IAUPR

[optometrygirl29]

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Not generalizing its a fact, and well known at that!!! Its embarrassing!!! And not sure if you keep up but they just awarded one of the biggest ones residency at the school???? Cracks me up to think about other optometry students from real schools applying here! The last time there was an outsider as resident (the sister of one of our own students I might add) she didn't last more than a few months!!! She told us she didn't even understand how we deal with it because its truly terrible and disorganized!!!! She couldn't handle how unprofessional everyone was! Like Dr Ortiz screaming at small children in for Peds exams and VT, the way people dress, act treat students! you are crazy defending them. I feel sorry for you.

I won't engaging you anymore, this is absurd. I really could care less why you are so aggressive towards the school or a particular set of people I have to go be an adult now. My experience was not in any way perfect but I can say that It wont be perfect no matter where you go. When I needed the most support from the school they gave me support even if I was a pain sometimes. I was probably the close to the lowest student who made an extraordinary effort, had epic meltdowns and anxiety and they actually cared. Its disrespectful to your colleagues to make these false claims and I imagine hurtful to those you should be congratulating instead of raining on their parade.

 

[916000]

We should definitely not argue like this. Name calling each other is childish. Unfortunately the comments by Rubeyco2018 are true. I know who he/she is speaking about and the residency program that person is in. It really is unsettling because I have seen so much cheating here that grads have ended the program with close to a 4.0 and they did not earn it. I know students who did not fail a class and had well above 3.0 gpa's and took boards 5+ times and are yet to pass. All this prior to the exam changes that happened around 2 years ago. The worst part is they know we cheat. In some cases its promoted as in Motility when they upload a test on blackboard and the professor leaves the room for 10-15 min at a time and the entire class has their powerpoint up looking up all the answers. Again I am not going to post opinions I am stating the facts I was in this class last semester and watched it happen first hand. I have seen people get failed in proficiency because they are not liked by the clinicians and other students who are kissbutt passed right through. The way students are treated is so completely unfair and unjust to be failed based off a perception or passed based of how well you can play up to them. Also a professional program should be just that PROFESSIONAL there should be no bias. Tests should be readable. We had an exam a couple of days ago that had over 6 questions that the professor was changing while we were taking the exam because the questions were wrong. At this level of education there is no excuse for that. I never had errors in my high school and now at a doctorate level the exams are always filled with incorrect information. And when you do not pass a class by 1 tenth of a point they will fail you and make you pay double to retake in summer when during the regular semester so many points are lost due to illegible tests, bias, discrimination, mistakes etc. I sympathize with the people who are here expressing themselves. You have no idea how it feels to be in our position and to be so unhappy and treated so poorly.

 

[TheRealOD2014]

So my ex was really hoping I’d choose IAUPR so that she could sit on the beach all day... thankfully I didn’t listen to her and thankfully she’s my ex lol

That’s the best decision you’ll ever make in your entire life lol. Best of luck to you wherever you end up!

 

[TheRealOD2014]

That's such a shame. I really hope things get better for you all and PR. You'd think the school would provide a more positive experience that way you're all able to help the island. You're right it definitely sounds like they aren't running for the right reasons.

That's so strange how they aren't officially marked on a warning yet? Even MCPHS is marked on accreditation deficit warning, the only school out of like 23 to have the warning too. I was accepted to 4 schools and declined 1 other interview invite with an average overall GPA/science GPA, not high at all, yet MCPHS offered me a merit scholarship which I didn't feel I truly deserved and didn't receive at any other schools. The tuition was way too high compared to some of the others I was accepted to even after scholarship.
I wonder how a school finally gets put on warning? Especially since MCPHS was put on it so quickly whereas IAUPR isn't even officially marked on it yet.

MCPHS was marked so quickly because they are a new school and never received full accreditation without conditions.

 

[TheRealOD2014]

yeah the thing is the ophthalmologists know that there are issues and are trying to keep them from even dilating or even doing basic procedures (SB 991 is the name of the bill I believe) but the house of representatives has no idea and they sent a few members once put on a big production literally people were given "parts" to place reps only spoke to native students (who are basically the lowest gpa and OAT scores of all students) who of course lied about the education quality and we were FORCED, yes thats right forced to sign a petition fighting for their cause people tried to say they weren't going to sigh the petition and the outrage was a ridiculous. one current forth yr filmed a student being berated for not wanting to sign and contacted the ACOE. mind you my time is coming to and end ill be an OD and already have a job lined up and will get extra training when I get out bc I lack in clinical skills.

