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Anyone a part of IAUPR class of 2022? I have been accepted but still waiting on responses on other schools. Would like to get some feedback on IAUPR.
Anyone a part of IAUPR class of 2022? I have been accepted but still waiting on responses on other schools. Would like to get some feedback on IAUPR.[/QUOTE
Heres the honest to God truth from an OD who graduated more than 2 yrs ago from IAUPR. If you can get into another school, GO THERE! now the island itself has some of the most amazing beaches ever and great food but the school and the surrounding environment is not beautiful and hand up to god you will be teaching yourself and that is not what you want when you are becoming a Dr. You may learn Spanish but only because English is so poor. Exams are poorly written and in terrible English. Professors are sensitive and blame you when you point out that something is not proper English. The school is currently under review by the ACOE for terribly low board pass rates and unfortunately for favoritism towards Puerto Rican students( literally calling the police to visit students who badmouthed native students ) There is a large cheating culture in the school and admin knows all about it. the part 1 pass rates (first time taking) are somewhere between 10-20% and about 95% of students take some or all parts of boards 3 or more times to pass (part 1 has the lowest pass rate of all optometry schools). At least 5-7 students are dismissed after first yr EVERY YEAR and then another 10-12 are held back another year. 15-20 students fail optics, pharm, anatomy and systemic first yr (it happens EVERY single year and still occurs) They make an extra 7-10,000 bonus for teaching in the summer. the Spanish teacher will not teach you anything useful. You start clinic in 3rd while other schools start 1st yr seeing patients. You will be puppets for the school so they can do "vision screenings" at elementary schools all around the island to refer back to their clinics (you only do minimal vision screenings for two years before you ever get into real clinical settings performing eye exams). and these are just some of the academic/clinical faults. You have certain professors making inappropriate sexual advances towards students, drs sleeping with students, heavy drug use in the dorms (cocaine and marijuana). I don't mean this to discourage anyone from going there I simply wish these were things that someone told me before I went so I knew what I was getting into.
In reading the comments from Steph_Opto I can attest to everything she said as being completely correct and if anything underplayed. If you can get into another school or if you can take off a year repeat your OAT to get a more competitive score and apply to a different school you should do it. IAUPR is really a poor institution. Not only is the school bad but the living conditions are currently atrocious. Since returning we have not had one single week with power or water. Every few days or so we lose water and power for 2-3 days consecutively. Power lines are down across the island and when the power goes out the traffic lights go out and its just a mess you cannot drive anywhere. A 2 mile ride will take an hour or more. Im previously deployed military and I would go so far to say that my time at IAUPR was worse than my time over seas especially how we are treated by the faculty and professors. I have seen students targeted by professors for no good reason other than a grudge or because they do not like the students appearance, their grades have been altered they have been treated unfairly, all grades in subjective areas such as clinicals and proficiencies are non-representative of their actual skill set. And on the opposite end if you play to their liking and kiss butt you will be granted extra time, favors, accommodations. It is a very tiring and sad place. The 1st attempt at boards part 1 is typically a pass rate of under 20%. That is because we are not prepared for boards. The professors are truly incompetent and will misinform you because their pride is so fragile they could never admit to not knowing something. You will be given powerpoint slides that have been used for decades with out of date info, wrong info and its so unorganized you cannot follow it so you will spend days reorganizing it and trying to fix the mistakes and only 10% of your time will go into actual learning. I could go on all day about everything that is messed up in this place. Trust us when we tell you this: Go to a different school. The hurricane situation was handled so poorly we are breathing in mold because nothing was cleaned properly. The clinic was destroyed yet we were forced back into it and see patients with no working sinks, molded slit lamps, and phoropters, no charts, (we had to hold SOSH charts).
Its not difficult its impossible. I know personally several who have tried every single one denied. One of the students had a stellar GPA here as well and was denied 6/6 schools to transfer.Would you say its difficult to transfer out of IAUPR and into another optometry school after completing the first year?
Anyone a part of IAUPR class of 2022? I have been accepted but still waiting on responses on other schools. Would like to get some feedback on IAUPR.
Would you say its difficult to transfer out of IAUPR and into another optometry school after completing the first year?
