How can you make yourself a competitive pre-opt student?

[Suey]

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Hi! I want to go into optometry, and even though I'm just a freshman in college, and I want to start planning my college years in how I can make myself a competitive applicant for OD schools. So can OD students help me? How did you make yourself a good applicant? Besides having a good GPA and test score, do schools look at any specific extracurricular activities and/or community service? And how many years of internship with an optometrist should you have?

 

[J.opt]

I know how you feel, my freshman year I was freaking out over the same stuff. Extracurricular activities are important, but not as important as having good grades. A friend of mine told me to focus on my classes and that if I did some community service here and there I should be alright.

Also, on the application essays you?ll have a chance to show the schools how interested in optometry you are.

Good luck.

 

[rpames]

Since I was accepted TODAY (hehe) I will give you my insight. Of cource grades are important. Always aim for 3.0+, if you have that you should be ok in that aspect. What got me in was a ton of OD exposure. I worked for and OD (my father) since I was 16, I am now 21. This shows them you know what you are getting yourself into. I also worked a summer for an orthopeadic surgeon. This helped show that I have looked at other options and still went to optometry.

J.opt is right about the community survice aspect. I did some in a hospital for a semester, but it didn't even come up in the interview. It won't hurt you to have it, but 1000 hours won't over shadow really bad grades.

I don't know how much it affects the decision of the committee, but I am also doing research.

That is what I did, I don't know if it is the best formula.

I probably am not the best person to give advise since I may have had an advantage over the other average students in that my dad is an OD grad from the school I was accepted too (also the only one I applied to) and the guy who interviewed me knew the OD who wrote my letter of recommendation and knew another OD in my town who my father has a working relationship with. I would like to think I got in on my own merrits, but realistically...my numbers were below average.

 

[Batlauren]

Maybe I should wait until I get my interview results back, but here's a rough idea of what you should do.

1. First volunteer with an optometrist. Get to see what optometry is all about. Observe different settings where optometrists can work: vision therapy, private practice, group practice, hospitals and commercial practices. If possible, work for an optometrist.
2. Try to get involved in vision screenings throughout the community. I have participated in vision screenings at the Special Olympics and for underpriviledged people.
3. Get involved in clubs. Hold leadership positions. Fortunately for me there's a pre-optometry club on campus so I was able to get involved and I've been vice-president and now I'm president. If you don't have one, get involved in other community service activities. HEY EVEN BETTER-->START a pre-optometry club at your school!!!
4. Work with the visually impaired. People from my club go to the Blind Children's Learning Center which shows devotion to helping children with vision problems. It's also a WONDERFUL experience.
5. Get a hold of Optometry Journals. Optometry and Vision Science or Optometric Education. There are many out there.

These things give you something to talk about at the interview and show you really know what you're getting into. That's all. Check out http://spirit.dos.uci.edu/useeeyes/ It's our club's web page. It answers a lot of questions.

GOOD LUCK,

BatLauren

 

[Rosanna]

Hi Suey:

Although academics are strongly stressed, I found that all of the schools I have interviewed at were more concerned about my achievements out of the school setting.

I definitely do not have the highest grades (my GPA was 3.2 when I applied, and my average score on the OAT was 320), but I felt confident going into my interviews because I had a lot of experience working in the optometry field. Although my grades are not so great, I have interviewed and been accepted into ICO, SUNY, SCCO, and Newenco.

Don't get me wrong, grades are very important, but don't let that stress you out. If you can keep your GPA over a 3.0, you have a really good chance in getting into optometry school. If you have a lower GPA, you can always improve your chances by doing well on the OAT.

I would recommend doing everything BatLauren suggests. But most importantly, you need to volunteer with an optometrist and you need to show some kind of community service involvement. I was fortunate to have volunteered for a great optometrist for a couple of years before I applied, and I had done community service work at a school for blind children. Also, I think what set me apart from other applicants is that I actually worked for an ophthalmologist for a year before applying to optometry school. I found that my experience working with MDs helped me convince my interviewer that I knew optometry was the field for me, and I had actually made the effort to research other fields before committing myself to optometry (just as J.opt recommended).

Also, be prepared for the interview. I'm sure you can find a lot of old posts which you can read about the different interview experiences everyone has had at different schools, and then mentally prepare yourself to answer them. For example, my interview at ICO only revolved around 3 questions: tell me about yourself, tell me about your volunteer experience, and tell me if you participated in any pre-optometry clubs. Almost all my other interviews revolved around those questions, as well.

Your grades will get you the interview, but your personality and your desire to become an optometrist will get you into the school.

Best wishes,

Rosanna

 

[Suey]

Thank you soo much for all of your replies, they really help a bunch! Good luck to all of you who just had interviews and are in opt school, and congrats to rpames for getting accepted!! 🙂

 

[rpames]

I just read back over my post...sometimes I wonder if I could make any more typos in a single paragraph. I just get ahead of my fingers and make tons of dumb errors, I sound like a idiot! I correct some errors, but most likely missed a bunch.