I actually remember that. We were all forced to sign a petition requesting that optometrists in PR have their scope of practice expanded. We stopped class and were forced to partake in a political issue that doesn’t involve us. Which now that I think of it is the same way the orientation committee is forced to come on this site and defend the school. They even have to show admin their posts. Administrators even come on here themselves pretending to be students. It’s really sad and pathetic actually. A school’s reputation should speak for it self you shouldn’t have to force current students to convince prospective students that this is a good school when they know it is a lie. Just like we shouldn’t be forced to advocate for them politically when we know their scope shouldn’t be expanded. Spend one day with a clinician and you’ll realize how incompetent they are....I mean they did go to IAUPR after all. When I graduate I too will spend as much time as I can to expand on the little clinics experience I gained at this disaster of a school.

 

[TheRealOD2014]

Hey! I’m a first year student at IAUPR and I can definitely vouch that my 8-9 months here so far have been quite an experience. Despite us hitting a hard hurricane, the school was able to make such a great comeback and it was quite unbelievable how within 30 days the student body and all the administration was able to come back and classes were up and running. I don’t think any other school could have done this and honestly it makes me have more respect for the faculty here and this school. Every schools have good and bad profs - this is the same for EVERY SCHOOL. I personally love this school and the administration and I’m so happy I ended up choosing this school. We have power and AC and water 24 hours a day. All of the businesses here in Puerto Rico are functionable and open! There’s no damage to the school - everything has been completely renovated. It’s amazing to see this school and island bounce back and the student body come together. They give you the tools you need - and honestly I feel coming out of this school you will be a better prepared doctor than any other optometrist. This school teaches you hard work, dedication to your goals. People that are being salty about this school are completely using false accusations about the school and the island. These things are not entirely true. Im speaking as someone who is currently in this program post hurricane. I wouldn’t tell you anything false. I’m saying this because I truly love this school and I honestly would not have wanted to go anywhere else. Hope this helps and Hopefully we see you this coming class!

This is one of those people I warned you all about that gets fed a script and is forced to come on here and lie. Or a member of admin themselves. Even if you are who you say you are your a first year student who shouldn’t really comment on what you don’t know. Just wait til you sit in Mordis class next year..... then let me know if you feel the same way. I will agree that cosmetically the school has come along way since the hurricane. This is by design so that when you come here with your parents or whomever to look at the school, everything looks great on the outside. But it’s just that, a facade. Meanwhile classrooms and the clinic still have no air conditioning. The dorms are still filled with mold and there have been numerous complaints yet they have done nothing. 90% of the equipment in the clinic does not function. There’s nothing worse than being with a patient and have to go to 5 different rooms to finding a working slit lamp. They have ignored all the real issues and have merely kept up cosmetic appearances in order to fool you but don’t let them lie to you just to get your money. Run now before it’s too late.

 

[TheRealOD2014]

I feel sad that there are people who genuinely had a bad experience at this school but I can tell you this 100% is not the majority, I am currently a first year and I am relatively close with the other students in my class and although there are a few people struggling with the challenges of a rigorous doctorate program and being away from home, mostly everyone I know is really enjoying the experience because it truly is a once in a life time opportunity. As for the power outages I’m not sure where some of the people in this thread live but I am in the dorms and since the hurricane we have been doing great we have generators that power every light/electronic/appliance in the dorm and when the power goes out it takes no more than 4 minutes (the time it takes a person to walk to the generator) to turn it on. I have never not had water other than the one week immediately after the hurricane but we just had a schedule of when we could use it. That hasn’t been the case for months now, if you’re concerned about mold get a dehumidifier you live in the Caribbean... I don’t have one however and haven’t had mold on anything but bread that I left out too long. I have never been asked by any administration to say anything nice about the school and I will say there is definitely frustrations that come with some of the professors and the exam averages being low however many professors will curve (at least with my experience first year) THE CLASSES ARE DOABLE. I wasn’t a straight A student in undergrad but I work really hard and I earn the grades I deserve on the exams. You get out what you put in as in any school it’s a doctorate program it’s not designed to be easy and let anyone through. I feel I have learned a lot in my first year and I have friends at other schools to compare what I know and I have not felt behind in any subject. The other complaint I would have is the internet can be slow which is frustrating to study with but I use my hotspot which works well in those cases and it’s also not all the time. As for clinic we begin first year every week practicing to build your skills in the clinic, and clerkship begins in your second year.