This is 100% accurate and if you have any doubts check the news. Yesterday a tree feel and 1million people lost power for over 8 hours. We have a test today and we could not even study because we could not charge our laptops. This is a weekly occurrence and its constant. Once a week we lost power for around 15 - 20 hours and some times we lose water for days at a time. Its so difficult to study in this environment and you will get no sympathy or help from IAUPR. They will just pile on the work and exams and give no cares. I have never been more emotional in my life than I am here its so hard here.I truly hope you get in somewhere else. Whatever you do don’t come here. It’ll be the worst mistake of your life. Don’t believe the lies the school tells. They were in a terrible situation before the hurricane and now it’s 10X worse. They will tell you everything is back to normal but it isn’t. They are just struggling to fill the incoming class since no one is applying, nor should they. Frequent power outages still plague the island and school with no fix coming anytime soon. You will have class in the dark with no AC on a regular basis and you will not be cut any slack by faculty because they expect you to feel bad for them. Resentment towards people from the states was bad before and it’s only gotten much much worse. Again this is all in addition to the other much more serious issues people have already mentioned.
Sadly things like this occurred even before the hurricane. We had an incident where the city had shut off the water and we were on well water for the entire day. The school never told the students and when clinic and classes were over and everyone went home we realized there was no water to shower or even use the bathroom. The school literally Shut all the doors kicked us all out of campus. The following day we had to go to class and professors made fun of the students telling us we stink and laughing bc they knew no one showered. Some students literally went out and "showered" in the rain the following day. We didn't have water for days in the dorms and the school which had some running water locked us out of the bathrooms only allowing admin and professors to use water. power would go out constantly.This is 100% accurate and if you have any doubts check the news. Yesterday a tree feel and 1million people lost power for over 8 hours. We have a test today and we could not even study because we could not charge our laptops. This is a weekly occurrence and its constant. Once a week we lost power for around 15 - 20 hours and some times we lose water for days at a time. Its so difficult to study in this environment and you will get no sympathy or help from IAUPR. They will just pile on the work and exams and give no cares. I have never been more emotional in my life than I am here its so hard here.
Sounds like someone from the school found out people were on here telling the truth and sent someone here to make things sound better than they are. "Spood fed" words that every lazy professor at that school uses for their lack of teaching ability. Any hard working individual can make it anywhere thats true, and many of us were very hard working and were successful but you can't deny the schools many faults....the board scores are a direct representation of just how terrible the teaching at the school is. The fact that we have the lowest board pass rates from all the schools just shows the problems.....save money???? really? HA thats actually funny. the tax rate is 11.5% and is going up to 16% soon because the country is broke. They actually pay profs more money to have summer classes bc for every student they fail they get three times the tuition. The school actually gives incentives to profs so in the long run the school will make more money. You just wait if you really are just a first yr as you say just you wait until next yr when there isn't Cultural Competency or Human Development To bolster your grade. 1st yr is a joke. Wait until next yr. We promimse you wont be singing the same tune. The beaches are amazing but the school is in the ghetto and in Bayamon has the highest crime rate of ALL Puerto Rico and crazy dangerous. Puerto Rico blames the US they just forget one tiny little detail they arent owed anything from the US gov bc they don't pay federal taxes and guess what pays for FEMA...the federal taxes they don't pay. FEMA doesn't rebuild stuff for you for free thats not their job. They help to a certain point but Puerto RIco is a busy being a little greedy they want the US to do everything for them I am in direct contact with doctors and admin at the school. they confirm the water goes out for weeks at a time as well as the electric. If UIAPRSO is the only choice you have to be an OD then go for it, but if you have other options then do yourself a favor and go anywhere but here.If you are a very negative person and hyperbolize every situation (Like one user in here seems to be doing) you wont like it here.
If you are a strong person who can overcome adversity you will be fine.
In regards to Puerto Rico. No denying this country is still in need of support, that's on the US Gov't to step up and help this country in their time of need I cant be mad at this Beautiful country and its kind people for that.
That being said, it really truly is not that bad. Sure power and water go out sometimes (for a few hours 2-3x a month) but its really nothing. Most of the time we are in class during the outages anyways and the school has a large generator so we don't really notice it.
