help! graduating in december

[900293046kc]

Brand new to the forums, but I am in a boat where this is my junior year summer and I am graduating in December. Normally I should be taking the oat in august/september but I am taking o chem 2 and anatomy and physiology over the summer and biochem and physics 2 in the fall along with two other classes I still need. The thing is I need o chem 2 and physics for the oat so I figured that I cannot take the oat now, I will have to wait until January to get at least 2 months of studying in before I take the exam. Now I know OptomCAS opens in July, but what I am confused about is would I want start the application this summer and get all my letters of recommendation in there?, even though I will have to transfer all my information to the next cycle for next year because I am taking the oat so late. And if the letters of rec do not transfer that means I will have to have my professors re write them next summer? If that's how it works Im not sure. I know that I will have to take a year off (which I dont want to but hey) because the next cycle (2019) is for 2020. I need help! lol

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[LUC78]

The letter of recs do not transfer over to next cycle. There's really no point of having your professors write them now so I would just wait till next cycle opens up.
I think its actually really advantageous that you're graduating a semester early because you can dedicate your 2nd semester solely to apps and studying for the OAT. You'll have plenty of time to be done with you application and be able to submit as soon as the cycle opens.
Hopefully you'll hear back soon and won't have to spend your gap year worrying about admissions.
When I was considering taking a gap year many recommend working in the field just to get your feet wet but I would encourage pursuing other interests and perhaps just volunteering on weekends. I was really burned out from school so I knew I wanted to have my gap year to myself. Alternatively, working for a year (in any field) would be great to have some money saved to put towards housing or personal expenses or even loans in Optometry school.

 

[900293046kc]

The letter of recs do not transfer over to next cycle. There's really no point of having your professors write them now so I would just wait till next cycle opens up.
I think its actually really advantageous that you're graduating a semester early because you can dedicate your 2nd semester solely to apps and studying for the OAT. You'll have plenty of time to be done with you application and be able to submit as soon as the cycle opens.
Hopefully you'll hear back soon and won't have to spend your gap year worrying about admissions.
When I was considering taking a gap year many recommend working in the field just to get your feet wet but I would encourage pursuing other interests and perhaps just volunteering on weekends. I was really burned out from school so I knew I wanted to have my gap year to myself. Alternatively, working for a year (in any field) would be great to have some money saved to put towards housing or personal expenses or even loans in Optometry school.

Follow up- Okay, grades are in, Im graduated and I know a 3.0 or above is usually needed to get into optometry school. I have experiences, hours etc. I worked hard over summer and got a 3.28 taking O chem2, the lab, and anatomy and physiology. This semester my overall gpa was a 2.95 and cumulative is a 2.93. My science gpa however is bad. Its a 2.65 and I thought getting a's and b's would move it to up to near a 3.0 but getting a C in biochem this semester and micro last semester tanked everything and its not budging. I dont know about retaking these courses perhaps at a community college, or how that works, however Im going to talk to schools about admission. If I retake orgo 1 and get an A I don't know how much that would change things. I have time (this semester) to study for the OAT so I should be able to do good. Any suggestions?

 

[LUC78]

I think your science gpa might stand out to some schools so I would really work on taking additional science courses to boost it. One course would not bring up your gpa significantly, you'd most probably have to take/retake multiple. Community college courses are accepted and none of my schools mentioned anything about them.

Work really hard this semester to study for the OAT, its usually the biggest hurdle during applications. A solid score will probably get you some interviews and schools may then waitlist you until your new semester grades are in for Fall 2019. Most of all, don't worry! You have an entire semester free to study for the OAT and another whole year to take courses to bring up your GPA. You're actually in a really great spot. Good luck!