Grades Grades: I wish I could get them!

[Bluesanzen]

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So I am a 5th year senior double majoring. My following years were not great and life in the science field was tough. I am not sure if schools take this into account, but my school is known to have pretty tough sciences courses with averages at 2.6's:

My biol courses averaged to a 2.0
Genome I barely passed with a 0.7
My chemistry courses were 2.5's
My orchemI was 2.0, ochem II was 1.7 (retaking) but it looks as if im going to end up with a 3.0
My physics was 3.2
Calculus: 3.2
Calculus2: 2.0
Upper Division Biology did better got above 3.0's
BiochemI 2.0
-I am going to graduate with an overall gpa of around 2.8....Throughout college I pretty much worked full time trying to pay for college since I could not qualify for financial aid. When I was not working, I was trying to study or trying to do volunteer work. I decided this year that I wanted to go into optometry after I started shadowing my optometrist. I am planning to take a year off to gain more experience. However, even a year off with experience I feel as if I am doomed..and will never get in...
- I have not taken the OAT's. I only took practice ones and I got a 330's (before studying). Seems still low for what I have to offer in gpa....Was anyone in the same boat as me and has actually made it????
🙁


- btw: my hope is to get into ICO, SCO, SUNY or Western Health Sciences...

 

[Taven7755]

ok, I will try to help you to do what I did....I got accepted into 4 schools (NECO, SCO, SoCal, Nova) with a 3.0 GPA, which is roughly the area you are in. Here is my advice:

1) You are going to have to destroy the competition on experience. A lot of boards give more consideration to someone that KNOWS what they are getting into. Don't "shadow an OD"...everyone does that. Call every OD within 100 miles if you have to, and shadow in every possible field you can. I worked in optometry for 2.5 years as a lens tech (GET that job. Do it for free if you have to. It shows determination.) and later as an optometric tech. I shadowed in Wal-Mart, private practice, on a military base, and in an MD/OD joint practice. You MUST be strong here or all else will be worthless. Otherwise, you just look like someone that was experimenting and took an OAT.

2) Take classes and get A's in them. It doesn't matter if it is at Podunk Community College. Retake something close to something else you did poorly in, and tear it up. You have to show the ability to get A's. I majored in Chem Engineering at Cal Poly (a notoriously nasty school. #1 in my major graduated w a 3.3), but I spent a year at a regional public college, took 5 or 6 classes in Biology and Anatomy, and got A's in them. That place was a joke compared to Cal Poly. If you are truly an exceptional student, the same will be true for you.

3) Obliterate the OAT, and especially try to build up at least ONE of the four big sections to get 380+ in. You have to show that you are exceptional at something. I got a 260 in reading, and a 300 in bio, but then 400's for both physics and quant reasoning. Show them something that you can hang your hat on. I recommend the OAT destroyer book (much harder than the real test, but great preparation), and the Kaplan books for an easy confidence builder. If you had one area, study until you are blue in the face for physics. This shows that you have the basics to do well in a good part of op school, which are basically physics courses (optics).

4) Bombard them with rec letters, especially from doctors. They say to send a few from so and so...I sent 15, and had more than that available. Make it seen that your past profs rave about you, and that the doctors you shadow and work with are your biggest fans. If you don't have any such profs, then I would submit that op school may be very challenging. A lot of it operates on how hard you work, and how hard they see you work. Reputation is what we are built on, and it is what will make pt's walk in your door one day. You must show that you impress the people that come into contact with you, I guess is the bottom line.

5) Don't apologize for your GPA. If you worked hard, tell them so. Understand that you had something to prove, and that you spent a year plus of your life to make that up. Show relentlessness, and that will carry you a long way.

Hope this helps. I wish you the best of luck.🙂

 

[Mewcakes]

destroy the competition on experience

Yup, you'll have to do that.

Take classes and get A's in them. It doesn't matter if it is at Podunk Community College.

Agree

Obliterate the OAT

If you think your GPA is tanked, then you'll have to show them you have a brain at some point in time. Aim for 400. Study really hard. Work should not and is not an excuse.

Bombard them with rec letters, especially from doctors. They say to send a few from so and so...I sent 15, and had more than that available.

Not sure if Taven applied when OptomCAS had been launched, but they now limit you to 4 letters of rec. And schools will specifically state WHO they want those letters from. They seem to trend somewhere along the lines of 1 professor, at least 1 doctor, and a third choice that you can choose between a doctor or an employer and then a 4th of your choice. Though sometimes the schools will only look at letters from specific ppl. i.e. You give 2 letters from doctors, 1 from a professor and one from an employer. But School X wants 2 from doctors and 1 from a professor. They will only read the 2 from the doctor and the 1 from the professor. They will not bother reading the one from your employer. BUT, some schools will read them all, so make sure the 4 letters you DO supply are diverse.

Don't apologize for your GPA. If you worked hard, tell them so.

But don't forget to be humble. If in all honesty you kind of slacked, don't lie and say you worked your ass off for that 1.7. They want a student who has seen their mistakes and can learn from them, not one who ignores and refuses to acknowledge them.