Otherwise 99% of stores are reopened and functioning normally. Oh and traffic can be bad during peak hours yes, but that's literally everywhere in the world. The school has dorms for all 1st years guaranteed so you shouldn't be in traffic during peak hours anyways. I never am.
When we do get time off, this country is so beautiful and exciting to explore, its great.
I'm still a 1st year, and having a Hurricane as bad as Maria in the first few months of school made things extremely difficult no doubt about it. There is no way to sugar coat that part, it was rough. Especially considering all of the schoolwork we had to complete. We had to make up for nearly 2 months (The semester is only 5 months) in just 2-3 weeks. It was already a massive course load and being that behind was a killer. That being said, we overcame it and in al honesty came out better students.
The schedule now is back to normal, and back to the pre-Maria routine. Doing well in classes and learning the material is achievable as long as you put in the time.
My bone to pick would be with the staff and professors who do have large egos for some reason. Sometimes a professor will throw an extremely difficult exam at us with an average of like 40 (One prof in particular is notorious for this) and then blame students for not studying enough (When in reality it's just an unfair exam with very miniscule and completely irrelevant details that he never usually tests us on) ... I guess it keeps us on our feet.
All in all first year has been filled with ups and downs.
In all honesty the main reason I chose IAUPR was for the money. Tuition is *just* 26K which is MUCH less than any other school. Cost of living is cheap here too. Mark Cuban chose [IU's] Kelley School of Business sight-unseen because it had the least expensive tuition of all the business schools on the top 10 list. Similarly I chose IAUPR as it has the least expensive tuition among all North American Colleges of Optometry. I understood it would more difficult, and I wouldn't be spoon-fed like students from other schools with 45k+ tuitions are. I did however, know that I would graduate as an OD just the same as those other students and have an extra 60-100k in my pockets to put towards a private practice after graduation that my competition in other schools wouldn't. As mentioned in all IAUPR threads, as long as you put in the work and are determined to be a great OD you will be successful and love your time here.
If you have any questions feel free to msg me
If you are a very negative person and hyperbolize every situation (Like one user in here seems to be doing) you wont like it here.
In regards to Puerto Rico. No denying this country is still in need of support, that's on the US Gov't to step up and help this country in their time of need
Sure power and water go out sometimes (for a few hours 2-3x a month) but its really nothing. being said, it really truly is not that bad.
That being said, we overcame it and in al honesty came out better students.
I would graduate as an OD just the same as those other students and have an extra 60-100k in my pockets to put towards a private practice after graduation that my competition in other schools wouldn't.
If you have any questions feel free to msg me
So much wrong with this post that it's laughable. And I'm not even in optometry school.
1- A first time board pass rate of 47% is not hyperbolizing. Having professors who do not teach or support you is not hyperbolizing. Power outages and in-class bias is not hyperbolizing.
2- WTF does the US gov't have anything to do with Cuban aid? They do not pay federal taxes yet it is on the US to pay for their help? Real structural changes come from within Cuba, not on the crutches of aid from other nations. For someone who appreciates such a beautiful country and its kind people, you are very quick to point the finger.
3- Power outages every week essentially. That is significant. Don't downplay it.
4- You do not make better students by making them suffer. This is not the military. Education depends on a quality environment conducive to learning. When the Austrian military teaches sniper school, they make sure their soldiers are under the least amount of stress when learning, so that they retain what they learn when they enter the field. IAUPR is only making it harder for students to learn. This is the exact opposite of making a better student. Your patients do not care how tough you are, but they will care when something goes wrong because you were not able to retain what you learned.
5- Your understanding of finances is skewed, and if it isn't-- shame on you for making such a sad excuse. You did not have an extra 60-100k. That is a sunk cost. You cheaped out on a professional degree to save money. The quality of cheaping out is quantifiable-- shown by IAUPR's attrition rate, board pass rates, clinical sites, quality of education, professional faculty. Everyone loses money in professional health school. You chose to lose it on a lower quality degree.
https://optometriceducation.org/wp-...1/NBEO-Pass-Rate-Report-2016-2017-FINAL-1.pdf
First time pass rate of 47%. That's not factoring in students who were already dropped from the program.
