by struggling...I just dont do my work...i always think i can prepare for the tst's on the day fo the tst's and I end up getting 70%...

I never have really studied, but I guess with some better studying habits, like studying everyday, will probably help me get into O-School...

What school in Canada do u go to? By the sounds of this quote, u seem to justify your struggles b/c u don't study enough. Yet you wonder if you can get in with a 2.6 (albeit first year) by not working hard? Let me tell you that 2nd and 3rd year are only gonna get harder. I think it is very easy for first years to be naive about their marks, thinking they will increase magically. Why wait till next year and self-handicap yourself now? Get your ass in gear and put more effort into your work so you don't have to worry about whether your gpa is high enough. I screwed up my second year and slacked off and realized that hard work is the only way i will rebound and get higher marks. Sometimes its hard to stay motivated in undergrad b/c you feel lost. But if you dedicate yourself and keep working hard you can get into Waterloo if you truly want too (also saves you almost ~$100k in expenses compared to U.S.). But your work ethic has to change.

 

[IndianaOD]

What school in Canada do u go to? By the sounds of this quote, u seem to justify your struggles b/c u don't study enough. Yet you wonder if you can get in with a 2.6 (albeit first year) by not working hard? Let me tell you that 2nd and 3rd year are only gonna get harder. I think it is very easy for first years to be naive about their marks, thinking they will increase magically. Why wait till next year and self-handicap yourself now? Get your ass in gear and put more effort into your work so you don't have to worry about whether your gpa is high enough. I screwed up my second year and slacked off and realized that hard work is the only way i will rebound and get higher marks. Sometimes its hard to stay motivated in undergrad b/c you feel lost. But if you dedicate yourself and keep working hard you can get into Waterloo if you truly want too (also saves you almost ~$100k in expenses compared to U.S.). But your work ethic has to change.

either that or pack your bags for the caribbean! Come on people, if you know its tough to be in a medical profession then bust your a$$ like the rest of us did.

 

[PepsiSucks]

I don't think IU is superior to all other schools. I don't have a problem with people who go to those schools, just the schools themselves. Its more private schools opening up that will further increase the OD oversupply. Schools with huge classes like ICO (I talk about ICO because its the closest OD mill to me) just flood the workforce and make walmart very happy. They graduate 2-3x what other schools do. You don't have to agree with me at all, just grow up and try to leave the name calling at home.
If you like schools that are in it to make a buck instead of educate students and give back with research then that's your preference. Awhile back I interviewed a student who was awful 2 interviews in a row. Got right in to ICO. 😱

Where in my posting on this thread did I call you a name? Quote it for me. From reading your postings, all you want to do is cut down the number of students down to say 1, you, so you can be the only optometrist. Put the # entering student in comparisons to the number Phd, DDS, MD, PharmD students entering grad/prof school, opt student are few and numbered. And stop hawking people about walmart. What? did you beat up by some person working at walmart when you were a kid? I shop at walmart, and by and far they have pretty good deals on certain items. Just do a posting of your own, and type out walmart until your fingers fall off and get it out of your system. I'm sorry we all aren't as privileged as you for having gone to Indiana University.

 

[ODduck]

What school in Canada do u go to? By the sounds of this quote, u seem to justify your struggles b/c u don't study enough. Yet you wonder if you can get in with a 2.6 (albeit first year) by not working hard? Let me tell you that 2nd and 3rd year are only gonna get harder. I think it is very easy for first years to be naive about their marks, thinking they will increase magically. Why wait till next year and self-handicap yourself now? Get your ass in gear and put more effort into your work so you don't have to worry about whether your gpa is high enough. I screwed up my second year and slacked off and realized that hard work is the only way i will rebound and get higher marks. Sometimes its hard to stay motivated in undergrad b/c you feel lost. But if you dedicate yourself and keep working hard you can get into Waterloo if you truly want too (also saves you almost ~$100k in expenses compared to U.S.). But your work ethic has to change.

This is spot on. I am VERY sympathetic to students who underacheived early in undergrad. Been there, done that. Improvement is not just proving to the adcoms that you are an intelligent, motivated student, it's proving it to yourself as well. For me, just watching that cumulative GPA go up one term just motivated me to do it again. I worked my ass off to raise my GPA enough to impress the two adcoms that I applied to to grant me interviews and my top choice to grant me admission. You can't just rest on your laurels though, it is REALLY REALLY hard work. I haven't had much of a social life, I started doing undergraduate research to bolster my resume. I TA'd for a class that I did particularly well in. I studied for my classes every night. Then there's the OAT. It is possible to improve your GPA drastically if you had a bad first year or even two, but there is a lot more to it than that and there is a big difference between saying "I need to get my grades up" and actually doing it.

I'm not trying to be a hard ass like those around here calling for 3.0 minimum GPA's and the like, however the whole thing requires you, the student, to kick it into high gear and sooner rather than later. I didn't (and don't) make excuses for my mistakes, but I did work my tail off to make up for them.

Good Luck.