Wait until you take boards....then you’ll realize just how behind you are. Hard to feel behind in first year when u haven’t had any real classes or clinical experience yet. By the way the dorms have a generator which works most of the time but not all of us are that lucky. Many students do not get to live in the dorms past 1st year and we are forced to find outside housing. I know several students who have had no power or very limited power both before and after the hurricane. The island has numerous issues, which made life here unbearable, the hurricane is just the most recent.

 

[TheRealOD2014]

I would like to start off this post by saying no one from administration has asked me to make this post or come on SDN and make our school look better than it is. I am doing this because I am surprised that someone attending IAUPR, would go out of their way to make IAUPR sound like the worst place you could possibly be. Having been at this school for almost a year now, and coming back post Maria, I’m truly astonished by our faculty and staff and how fast things were up and running post Maria. Don’t get me wrong, the first couple weeks back were tough.. but we were not without power for more than a couple hours and for one week we had to be on a schedule for water. After that we have had water and power constantly(aside from the couple times the power goes out and is back in minutes thanks to the generators we have at school). Most of us in the dorms don’t know that there is an island wide power outage unless something pops up on our Facebook newsfeed because it really doesn’t affect us on campus. Business are up and running, and traffic is the same as it was pre Maria. Now to talk about the school itself. This is a graduate program. It is not supposed to be easy. It’s not supposed to be a walk in the park. You’re supposed to feel challenged with the material. I agree that sometimes it is hard to understand professors with heavy accents... but you would be lying to yourself if you said that not one of your professors in undergrad didn’t have an accent and spoke perfect English. Once you get over that fact, the professors ARE NOT BAD. There’s no such thing as a bad school.. like it has been said in previous posts.. you get what you put in. If you put in the effort to go to your 8am classes, study an adequate amount, and take your professors seriously there is no way you can do bad. The exams are not easy.. they definitely challenge you but I would say for the most part they are fair. Being at such a small school, there bound to be drama, but what school doesn’t have drama? I think the advantage of being at this school is that you get to know all faculty and staff on a personal level and it makes the school feel more like home than like school. I genuinely feel bad for the handful of people commenting on here that have had a miserable experience. But if you come into this school with the mindset that you have been set up to fail.. what else do you expect? You’re going to be miserable. I am so happy that I chose to come to IAUPR and hope that students considering this school don’t make their decision based on opinions of people who seem to just be miserable people. There are plenty of students here that love it and are extremely happy with how things are run at this school. Please feel free to message me with any questions you may have!

Don’t you love how there is an extreme influx of first year students posting on her all at the same time. Why I wonder why that could be. I have 100% confirmation that these “students” were instructed to do this. I was told by a friend who was told to do just this and felt uncomfortable about it. These are the current orientation comitee members at the school. They are here to lie to you on behalf of administration. Just read the posts if you can’t tell they are scripted you’ll never make it in optometry school haha. They and the school take you for fools. Don’t let them. I can provide you with whatever proof you want to disprove anything they say. Please message me if you have any concerns or are looking for honesty. Best of luck!

 

[TheRealOD2014]

I would venture a guess they know but I doubt they'd waste their time writing reviews on here

Admin 100% knows about this site and they go on here all throughout the day. I’ve seen it pulled up on their computers numerous times. I know for a fact they pretend to be students and post on here. They are that desperate since they have such low application rates. They don’t do any real work besides take 10 coffee breaks an hour so they have nothing better to do then come on here and spew bull**** to ensure they can keep their jobs by stealing your money by promising an education you will not receive. In return they get to continue doing nothing and taking 10 coffee breaks an hour..... it’s known as the Puerto Rican circle of laziness. Do nothing, steal and lie, then continue to do nothing. It’s really an amazing system.

 

[TheRealOD2014]

