Hold

[ray07]

so i am a reapplicant, and i have been put on hold by ICO and NOVA. I had an interview at Nova, and they put me on hold after that. i really dont know what this means...my gpa isnt too great, but i did quite well on my OATs and i have a lot of extra curricular optometry related work..im guessing they want me to improve my gpa..and i have been doing fairly well since last fall, but there is only so much my gpa can improve. anyway i was wondering if anyone else was put on hold and then accepted..or if anyone knows what my chances are after being put on hold..im kinda worried...

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[EyeQ]

Hi Ray,

I think you were put on hold b/c there isn't a strong improvement in either GPA or OAT. Did you improve your GPA? At your interview, did you show them that you are a more competitive applicant? Your old posts indicated that you have a 330, 340 OAT. To be honest, 330/340 is just the average. If you have below a 3.0 GPA I suggest getting at least 350 on TS. For some reason, schools like it that your TS is high.

 

[ray07]

like i said, there is only so much i can improve in my GPA, and i have been trying hard. over the spring and summer semester, i took 12 credits each semester and almost had straight As. i did ask the admissions counselor at Nova if i should retake the OATs and she said there is no need to.
over the summer i worked at an eye camp/training program in India, which was a pretty great experience, and i also got a good letter of recommendation from them.
i dont know what else to dooo....

 

[EyeQ]

I think your case reminds me of another poster in this forum. He was a reapplicant also. GPA is the same as yours. OAT is 330, 350 and he was put on hold at Nova. He eventually got off the hold list in March. Not all hope is lost at this point so hang in there!

 

[ray07]

yeah i just wanted to hear if people actually do get in after being on hold...and march seems so far off!! this stress is way too much to handle..anyway in the meantime all i can do is try to get good grades this semester...blah
thanks for your response though, EyeQ

 

[pienfoo]

hi there. im a reapplicant and have gotten one interview (from nova) and have not heard back from any other school yet. i have a pretty crappy gpa and even after take 70 more units the past year it didn't move much. i think what helped me get that one interview was an improvement in my oat score. My OAT scores from the first time were the same as yours. If you have the time I would suggest that you re-take the OAT since it's the only way to make up for your gpa. Even though commitment to optometry via leadership and experience are important (I had a ton of those and it didn't quite get me anywhere), I would try to improve the numbers side first. anyway, i understand your frustration, but being on hold means there's still hope. hopefully you applied to lots of schools too. g'luck

 

[ray07]

well those were my OAT scores when i re-took them..my first time around i had a AA 300 and TS 290 or something, and then i decided to take them again, and i did better. sooo, i do have the time to take them for the third time, but wouldnt that look bad??

 

[Sweetmeet112]

i really dont think it looks bad to take them again...well as long as you do better again this time! if you take it again and then dont do well it will definately look bad, but by looks of it i think you will do better a third time around. And then that can only help you get into school and show your dedication to doing anything and everything to try to get in. I personally think it will help you more than anything...but gluck and dont give up!

 

[pjf223]

I give you hope....last year my application to ICO was put on hold originally. Eventually I received and interview in March and was put on the alternate list until later being accepted in July. It was a horrible long wait, but worth it in the end. I ended up deferring my acceptance a year and will be starting in the fall. I think it is early enough that they may just want to compare your application to some of the applications that come in later in the cycle and if yours is high at the list at that point you will be accepted. Don't give up hope! Hopefully you won't have to wait as long as I did!