 

[odforme]

Pepsisucks...I totally agree with your take on IndianaOD's "opinions"...unfounded and short-sighted. All I can say is if I was thinking of going to IU, I would certainly reconsider it now. (and before you launch the attack, my gpa is well abopve a 3.0 and I had good OAT scores). If IndianaOD is an example of the people at IU, seems like a sucky place to me.

 

[gochi]

What school in Canada do u go to? By the sounds of this quote, u seem to justify your struggles b/c u don't study enough. Yet you wonder if you can get in with a 2.6 (albeit first year) by not working hard? Let me tell you that 2nd and 3rd year are only gonna get harder. I think it is very easy for first years to be naive about their marks, thinking they will increase magically. Why wait till next year and self-handicap yourself now? Get your ass in gear and put more effort into your work so you don't have to worry about whether your gpa is high enough. I screwed up my second year and slacked off and realized that hard work is the only way i will rebound and get higher marks. Sometimes its hard to stay motivated in undergrad b/c you feel lost. But if you dedicate yourself and keep working hard you can get into Waterloo if you truly want too (also saves you almost ~$100k in expenses compared to U.S.). But your work ethic has to change.

Yes, you are right....but I really cant study for BIO which is dropping my grade...its so time consuming/pointless, other than that I can ususally do well on phy/chem/math. I still have two english's, two chem's, two phy's, stats and two bio's left, for my pre-req's....This is not the road I want to take....but say if in all the pre-reqs I had a 3.0 average, and I took other electives, such as econ and psyc to up my GPA to a 3.4.....would this look bad, even if I got above avg OAT scores ? I would probably be applying to the private schools. By the way, do we have to take two semesters for english, for schools in the states, b/c WATERLOO has a requirement of one english semester.

thanks

 

[jefguth]

Yes, you are right....but I really cant study for BIO which is dropping my grade...its so time consuming/pointless, other than that I can ususally do well on phy/chem/math. I still have two english's, two chem's, two phy's, stats and two bio's left, for my pre-req's....This is not the road I want to take....but say if in all the pre-reqs I had a 3.0 average, and I took other electives, such as econ and psyc to up my GPA to a 3.4.....would this look bad, even if I got above avg OAT scores ? I would probably be applying to the private schools. By the way, do we have to take two semesters for english, for schools in the states, b/c WATERLOO has a requirement of one english semester.

thanks

3.0 in core courses is not going to be good enough for Waterloo. If you have any hopes of collecting all of the extensive pre-req's required by UW you're not going to have enough elective credits to pull your GPA up high enough. Also, don't fall into the assumption that those electives are going to be your easy courses. By far my worst grade in undegrad was a third year psych course in sex and gender😱 Who would have thought! If actually studying is whats standing in your way of achieving better grades, and this is what you want to do, then I suggest getting down to it ASAP. You can count on going to a US school if you want to, but its still going to be a terrible battle if you don't put the effort in now and learn to study effectively because as pointless as biology seems now, you're going to have a ton of it in optometry school.

 

[gochi]

Yea....I guess "I gotta give everything if I want everything"... any chances of a new Optometry school opening up in the next 2yrs or so, in Canada

 

[daysend85]

Yes, you are right....but I really cant study for BIO which is dropping my grade...its so time consuming/pointless, other than that I can ususally do well on phy/chem/math. I still have two english's, two chem's, two phy's, stats and two bio's left, for my pre-req's....This is not the road I want to take....but say if in all the pre-reqs I had a 3.0 average, and I took other electives, such as econ and psyc to up my GPA to a 3.4.....would this look bad, even if I got above avg OAT scores ? I would probably be applying to the private schools. By the way, do we have to take two semesters for english, for schools in the states, b/c WATERLOO has a requirement of one english semester.

thanks

biology is pointless, yet you want to become an optometrist?? interesting...

 

[gochi]

biology is pointless, yet you want to become an optometrist?? interesting...

Well not all of it, plant bio is pointless.

 

[IndianaOD]

Pepsisucks...I totally agree with your take on IndianaOD's "opinions"...unfounded and short-sighted. All I can say is if I was thinking of going to IU, I would certainly reconsider it now. (and before you launch the attack, my gpa is well abopve a 3.0 and I had good OAT scores). If IndianaOD is an example of the people at IU, seems like a sucky place to me.

I'm sure there are plenty of "everything is perfect with the world" people at IU for you. If you don't recognize the realities then you are the one who is shortsighted. If you can site examples of how my "opinions" are unfounded and short-sighted, please elaborate. I would love to entertain a collegial discussion. There are thousands of private practicioners and academics who share my feelings on commercial optometry. If you think practicing in a walmart gives as professional an image as working in a medical complex or stand alone building then that's fine. Unfortunate but fine. If you think 8+ years of education is only worth charging $39 for and exam that an ophthalmologist charges $150 for then that's also your right. If you think novel research by optometrists and schools is unimportant then that's also your right.