Name checks out. I really love this school. This is one of the best schools I've ever been to since my previous enrollment at Hogwarts. I understand that because we are in a professional learning environment that our professors must be difficult so that we can achieve a higher state of being and acquire the fifth element that is plasma. I will break it down to all future students that are interested in attending this wonderful institution of knowledge. In your first semester, you will be subjected to the powers of science and technology as provided by the wonderful faculty. Additionally, the limits of your psyche will be challenged by the arrival of a powerful storm the equivalent of a nuke from Mother Russia. Afterwards, you will have a month long break where you are safely home with your pet iguana that you adopted from Puerto Rico (her name is Ivana by the way.) When the school finishes tidying up the mess that was the tormenta de horror with the powers of the Force, then they will unceremoniously send you back so that you can complete your first semester. When you touch land on the island, you will see the extent of the devastation around you, but do not worry, for Ivana will keep you company. That is, until she finds her home in a coconut tree in which she will ditch you. Sadly, you will be alone in the Uber ride back to IAUPR. The next couple of months will be very difficult for you. You will be beset by many exams. But do not fear, as long as you don't fail 5 classes then you should be okay. Once you survive the 1st semester, you will move on to the second semester in which there are more trees that have leaves. If you thought that the first year was bad, then you ain't seen nothing yet. Thousands of PowerPoint slides will make up your exams. But believe in yourself, and you will overcome these difficulties with the power of amphetamines. If you manage to survive the second semester, then you will be handsomely rewarded with a shiny white coat that you will be using for the rest of your days (unless it somehow gets torn by a rabid cotorra searching for sunflower seeds in your trousers.) Regardless, you will be attending a ceremony with all your surviving classmates and a chupacabra wearing a tuxedo to commemorate your success and take pictures for you and your family who are visiting for this unforgettable moment. The second year will be difficult for you. Instead of a couple hundred slides, you will be subjected to thousands of slides in your diseases class as well as many other courses that you will be taking. Additionally, you should be able to speak Español fluently by this time and make sure to use proper conjugation or you will end up sounding like a cro-magnon and will become the butt of all the faculty and patients' jokes. If you are able to endure all these challenges, you will reach the third year, in which your powers of rote memorization and blatant cramming will aid you in studying for the board exams. Prove yourself that you are not a Tarzan and that you can refract with the phoropter as well as any other optometry student. This will be one of your greatest hurdles. Do not fret, however. Once you overcome the deadly boards, you will have your final year in which you will be moved around to participate in satellite clinics, all of which is designed to give you sleep deprivation and explosive diarrhea. The journey will be long and difficult, but with perseverance and a strong stomach, you too will be able to conquer giardia. Once it is all said and done, you will receive your diploma by our esteemed faculty and new doors of opportunity will be open to you. With the power of this lone piece of paper, you can become an astronaut, a ballerina, or a scuba diver. Just make sure to pay off your student loans, or you will face a fate worse than a thousand mushy mofongos. (Attached here is an image of Ivana, this was the final photo taken of her before I had to say my tearful goodbye.)
View attachment 232899

This trash was written by the caliber of student IAUPR accepts, that or you were on some seriously potent LSD.... either way I rest my case

 

[TheRealOD2014]

So, as a current student I would like to add my input to this rather angry post and I am going to give you my honest opinion. I have lived off campus since first year, and I was without power for several months. I studied with flashlights, I ate out for every meal most days, I slept without AC, and I sat on campus most days until I was tired enough to come home and pass out. Did I sign up for a Cat 5 hurricane? Did the school, students, or faculty sign up for a Cat 5 hurricane? No. Do Cat 5 hurricanes cause damage? Uhh yes. Did I want to quit and move back home and give up everything I had worked for? Yes, I did, but I realized that I signed up to be a DOCTOR and that nothing about this program would be easy or handed to me. I knew that there would be a language barrier, I knew I would have to learn Spanish (one of the main things that attracted me here), and I knew that it was going to be a struggle everyday to live away from family and friends. But to me all these struggles were worth it to become an OD. I read forums too and saw what other people said about the school, but I didn't let it ruin my time here and I took every day with a grain of salt and made the best out of my experience. Do I get frustrated with professors and sometimes their teaching styles? All the time, but what I think is more important is overcoming those challenges. Nothing is this program is going to be handed to you, things will get tough and you'll be stressed out to the max, but this isn't high school or undergrad. I chose to live off campus since day 1 and I had my own battles to face outside of school living without power because that's what I chose. My friends let me shower at their place, they cooked meals for me, I studied at their dorms. When I came back after Maria the school gave me food as well as water and I had numerous staff members ask about my living situation and if I needed anything. This experience is what you make of it. I know several doctors that went through this program, new and old, and passed their boards with no problem. It's your determination and your work ethic as to how well you're going to do in this program. I have friends in other programs and their schools have their own problems and there's professors they don't like either. PR is a beautiful place with so much history and wonderful beaches. I think you should highly consider IAUPR minus the negativity from others, you have to make your own decision and do what's best for you! Good luck!

