How do you get a scholarship for optometry school?

[StephanieOD2B]

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I was just wondering how one applies for scholarships for optometry school. Do the schools automatically make an applicant a candidate, or does he/she need to fill out additional paperwork? If so, does the applicant need to have been accepted to the school before he/she can fill out the paperwork?

Also, does anyone know what kind of stats one needs for a scholarship (specifically at UMSL)? I have a 4.0 GPA in Biology, I am in the honors program at my school, 370AA/370TS on my OAT, 4+ years of working in optometry offices, and I am doing research in a microbiology lab concerning microbial growth on contact lenses. Surely that is enough to at least be considered, right? Any advice would be appreciated!😍

 

[alferec]

I was just wondering how one applies for scholarships for optometry school. Do the schools automatically make an applicant a candidate, or does he/she need to fill out additional paperwork? If so, does the applicant need to have been accepted to the school before he/she can fill out the paperwork?

Also, does anyone know what kind of stats one needs for a scholarship (specifically at UMSL)? I have a 4.0 GPA in Biology, I am in the honors program at my school, 370AA/370TS on my OAT, 4+ years of working in optometry offices, and I am doing research in a microbiology lab concerning microbial growth on contact lenses. Surely that is enough to at least be considered, right? Any advice would be appreciated!😍

For SCCO, you get some scholarship info on interview day and even more scholarship information in the mail (a "summer packet") and during orientation. So (for SCCO) you don't have to do much research, but that's only for campus scholarships. Most scholarships require you to write an essay.

If you want third party scholarships you'd have to look around...unfortunately I don't know much about these kind of scholarships (well, except for the Army Health Professions Scholarship, if you're interested).

 

[prettygreeneyes]

I'm not sure about UMSL, but at ICO I was told the cutoff was somewhere around 350 in each section of the OAT, and better than a 3.5 GPA. You didn't have to submit a seperate app for scholarships that are given through the school, you will automatically be considered. No seperate app is required for Pacific either. There will be other scholarship opportunities once you begin at a certain school. Often, state associations will contact the school about a potential scholarship, and you'll get a chance to apply if you (or maybe parents) are from that state, organization, etc.