Thing is if your choice to go to commercial or support huge graduating classes and limited research only affected you I could care less. The fact that these things affect all ODs makes it worth discussing. Think of yourself out 15 years in private practice in a small town. Things are going great and you are heavily invested in the community. The next week a superwarlmart opens up and takes just enough of your patients and eyeglass sales away to send you under. Would you be happy and go take that walmart doc out for a steak?

Do you think its fair that very few walmart or commercial docs are AOA members? Is it great the others pay for the scope of practice that they "could" utilize and defend the profession?

 

[Disko]

Having a BSc is not a big deal as long as its not a requirement. As long as your stats are good no one is going to care. The only reason more ppl don't do it is b/c they didn't know what they wanted to do before graduating or just didn't think it was an option.

I did it, 3 yrs at Waterloo, 86% avg, 360TS, 340AA. BTW, residency in IL is not an issue for ICO b/c it is a private institution (no state funding, everyone pays the same tutition regardless).

3 years to fulfill just the pre-reqs?

oo Arts and Humanities,Foreign LanguageSocial and Historical Studie are still required

 

[DrSpontaneouz83]

I'm sure there are plenty of "everything is perfect with the world" people at IU for you. If you don't recognize the realities then you are the one who is shortsighted. If you can site examples of how my "opinions" are unfounded and short-sighted, please elaborate. I would love to entertain a collegial discussion. There are thousands of private practicioners and academics who share my feelings on commercial optometry. If you think practicing in a walmart gives as professional an image as working in a medical complex or stand alone building then that's fine. Unfortunate but fine. If you think 8+ years of education is only worth charging $39 for and exam that an ophthalmologist charges $150 for then that's also your right. If you think novel research by optometrists and schools is unimportant then that's also your right.

Thing is if your choice to go to commercial or support huge graduating classes and limited research only affected you I could care less. The fact that these things affect all ODs makes it worth discussing. Think of yourself out 15 years in private practice in a small town. Things are going great and you are heavily invested in the community. The next week a superwarlmart opens up and takes just enough of your patients and eyeglass sales away to send you under. Would you be happy and go take that walmart doc out for a steak?

Do you think its fair that very few walmart or commercial docs are AOA members? Is it great the others pay for the scope of practice that they "could" utilize and defend the profession?

Are you then saying that EVERY student who graduates from ICO,PCO, or NECO automatically goes into commerical optometry? Are you also implying that in the history of Indiana University NOT ONE SINGLE soul has EVER entered commercial optometry, or from any other optometry school, for that matter? Sounds like an interesting, yet very generalized assumption coming from an alum from such an "elite" school. 👎

 

[4eyed]

I am currently a junior and have been accepted to three optometry schools (PCO, ICO and NOVA) and was granted an interview at one school (but declined it). As long as you do your research early and follow the prerequisites for the schools you are interested in, then being accepted early is possible. I'm actually very close to graduating anyway, so my Undergrad school has a program where I can transfer over credits from my first year of optometry school to complete my undergrad degree. But if that isn't available, some of the optometry schools award you a degree upon completion of your first year of optometry school any way.

Best Wishes

 

[IndianaOD]

Are you then saying that EVERY student who graduates from ICO,PCO, or NECO automatically goes into commerical optometry? Are you also implying that in the history of Indiana University NOT ONE SINGLE soul has EVER entered commercial optometry, or from any other optometry school, for that matter? Sounds like an interesting, yet very generalized assumption coming from an alum from such an "elite" school. 👎

I think you misunderstood my post. I never linked any schools to any practice type. My dislike for commercial optometry and private for-profit schools are 2 different topics.

 

[DrSpontaneouz83]

I think you misunderstood my post. I never linked any schools to any practice type. My dislike for commercial optometry and private for-profit schools are 2 different topics.

Well, the reality of ANY profession is there will ALWAYS be an incoming class contributing to a greater number of specialists in that particular field, regardless of their numbers. As long as you learn what you have through your schooling and use your resources to the utmost of their abilities, than you should fare well in the financial aspect of optometry. Maybe to separate yourself from these "optometry-mill educated" graduates, pick-up an extra language to make yourself more competitive in the field, that is, if you feel others are taking away from your practice. In any profession when competition begins to raise the bar (or lower it), be it price-wise or not, you have to hang right on in there. Here, my friend, is where social darwinism separates the bookworms from those with personalities. Not that I advocate commercial practice, but you can't down play your own fellow commrades and expect others to respect the profession.

 

[DrSpontaneouz83]

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[jefguth]

I think you misunderstood my post. I never linked any schools to any practice type. My dislike for commercial optometry and private for-profit schools are 2 different topics.

I think there is a difference between private schools and schools that are "for-profit." Looking at the financial reports for ICO/IEI reveals that the school operates on a very thin margin between deficit and surplus. And I know that Nova, before it became apart of nova southeastern university was owned by a group of individuals that sold the school to the university. However, how do you differentiate which schools are for-profit institutions? IMO, labeling all private schools are for-profit is not by any means an accurate representation.