Exactly you signed up for optometry school to be a doctor. Not for the next season of survivor and not to fight 24/7 in a 3rd world country. There were so many options that benefitted us. None of which the school even bothered to explore. Every other optometry school offered to take us either temporarily or permanently but that would mean the school would lose money and they couldn’t have that. So they chose to have us continue in an unsafe environment. We were banned from communicating with any other schools by our fascist dictator of a dean who thinks that just because the school is “private” he can do and say whatever he wants. Those students that left for the 45 day break after the storm faced and still gave great resentment every day because they did not stay and suffer alongside the faculty, most of whom were in Florida anyway but of course they deny that. Facebook doesn’t lie however. Oh and speaking of Facebook remember all the posts before the hurricane made by our illustrious dean of students. Dr Caballo which I believe translates to Dr. Horse in English but then again I was never taught Spanish properly so I may be wrong. Anyway she posted on FB (yea that is the school’s official communication platform) that if we left the island before the storm we would not be excused from any classes afterword. Due to this the majority of the student body stayed and were stuck on the island in fear as a cat 5 ripped through the island and shattered windows and flooded where they were staying. They were stuck there for over a week before they could get a flight out with no food or power, all because our dean of students, whom is supposed to advocate for us, told them not to leave or they would be punished. It’s funny how those posts of hers were deleted shortly after the storm.... people could have been seriously hurt or killed by staying there. I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure any school in the Caribbean should have a set in stone hurricane protocol to ensure students safety but then again why would they care about us. Guess we’re the horses ass (pun intended) for thinking they would.

 

[VanderlyleCrybaby]

Dr Caballo which I believe translates to Dr. Horse in English but then again I was never taught Spanish properly so I may be wrong.

It's Cabello, my dude. It means hair.

 

[rubeyco2018]

We should definitely not argue like this. Name calling each other is childish. Unfortunately the comments by Rubeyco2018 are true. I know who he/she is speaking about and the residency program that person is in. It really is unsettling because I have seen so much cheating here that grads have ended the program with close to a 4.0 and they did not earn it. I know students who did not fail a class and had well above 3.0 gpa's and took boards 5+ times and are yet to pass. All this prior to the exam changes that happened around 2 years ago. The worst part is they know we cheat. In some cases its promoted as in Motility when they upload a test on blackboard and the professor leaves the room for 10-15 min at a time and the entire class has their powerpoint up looking up all the answers. Again I am not going to post opinions I am stating the facts I was in this class last semester and watched it happen first hand. I have seen people get failed in proficiency because they are not liked by the clinicians and other students who are kissbutt passed right through. The way students are treated is so completely unfair and unjust to be failed based off a perception or passed based of how well you can play up to them. Also a professional program should be just that PROFESSIONAL there should be no bias. Tests should be readable. We had an exam a couple of days ago that had over 6 questions that the professor was changing while we were taking the exam because the questions were wrong. At this level of education there is no excuse for that. I never had errors in my high school and now at a doctorate level the exams are always filled with incorrect information. And when you do not pass a class by 1 tenth of a point they will fail you and make you pay double to retake in summer when during the regular semester so many points are lost due to illegible tests, bias, discrimination, mistakes etc. I sympathize with the people who are here expressing themselves. You have no idea how it feels to be in our position and to be so unhappy and treated so poorly.

I know im right and the cheater is not a resident yet, its who was chosen to be a resident for the school this next year. Sadly they do in fact promte cheating in Motility and even tell us THEY cheated when they took that class. Cheating goes on in all classes not just motility. I dont think its dr morte's fault I know he's smart just trouble relaying the info, problem is youre told to cheat before you ever enter the class and no one makes an effort. In fact that the first thing most people learn at that school as long as you're friends with the right people. And there shouldn't be any errors on an exam, I mean is it that hard to proofread a freaking exam? its TRIPLE to retake not double. there should never be any sort of bias ever in any program, we should all be treated equally and fairly. Whats upsetting is that we feel like we are beating a dead horse because none of these complaints or feelings are new just nothing is ever done to make things better. you can put lipstick on a pig but its still a pig. They can paint and renovate all day but they make no effort to better the education or raise board scores. Its ALWAYS the students fault with them they make no effort to be better teachers or get better teachers. I dont know how they haven't figured out that doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is CRAZY (hence why passing rate on NBEO never goes up)

 

[optometrygirl29]

All good and accurate points, especially about the fact that they will accept anyone with a pulse. I know someone who got in with a 220 OAT score (the scoring is 200-400 for those that don’t know). It would frustrate me if I was a professor as well. The bigger issue is with the new standards set forth by the AOCE they need to maintain a certain % of students graduating and working as ODs within 6 years from enrolling. Something that will be impossible given the caliber of students they are accepting. I heard from several people in the class of 2019 that they lost 20 students from their original class out of a group of 60. Most were dismissed and the rest were held back a year or even two. The school has been know to fail over 1/2 the class in certain subjects so that they can teach them in the summer and charge 6000 to each student to retake it. The professors get a decent chunk of this as well so they are motivated to fail us. This has never happened to me personally but I have seen it happen to countless students.

