Yeah. Me. Except I had been planning it since I was in my 2nd year of college and at the end of my undergrad, my numbers still didn't really add up to optometry school admission.
I graduated in March 2009 and had planned on applying when the apps came out July 2009. I knew my grades were so-so and from what I had heard from friends, some schools would accept C-s, so I figured I was fine. I was too scared to actually go to the school websites for fear of what I would read there. Silly, but it seriously scared the crap out of me. I didn't want my failure to be spelled out to me before I'd even applied. So I just studied for my OATs, got a 300, knew I'd have to take it again at least once. Fine whatever. Took them again in November, got a 330, was rejected by half the schools I applied to. Awesome.
I had been dating my most favorite boyfriend to date for about a year and a half when apps came out. As I was filling out supplemental apps where I had to put in my grades, there was always the big "Grades below C will not be accepted" written across the top in red. It discouraged the hell out of me. I did NOT want to go back to school. I couldn't. I was tired. Living with the guy I wanted to marry and apps not looking promising, I was just like "...I wonder if I could just not go to optometry school...It would mean moving away from Dave anyway...Maybe I'll just stay here and...be a receptionist..?" But then after I spoke to my Dad he was like "you need to try your best for your own sake. You've been working so long for this. You don't ever want to ask yourself 'what if'. Don't be lazy.". I spent the next 4 months denying what I needed to do. When suddenly it hit me sometime in early October. I was just like "...I need to go back to school". Unfortunately the new semester had started about a month before I realized that, so I had to wait for Winter semester to enroll. But about 2 weeks later I had met with all the counselors I needed to and had a solid idea of the classes I needed to take. I got a job at LensCrafters and worked my private practice at the same time to fill up my weeks so I didn't feel so useless lying around at home.
I'm not sure if I had started school RIGHT after I had graduated if I could have been that focused, but 9 mos later in January when I started classes, it was very easy. After realizing that if I could just retake some classes, I might actually be a very competitive applicant, I knew what I had to do and I didn't find it difficult at all to find the energy to do it. I took 2 classes while working 20-30 hrs a week. It was kinda hectic, but I learned to plan pretty well my last couple years of school, too bad my grades didn't really reflect that.
Now motivation towards the profession. I like optometry (i'm not going to say love because in all honesty I don't know exactly what it's like to be an optometrist yet) and it's something I think I'll be fine doing the rest of my life. But the way I view the debt/saturation problem is that I plan on getting married. And take this with a grain of salt, if you will. I plan on getting married to a man who can support me and the lifestyle I want to have. I view my income as kind of icing on the cake. Even if I'm making 80K/yr, if he's making like 100K (let's hope more by the time he's 30), then we'll be doing pretty well. Being a 2 income family will let me do what I like to do without having to worry too much about the money. That may be of NO help to you whatsoever, but that's how I'm handling it.
Anyways, you actually participated in the application cycle this year, didn't you? And you were put on waitlists, right? So victory was very close to being within reach for you. Sorry to rub it in. But my point is that you were very close. Knowing that you need to make it past that threshold will help you stay focused. You're going back to school for a very clear reason and you should use it to fuel yourself. I also have a roommate who is like...the biggest failure at life, ask me about it sometime. But it totally motivated me to not be so pathetic. I didn't want to end up like him. I want to be a doctor and be proud of what I've accomplished. Not be educationless to a point that I can't even get a job at Safeway. So I worked really hard and am getting A's in the 2 classes I'm taking. I'm not sure if my admission committees took the fact that I was taking classes into account, but I can't imagine they counted against me. Adcoms know that it takes a lot of energy to continue with school just so you can go to another four, so they'll recognize your efforts. Just remember that everything you're doing is going to affect your admission next year, so try your very best! Plus, you'll find that taking classes over again, even if you struggled the first time, is often very easy the second time around...especially at community colleges. So it might not be as bad as you think.
</Long-***** entry></Sorriez>
PM me if you would like a more detailed dissertation of my feelings at the time. But be aware, it could make for long readings.