I am not trying to slander previous grads from this program, but do not try to make excuses for a poor performing program. Especially when it has been quantified.
First time pass rate is actually lower, the school is attempting to skew facts and make it appear higher by reporting only allowing a certain number of students take the exam. They aren't letting students they don't believe can pass first time take part 1 anymore and EVEN THEN the pass rate is 47%. We had 54 students take it my year and only 9 passed the exam the first time.So much wrong with this post that it's laughable. And I'm not even in optometry school.
1- A first time board pass rate of 47% is not hyperbolizing. Having professors who do not teach or support you is not hyperbolizing. Power outages and in-class bias is not hyperbolizing.
2- WTF does the US gov't have anything to do with Cuban aid? They do not pay federal taxes yet it is on the US to pay for their help? Real structural changes come from within Cuba, not on the crutches of aid from other nations. For someone who appreciates such a beautiful country and its kind people, you are very quick to point the finger.
3- Power outages every week essentially. That is significant. Don't downplay it.
4- You do not make better students by making them suffer. This is not the military. Education depends on a quality environment conducive to learning. When the Austrian military teaches sniper school, they make sure their soldiers are under the least amount of stress when learning, so that they retain what they learn when they enter the field. IAUPR is only making it harder for students to learn. This is the exact opposite of making a better student. Your patients do not care how tough you are, but they will care when something goes wrong because you were not able to retain what you learned.
5- Your understanding of finances is skewed, and if it isn't-- shame on you for making such a sad excuse. You did not have an extra 60-100k. That is a sunk cost. You cheaped out on a professional degree to save money. The quality of cheaping out is quantifiable-- shown by IAUPR's attrition rate, board pass rates, clinical sites, quality of education, professional faculty. Everyone loses money in professional health school. You chose to lose it on a lower quality degree.
https://optometriceducation.org/wp-...1/NBEO-Pass-Rate-Report-2016-2017-FINAL-1.pdf
First time pass rate of 47%. That's not factoring in students who were already dropped from the program.
I am not trying to slander previous grads from this program, but do not try to make excuses for a poor performing program. Especially when it has been quantified.
We aren't offended we know we lack in skills and trust me, alumni are angry about the fact that the school doesn't hear our voices when it comes to making improvements. We spent 5 mon in the states rotating and 5-6mon in PR rotating through different satellite clinics. On island there are only 2 decent clinical sites were you learn and see a ton of pathology but all other sites are worthless the state side clinics aren't all terrible but most are. Some state side docs feel for us and spend extra time with us (because we lack skills) while other sites just let IAUPR students shadow only. Ill be honest I had experience prior shadowing and working in a clinic myself but its not uncommon to have 4th yrs still learning basic skills whereas other optometry students are busy refining theirs. Some of that has to do with the piss poor management of rotation sites by the rotation directors but they aren't fully to blame IAUPR students def don't get the same clinical education. Many students have optometrist parents who help teach them but if thats not your situation then there is a lot you aren't going to get at this school. They lack the resources mismanage money like crazy AND some if not most of the clinicians lack skills themselves or never took boards so they are out f touch optometry is super limited in PR as in you literally can only do refractions you cannot touch the cornea remove Foreign bodies or even dilate your patient its against the law for optometrists to dilate. The school dilates patients because we have several MD's present and dilation is done so under their license. They often try to hire any Puerto Rican student who recently graduated because there is no one else to work in the clinics so its often the blind leading the blind in clinic (i'm not joking) Students beg the school to get different rotation sites look into better sites but it doesn't happen.Externship sites appear to be mainly in Puerto Rico, which is also significant. Don’t want to offend any graduates, but how can you get a decent clinical experience without good rotation sites?