Class of 2019 did lose a lot of students a good handful left all on their own because they gave up they didn't even attempt to try to push through I know this for a fact. Maybe they failed more than one course and no matter what they weren't going to make it through I dont know. the 4800-6200 is a huge hit but I believe they can defer payment for the summer until the regular semester so your loan covers most of it. I did my fair share of retaking courses in the summer and yeah it sucked big time and my debt is higher than most because of it. Im not blaming anyone for it other than myself but only I know what I was going through at the time that affected me. the school doesn't "fail over Half the class" all on their own, kinda a two way street just saying..yeah they have been known to give harder exams when they are upset. Ill admit there are a few courses that need to update their teaching styles and incorporate different teaching methods. We know which courses are failed by a greater number of students year and year and teaching methods aren't changed. I agree the blame doesn't fall completely on the students, but it also doesn't totally fall in the school or professors either. Some courses are just that difficult that its tough for students, other courses its a combo of students and professors teaching methods. Biggest problem is that not all students learn the same. Some of us are auditory learners and hearing the info is enough others are visual learners and have to really see it to understand and others are a combo....I can say for myself I struggled in some courses like optics 1 bc I just couldn't get the info the way it was being taught it doesn't mean Morales is a bad professor at all, he's smart and he teaches well, but it didn't work for me and it took talking to various students and tutors to finally get it. I didn't pass pharm either, its pure memorization and i'm not good at memorizing or organizing the info but KMK has a great way of organizing pharm in a way that just clicked for me. Its all a matter of perspective. Like ive said before my experience wasn't perfect and def had issues but most of my misery was 2nd year and various friends from other schools and my OD friends all told me their experience was just as miserable for them. Dont the grass is always greener on the other side.

 

[rubeyco2018]

I actually remember that. We were all forced to sign a petition requesting that optometrists in PR have their scope of practice expanded. We stopped class and were forced to partake in a political issue that doesn’t involve us. Which now that I think of it is the same way the orientation committee is forced to come on this site and defend the school. They even have to show admin their posts. Administrators even come on here themselves pretending to be students. It’s really sad and pathetic actually. A school’s reputation should speak for it self you shouldn’t have to force current students to convince prospective students that this is a good school when they know it is a lie. Just like we shouldn’t be forced to advocate for them politically when we know their scope shouldn’t be expanded. Spend one day with a clinician and you’ll realize how incompetent they are....I mean they did go to IAUPR after all. When I graduate I too will spend as much time as I can to expand on the little clinics experience I gained at this disaster of a school.

Hey you remember when the president of the AOA came to speak to students and the school hijacked his A** and dragged him to multiple interviews and told him to say he supported whatever bill they were trying to pass at the time? He was like "I didn't sign up for all of this they kinda just took me everywhere for interviews didn't really tell me where I was going or what I was doing until I got there, I really just wanted to hangout at my hotel and relax" 🤣🤣🤣 And how the headline in their local paper said he came just to talk to us about how he supported expanding the scope of practice "For these students" umm hahaha but 99% of the student body is from the states and never ever planning to return to that island.....ah the lies.

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Class of 2019 did lose a lot of students a good handful left all on their own because they gave up they didn't even attempt to try to push through I know this for a fact. Maybe they failed more than one course and no matter what they weren't going to make it through I dont know. the 4800-6200 is a huge hit but I believe they can defer payment for the summer until the regular semester so your loan covers most of it. I did my fair share of retaking courses in the summer and yeah it sucked big time and my debt is higher than most because of it. Im not blaming anyone for it other than myself but only I know what I was going through at the time that affected me. the school doesn't "fail over Half the class" all on their own, kinda a two way street just saying..yeah they have been known to give harder exams when they are upset. Ill admit there are a few courses that need to update their teaching styles and incorporate different teaching methods. We know which courses are failed by a greater number of students year and year and teaching methods aren't changed. I agree the blame doesn't fall completely on the students, but it also doesn't totally fall in the school or professors either. Some courses are just that difficult that its tough for students, other courses its a combo of students and professors teaching methods. Biggest problem is that not all students learn the same. Some of us are auditory learners and hearing the info is enough others are visual learners and have to really see it to understand and others are a combo....I can say for myself I struggled in some courses like optics 1 bc I just couldn't get the info the way it was being taught it doesn't mean Morales is a bad professor at all, he's smart and he teaches well, but it didn't work for me and it took talking to various students and tutors to finally get it. I didn't pass pharm either, its pure memorization and i'm not good at memorizing or organizing the info but KMK has a great way of organizing pharm in a way that just clicked for me. Its all a matter of perspective. Like ive said before my experience wasn't perfect and def had issues but most of my misery was 2nd year and various friends from other schools and my OD friends all told me their experience was just as miserable for them. Dont the grass is always greener on the other side.

