Help me Decide

[iDoc2012]

Alright, so I am in to my two optometry schools: ICO and SCCO. I know everyone will want to respond with, "You can only make the decision on your own," but I just need some input. Any experience you have with these questions/subjects would be appreciated:

SCCO has a clean and appealing campus with several buildings and amazing weather. Cal State is right there, which may or may not be good (?) and the downtown Fullerton area was nice (?) but the traffic might be annoying (?). What do people do here for fun? In their spare time? How is off-campus housing?

ICO had amazing teachers and students when I visited, but the area just seemd sketchy (?). I have never lived in a big city, and for the last four years I have been in San Diego. Are the winters miserable? What is the lifestyle like here? Are people typically happy, or do they feel cooped up? Is there anything outside of the city to do? What is off-campus life like here? In the winters, if I had to commute to Northwestern, could I? Or are the roads too bad...

Anything else you can think of, I would love to hear...

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[aantoni1]

Thats a pretty tough decision.

To be honest, I think that it would be more fun to live in Chicago. Although the area is not the best, it doesnt take too long to get to the better parts of the city where there are lots of things to do. It would also be nice to have a change of pace in the weather and experience something totally different. Another good thing about Chicago is that they have the on-campus housing.

On the other hand, Fullerton does have the great weather. From when i visited the campus, it did not seem like there was much to do around the school. It would seem that you'd need to drive a pretty far distance in traffic to go to Hollywood or downtown to get to some fun clubs or other nightlife.

I know I didnt really help you much there, but post where you end up deciding to go when you figure it out

 

[eyestrain]

This is easy. Which is cheapest, when you factor in cost of living? Find out and go there.

 

[FLCBRUIN84]

this may be a tough one!

I lived in LA all four years of undergrad (I went to UCLA) and by my 3rd year I realized how much the city wasn't for me after undergrad. While the nightlife was great (Westwood is the epitome of a college town and Hollywood was just a $20 cab ride away), I hated the traffic (my commute to my job in Beverly Hills which was a 3 mile drive took 30-50 minutes), hated the expensive cost of living (sharing a tiny room for about 700+ a person), and hated the fact that I had to either find a meter or get a validated ticket just to go to a grocery store!

I moved to Orange County (south county, Irvine) and am absolutely in love with it! LA is just an hour away, San Diego is just and hour and a half away(my bro goes to UCSD so its nice to spend weekends down there), the beaches are near and you have and endless list of local bars and clubs to hit up when you're bored (Costa Mesa, Newport, Huntington, etc.) I actually found myself at the small bars/clubs in downtown Fullerton for Taco Tuesdays and on the weekends. So SCCO was the only place I applied to and I'm glad I get to stay in OC.

Before you move to the city, definitely see what it's going to be like. Chicago might be more exciting but can you deal with the drastic change from your laid back environment in SD? My best friend from UCLA is from Chi-Town and that girl can party. She always comments on how much more exciting the Chicago social scene is. And P.S. if you're not a fan of the cold.. you'll be in for a treat!

If you decide SCCO, I'll see you in the Fall. Also, see if you qualify for any scholarships at each school. Maybe that will help you decide?

 

[optEXTREME]

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[alferec]

Traffic in socal is CRAZYNESS pretty much all the time. You most def need a car to get anywhere. From what I see (friends that live there) housing is kinda pricy..my friend pays $1300 for a single. Also, an optometrist told me that ICO, PCO and NECO are in her opinion the top clinical schools and UCB and SCCO are like more book-smart people that have a hard time empathizing with patients (generality). I didn't apply to ICO, but Chicago baby! I don't know where you live now, but don't you think it would be awesome to experience living there for 3 - 4 years!?

Whaaaaaat, who said SCCO is for book smart people??? And we don't empathize w/ patients?????? Ahhhh where is this coming from? I've met the nicest people in the world here, and I thought I was a nice guy! Our NBEO part II and III scores (more clinically based) are actually way higher, almost 100% pass rate consistently every year. But the NBEO part I (the "book smart" part - basic sciences), I admit may not be the best pass rate for SCCO. But yeah, SCCO is known to put out excellent clinicians.

Oh and did I mention that we have an awesome clinic??? It is pretty new and state of the art - our school gets tons of contributions so we get all the newest technology, including three OPTOS OptoMap devices, which gives the widest retinal view than any other similar device and costs several thousand dollars each. We get patients up and down the Orange County and LA County areas - a pretty diverse population if you ask me because this area is a melting pot of cultures and races.

 

[FLCBRUIN84]

Whaaaaaat, who said SCCO is for book smart people??? And we don't empathize w/ patients?????? Ahhhh where is this coming from? I've met the nicest people in the world here, and I thought I was a nice guy! Our NBEO part II and III scores (more clinically based) are actually way higher, almost 100% pass rate consistently every year. But the NBEO part I (the "book smart" part - basic sciences), I admit may not be the best pass rate for SCCO. But yeah, SCCO is known to put out excellent clinicians.

Oh and did I mention that we have an awesome clinic??? It is pretty new and state of the art - our school gets tons of contributions so we get all the newest technology, including two OPTOS OptoMap devices, which gives the widest retinal view than any other similar device and costs several thousand dollars each. We get patients up and down the Orange County and LA County areas - a pretty diverse population if you ask me because this area is a melting pot of cultures and races.

cheers to that! every optometrist i've met from SCCO has said the same thing. the school really emphasizes the importance of CLINICAL CARE! Alferec (aka Chris)... can't wait to see you in the Fall!

 

[iDoc2012]

Thank you guys for your responses!

I guess it would help to mention that I don't go to clubs and bars much, so I wound need entertainment elsewhere. Cost of living+tuition+equipmet at the 2 schools will be about the same (about 40K), so that doesn't help. I applied for teh WICHE for SCCO, so that may help.

So far, I still can't decide. I'll let you know, though! Keep the responses coming!