We aren't offended we know we lack in skills and trust me, alumni are angry about the fact that the school doesn't hear our voices when it comes to making improvements. We spent 5 mon in the states rotating and 5-6mon in PR rotating through different satellite clinics. On island there are only 2 decent clinical sites were you learn and see a ton of pathology but all other sites are worthless the state side clinics aren't all terrible but most are. Some state side docs feel for us and spend extra time with us (because we lack skills) while other sites just let IAUPR students shadow only. Ill be honest I had experience prior shadowing and working in a clinic myself but its not uncommon to have 4th yrs still learning basic skills whereas other optometry students are busy refining theirs. Some of that has to do with the piss poor management of rotation sites by the rotation directors but they aren't fully to blame IAUPR students def don't get the same clinical education. Many students have optometrist parents who help teach them but if thats not your situation then there is a lot you aren't going to get at this school. They lack the resources mismanage money like crazy AND some if not most of the clinicians lack skills themselves or never took boards so they are out f touch optometry is super limited in PR as in you literally can only do refractions you cannot touch the cornea remove Foreign bodies or even dilate your patient its against the law for optometrists to dilate. The school dilates patients because we have several MD's present and dilation is done so under their license. They often try to hire any Puerto Rican student who recently graduated because there is no one else to work in the clinics so its often the blind leading the blind in clinic (i'm not joking) Students beg the school to get different rotation sites look into better sites but it doesn't happen.
LOL my roommate showered in the rain with a bar of soap like 5x in one semester because of thisSadly things like this occurred even before the hurricane. We had an incident where the city had shut off the water and we were on well water for the entire day. The school never told the students and when clinic and classes were over and everyone went home we realized there was no water to shower or even use the bathroom. The school literally Shut all the doors kicked us all out of campus. The following day we had to go to class and professors made fun of the students telling us we stink and laughing bc they knew no one showered. Some students literally went out and "showered" in the rain the following day. We didn't have water for days in the dorms and the school which had some running water locked us out of the bathrooms only allowing admin and professors to use water. power would go out constantly.
We spent 5 mon in the states rotating and 5-6mon in PR rotating through different satellite clinics. On island there are only 2 decent clinical sites were you learn and see a ton of pathology but all other sites are worthless the state side clinics aren't all terrible but most are. Some state side docs feel for us and spend extra time with us (because we lack skills) while other sites just let IAUPR students shadow only. Ill be honest I had experience prior shadowing and working in a clinic myself but its not uncommon to have 4th yrs still learning basic skills whereas other optometry students are busy refining theirs. Some of that has to do with the piss poor management of rotation sites by the rotation directors but they aren't fully to blame IAUPR students def don't get the same clinical education. Many students have optometrist parents who help teach them but if thats not your situation then there is a lot you aren't going to get at this school. They lack the resources mismanage money like crazy AND some if not most of the clinicians lack skills themselves or never took boards so they are out f touch optometry is super limited in PR as in you literally can only do refractions you cannot touch the cornea remove Foreign bodies or even dilate your patient its against the law for optometrists to dilate. They often try to hire any Puerto Rican student who recently graduated because there is no one else to work in the clinics so its often the blind leading the blind in clinic (i'm not joking) Students beg the school to get different rotation sites look into better sites but it doesn't happen.
Externship sites appear to be mainly in Puerto Rico, which is also significant. Don’t want to offend any graduates, but how can you get a decent clinical experience without good rotation sites?[/QUOTE
For those who want to know, The school has what they call and "orientation committee" made up of 2nd and 3rd yrs (sometimes 1st yrs as well) to help answer any questions for the incoming class. They are often told to scour the site to look for negative commentary and to discredit what is being said. I can say the school is trying to change the perception everyone has of the school but not in anyway that is educational. They will have little get togethers and give students food and have little get togethers even the professors complain that the school wastes money on pizza parties and nothing is spend on making the education better. The have cleaned the school repainted bought new chairs for the classrooms all lovely things but try to improve board schools get better rotations work on getting better and more experienced doctors in clinic.....that they refuse to spend money on.Wow, I had no idea it was like that. I'm sorry to hear it was so rough!