2019 lost so many students because they decided to destroy that class, story I was told by the class under me was that instead of dismissing those that needed to be dismissed from the 2018 class, they took it out on the 2019 by writing ridiculous exams that were impossible to pass. I think it was something like 9-12 students academically dismissed for low gpa and another 5-7 that were held back a year and honestly if that many students are dismissed or held back, failing that many classes then it is definitely is the schools fault, that is just proof the teaching sucks and explains why board scores are so low...students are failing classes left and right why would anyone think we wouldn't fail boards a billion times too.

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Exactly you signed up for optometry school to be a doctor. Not for the next season of survivor and not to fight 24/7 in a 3rd world country. There were so many options that benefitted us. None of which the school even bothered to explore. Every other optometry school offered to take us either temporarily or permanently but that would mean the school would lose money and they couldn’t have that. So they chose to have us continue in an unsafe environment. We were banned from communicating with any other schools by our fascist dictator of a dean who thinks that just because the school is “private” he can do and say whatever he wants. Those students that left for the 45 day break after the storm faced and still gave great resentment every day because they did not stay and suffer alongside the faculty, most of whom were in Florida anyway but of course they deny that. Facebook doesn’t lie however. Oh and speaking of Facebook remember all the posts before the hurricane made by our illustrious dean of students. Dr Caballo which I believe translates to Dr. Horse in English but then again I was never taught Spanish properly so I may be wrong. Anyway she posted on FB (yea that is the school’s official communication platform) that if we left the island before the storm we would not be excused from any classes afterword. Due to this the majority of the student body stayed and were stuck on the island in fear as a cat 5 ripped through the island and shattered windows and flooded where they were staying. They were stuck there for over a week before they could get a flight out with no food or power, all because our dean of students, whom is supposed to advocate for us, told them not to leave or they would be punished. It’s funny how those posts of hers were deleted shortly after the storm.... people could have been seriously hurt or killed by staying there. I may be wrong but I’m pretty sure any school in the Caribbean should have a set in stone hurricane protocol to ensure students safety but then again why would they care about us. Guess we’re the horses ass (pun intended) for thinking they would.

Whats funny is it felt like survivor before the hurricane so I can only imagine how bad it is now.. We used to go up on roof in the dorms at night and listen to all the gun shots at all hours of the night. figured we'd be safer higher up. And say what? Who banned you? that is definitely reason to contact the ACOE. there are legitimate health and safety concerns especially now in the aftermath of the hurricane season (which is starting again by the way next month) the school should have done everything possible to get every student off the island and out of harms way that is crazy! They don't have a hurricane protocol that would require thought, probably cabello's ( not caballo ROFL) job but everyone knows she worthless. Romero's pretty ok but Cabello should be the only one dismissed. She acts like she hates most students and like she hate her job, not to mention she is a favoritist.

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Class of 2019 did lose a lot of students a good handful left all on their own because they gave up they didn't even attempt to try to push through I know this for a fact. Maybe they failed more than one course and no matter what they weren't going to make it through I dont know. the 4800-6200 is a huge hit but I believe they can defer payment for the summer until the regular semester so your loan covers most of it. I did my fair share of retaking courses in the summer and yeah it sucked big time and my debt is higher than most because of it. Im not blaming anyone for it other than myself but only I know what I was going through at the time that affected me. the school doesn't "fail over Half the class" all on their own, kinda a two way street just saying..yeah they have been known to give harder exams when they are upset. Ill admit there are a few courses that need to update their teaching styles and incorporate different teaching methods. We know which courses are failed by a greater number of students year and year and teaching methods aren't changed. I agree the blame doesn't fall completely on the students, but it also doesn't totally fall in the school or professors either. Some courses are just that difficult that its tough for students, other courses its a combo of students and professors teaching methods. Biggest problem is that not all students learn the same. Some of us are auditory learners and hearing the info is enough others are visual learners and have to really see it to understand and others are a combo....I can say for myself I struggled in some courses like optics 1 bc I just couldn't get the info the way it was being taught it doesn't mean Morales is a bad professor at all, he's smart and he teaches well, but it didn't work for me and it took talking to various students and tutors to finally get it. I didn't pass pharm either, its pure memorization and i'm not good at memorizing or organizing the info but KMK has a great way of organizing pharm in a way that just clicked for me. Its all a matter of perspective. Like ive said before my experience wasn't perfect and def had issues but most of my misery was 2nd year and various friends from other schools and my OD friends all told me their experience was just as miserable for them. Dont the grass is always greener on the other side.