WE DON’T GET ANY CLINICAL EXPERIENCE. That’s the biggest issue. Supervising clinicians and patients only speak Spanish so it is very hard if not impossible unless you are fluent. This is one thing that you will be lied to about. They will tell you that everything is in English and everyone speaks English, but it’s simply not true. Professors speak in broken English or Spanglish and are extremely predjudice against anyone who doesn’t. This is the first time of my life where I have felt discriminated against. It’s truly an awful feeling. You are expected to be 100% fluent in Spanish after first year which in addition to keeping on top of all your coursework is impossible to do. The Spanish professor is useless and will not teach you anything except how the US is to blame for all of Puerto Rico’s problems. Of course their issues couldn’t possibly have anything to do with being lazy and not wanting to work. She even told us that she lies about her income in order to get free government assistance. What a role model. She will fail you for no reason and only pass you if you suck up to her. Optometrists in PR are also not allowed to prescribe any medication whatsoever. All they are allowed to do is refract. That’s it period. So you will not get any experience with pharmaceuticals or treating any type of ocular disease. With optometry going in a more medically based direction, this is a huge concern for all current and incoming students and one that you should pay close attention to if for some reason you thought it would be a good idea to apply here.Externship sites appear to be mainly in Puerto Rico, which is also significant. Don’t want to offend any graduates, but how can you get a decent clinical experience without good rotation sites?
The low applications come from new stateside schools opening... Kentucky provides the equipment for students as in they aren't required to purchase it (I guess not right away) and are issued a school computer and tablet they seem to really take care of the students. That campus is gorgeous!! IAUPR campus is a rinky dink campus with a library that doesn't have enough space for even half of the student body isn't open 24hr dorms are FULL of mold all the time. Adrianna is pretty much worthless and she DOES NOT teach you Spanish that will be useful in clinic....if you want to to go a bar and ask for a beer sure she's great but she's pretty worthless. The clinic equipment is in terrible shape thats true. The whole island lies to get economic assistance and that is the real reason they are going broke because everyone is getting economic assistance the gov gives out and no one puts back in and now they are upset that there is no money to fix their crappy roads or electrical system.The school recently made a propaganda video full of lies about how the school “is ready for you”. This could not be further from the truth. They had the idea to concoct this farce of a video because of the low application rates. Which actually began long before the hurricane. People finally wised up and realized that you get what you pay for. This place shouldn’t even be on your radar if your thinking about optometry school. The fact is that Puerto Rico is a third world country facing enormous hardship right now. We lost power 3 times in the past two weeks, including the school. Power goes out in the middle of class or even worse when your with a patient. In fact power is out to the whole island right now! Imagine studying for classes or boards in the dark. We are approaching hurricane season again and the island is still no where near recovered from the previous season. The school is most certainly not ready for you, it never was. From the inept professors who don’t want to see you succeed to the horrible conditions of the equipment in clinic and everything in between, this is not the place for anyone, despite students in the video reading off cue cards saying; “this is the only place for me” I can fully attest that Students were coherced to participate in that video. They were in fact bribed by the school. Please don’t believe anything that the school tells you it’s all lies, and be mindful that the schools orientation committee is require to monitor these posts and lie to potential students by assuring them everything is great. The fact that administration and staff is too lazy to deal with incoming students themselves should tell you all you need to know.
Also, SOOOOOOO true that they lie and say everything is English and everyone speaks English thats a BOLD faced lie. even if they speak English ok, they haven't mastered the language enough to communicate their thoughts properly, hence the exams they give where the English is sooo bad. Dr Romero gives class in Spanish, switches to English and often will only say certain things in spanish "bc you should know" in clinic they docs complain A LOT about the fact that students can't communicate in Spanish. Want to succeed buy Rosetta Stone before going and get some Spanish in....your proficiencies are in Spanish....the profs make fun if you can't speak it well...LOLWE DON’T GET ANY CLINICAL EXPERIENCE. That’s the biggest issue. Supervising clinicians and patients only speak Spanish so it is very hard if not impossible unless you are fluent. This is one thing that you will be lied to about. They will tell you that everything is in English and everyone speaks English, but it’s simply not true. Professors speak in broken English or Spanglish and are extremely predjudice against anyone who doesn’t. This is the first time of my life where I have felt discriminated against. It’s truly an awful feeling. You are expected to be 100% fluent in Spanish after first year which in addition to keeping on top of all your coursework is impossible to do. The Spanish professor is useless and will not teach you anything except how the US is to blame for all of Puerto Rico’s problems. Of course their issues couldn’t possibly have anything to do with being lazy and not wanting to work. She even told us that she lies about her income in order to get free government assistance. What a role model. She will fail you for no reason and only pass you if you suck up to her. Optometrists in PR are also not allowed to prescribe any medication whatsoever. All they are allowed to do is refract. That’s it period. So you will not get any experience with pharmaceuticals or treating any type of ocular disease. With optometry going in a more medically based direction, this is a huge concern for all current and incoming students and one that you should pay close attention to if for some reason you thought it would be a good idea to apply here.
. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. I know its hard but you are stuck there now so make the best of it.
///Seems like something the school should have taken into mind before they took your tuition.
It was actually my idea to make a reality show here I even pitched it to MTV. It would make so much money it’s not even funny. All the ridiculous stuff that goes on here, it’s a missed opportunity for sure hahaThis thread is seriously great entertainment. I come to this thread a few times a week just to catch up on new posts and I am not even a prospective student since I’m already an optometry student at a different school. I feel like there should be a reality TV show for IAUPR. I don’t have any sort of input on the school since I have never gone there but it sounds like if you like drama, surprises, and telenovelas, this would be an awesome school for you. Here’s to hoping that people keep posting on this thread so that I can continue to hear more about what goes on there.
Except the school generator barely works because they never fill it with gas.....lolyou can't study because there is no chik-fil-a???? the electric is a Huge issue no doubt. No lie. the power was always an issue even before the hurricane. But the school has a generator so there is rarely an issue on campus and in the dorms. There is power and ac at school and in the dorms as long as the generators work. If you live off campus then you are exposed to whatever the island is going thru depending on what area you live. I lived in the dorms, now isla verde and my building does a good job of maintaining power. even when there is an outage. If you choose to rent a house in any other area when you will suffer. but the school does its best to help make things as normal as possible. And your right profs are probably going through far worse than the students bc there is no high powered generator or water, the have families that they take care of and then they come to school and give their best. Also I guess the school expects you to use your time efficiently, print your notes, and prepare for the worst and pray for the best. Ask your friends at the dorms to let you study with them, study on campus and take advantage of the generator. Failure to prepare is preparing to fail. I know its hard but you are stuck there now so make the best of it.
Exactly they took our full tuition amount with no reimbursement or any compensation for the conditions we had to endure last fall and continue to endure on a daily basis. Breathing in mold for months, no clinic, no ac, no power and tests by candelight. Two students actually had to withdraw and go home do to health issues from all the mold. All of that is not an exaggeration, and if I wasn’t in my last year and about to graduate I would have never come back. Yet the staff threw themselves what is probably the most extravagant Christmas party I’ve ever seen in my life. With two full open bars, decorations, A live DJ and enough gourmet food for a small nation. Students were not even allowed in the building, clinic or library while this was going on. Meanwhile you know what students who lost everything such as clothes, vehicles, homes they were renting and thousands of dollars in equipment received? A can of chicken and a bottle of coke. If you don’t believe me I have the photos to prove it. That is how little they care about us. They told us they would take care of everything find us new places to live and do whatever we needed so we could finish out our education successfully. Too bad it was all lies just like everything else. Oh don’t let me forget, other schools we’re more than willing to take students in. In fact just about every school offered, however we were told by our dean that if we attempted to transfer or contact any other school we would be dismissed no questions asked. They wouldn’t let us leave because all they care about is our money.Seems like something the school should have taken into mind before they took your tuition.
The problem is they tell you that you can live in the dorms. Then they kick you out for no reason after 1 semester because they all of a sudden “don’t have space” so after that you are left to fend for yourself. The school only cares about students that live on campus as you pointed out. The problem is that choice isn’t up to us. Then there is also the fact that the school and the minions on the Orientation Comitee downplay the real issues and lie and say everything is great when it’s not so we don’t know what to expect and we have nothing to go off of except what they tell us. Incoming students should be told the truth so they can make informed decisions. I only wish someone has been honest with me before I signed up for this 4 year sentence in hell....you have a choice not to be there. the school plans for what happens on the school grounds and in the dorms. its anyones choice to not live on campus or take advantage of the electric on campus when its available. the school isn't responsible for anyones personal housing situation. It does suck when people have to go through that, but its Puerto Rico the issues with the economy have been going on for the last few years and its been very well publicized in the media. Had ya'll really not looked into the situation of the island before moving there? if you willing chose to go to this school then do the best you can in the situation you are in as the professors do every single day. Its the only choice you have now. Well either that or quit and try to get into a better school next cycle. There are always choices.
What always gets me is that 95-99.99% of students either couldn't get into another school or made a choice to go here. It was their only choice to become OD and instead of sucking it up and doing their best they whine about it. The issues were well publicized with the school and its NBEO scores here on this site and word of mouth so really pretty much everyone went here bc it was their only choice. We know there is major issues with the school we got it. Why discourage someone who's only choice to be an OD is here and was accepted to this school? If they take the accreditation away from the school worry then but until then just make the best of the dramatic telenovela that is IAUPR.
Do you have any source you can provide for this claim?As was mentioned in a previous post there is another Optometry school that will be opening on the island in the next few years to take over when IAUPR inevitably fails miserably.
not hard to imagine, I live in PR and I know first hand the hardships we are facing. I know things you could never imagine that go on in that school behind the scenes. My point is make the best of it. This site is littered with negative commentary for IAUPR so it wasn't a secret to me that there was crazy stuff going on here. Im on my way out so I know what it was like way before and after the hurricane. The country was in crisis for a long time as was the school... oh the drama just on the campus and within the dorms is enough for reality TV, my only question is what made you come to the school? Had you researched the school before coming, housing/crime, board scores? I know many students who failed out of other schools and came here and were successful, I know students who were accepted here, declined tried as you said to work really hard and try all over again only to be rejected from all other schools yet again and had to BEG to be accepted and IAU. IAUPR is not without fault, thats not what i'm trying to say at all, but there are some really amazing professors there and the amount of pathology you'll see is second to none. I know things are rough on the island but school is doing the best it can. Also the ACOE is not currently reviewing the school. Im sorry if I had upset you, not my intention. I realize now my wording could've been less harsh.
Its not exactly a secret people on the island have been talking about it for a couple years now. As far as when it will happen that’s a different story. There is a school opening elsewhere in the Caribbean within the next year or so also. I believe it’s going to be in Haiti but I’m not 100% sure. Seems like optometry schools are popping up everywhere these days lol.Do you have any source you can provide for this claim?
It’s not ex
Its not exactly a secret people on the island have been talking about it for a couple years now. As far as when it will happen that’s a different story. There is a school opening elsewhere in the Caribbean within the next year or so also. I believe it’s going to be in Haiti but I’m not 100% sure. Seems like optometry schools are popping up everywhere these days lol.
As someone who's been to Haiti multiple times, I can say I sadly don't think it would be there although I wish it was. Haiti is the poorest country within the western hemisphere. While they're desperately in need of vision care; general food, shelter, and water sadly poses other issues. They have a hard enough time getting US doctors to come visit, and sadly when I went the MDs I stayed at an orphanage with were under complete culture shock. People burn trash on the streets and create their own sewage in their tents because there is no septic or trash system. Only 25% of the island has access to electricity..that's out of 10+ million people. When I was in the mountains and looking down at a good portion of the island it was pitch black at nights, only light you could see in the distance was campfire. The average annual income is less than $500 PER YEAR. So if IAUPR can hardly handle school funding then I can't even imagine the funding required in extreme poverty where unfortunately most people don't know what glasses are. When I went 3 years ago I didn't see a single person with glasses out of thousands of people I must have passed by in Port au Prince, their capital city. Most of their medical schools are also completely french/creole speaking and they receive a lot of their medical aid from Cuba nearby. I don't even think they have an english medical-related school. Most of the med-profession schools are in the UK-owned parts of the Caribbean, so I would suspect it would be in one of those areas where things aren't as extreme.
Anyways, I've been following this IAUPR thread and the quality of education is concerning. Have any of you reported the education qualify you're receiving?
[QUOTE="Anyways, I've been following this IAUPR thread and the quality of education is concerning. Have any of you reported the education qualify you're receiving?