looks like the school sent another puppet to write on the site.....

 

[rubeyco2018]

looks like the school sent another puppet to write on the site.....

thats what I was thinking, the school is sending so many people on here to talk up the school. They are making students really uncomfortable by forcing them to come on here. Whats said is that no other school has to send students to lie about how great the school is. No other school has students this angry or disappointed in an academic institution.

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

thats what I was thinking, the school is sending so many people on here to talk up the school. They are making students really uncomfortable by forcing them to come on here. Whats said is that no other school has to send students to lie about how great the school is. No other school has students this angry or disappointed in an academic institution.

Sad petty institution run by two sad petty deans (cabello and romero). How is it that a school KNOWS students are miserable and yet does nothing to change that perception just forces students to lie about the situation.

 

[optometrygirl29]

looks like the school sent another puppet to write on the site.....

Nope im not even at the school anymore, already graduated and NO ONE told me to come on here and say anything....

 

[optometrygirl29]

Sad petty institution run by two sad petty deans (cabello and romero). How is it that a school KNOWS students are miserable and yet does nothing to change that perception just forces students to lie about the situation.

you are entitled to your opinion....let others be entitled to theirs

 

[rubeyco2018]

This is one of those people I warned you all about that gets fed a script and is forced to come on here and lie. Or a member of admin themselves. They have ignored all the real issues and have merely kept up cosmetic appearances in order to fool you but don’t let them lie to you just to get your money. Run now before it’s too late.

Yup just another clueless 1st yr or admin on here posting lies. the fact that Russ is still here and has been a 3rd year for over a decade lets you know they care only about money and care nothing about education. The school just wont listen! We beg for the entire library to be open 24hrs like every other university on the planet, they respond with 6 study rooms for the entire student body because you know all 180 us fit in there. Then we begged again for 24hr full access to the library or at least the fishbowl and they responded with painting the library that hideous blue. We ask for a better education, they call us "spoiled brats!!!" if you think they care about you, you're dead wrong. They are spending a ton of money going campaigning for students at high schools and undergrad campus hosting those students trying to convince them to come to iaupr because they are tired of stateside students demanding better. Admin is the problem at that school. Honestly A few of those deans need to be replaced. They refuse to improve, plain and simple. They refuse to invest in their own students, in creating the best optometrists in the industry. they'd rather cater to their own kind who understand their own lazy way of life. Buyer Beware, cheaper isn't always better, in this case its just cheaper. I feel sorry for some of our professors wasting their talent there.

 

[rubeyco2018]

One of the most deadly causes of destruction of divine destinies is when a leader is failing, but he or she does not know it. Ignorance about your role is a death plot against people's successes.” “Say "no" to corruption; it does not fit you! Say "no" to bad leadership; you don't fit there. Say no to IAUPR

 

[optometrygirl29]

This trash was written by the caliber of student IAUPR accepts, that or you were on some seriously potent LSD.... either way I rest my case

this post was rather strange, seems the writer is a bit immature to write this stuff

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

One of the most deadly causes of destruction of divine destinies is when a leader is failing, but he or she does not know it. Ignorance about your role is a death plot against people's successes.” “Say "no" to corruption; it does not fit you! Say "no" to bad leadership; you don't fit there. Say no to IAUPR

powerful statement and true, hope admin reads it when they log on and spend their time reading this thread

 

[glenglen99]

Are they accepting applications? I applied last month and I still haven't heard anything from them.
Did anyone applied and got accepted?

 

[iauprstudent12]

Are they accepting applications? I applied last month and I still haven't heard anything from them.
Did anyone applied and got accepted?

LOL i'm sure they will accept you if you're still interested in this school after reading this thread... you're exactly the kind of student they want

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

They should be, as long as you have the required GPA/OAT you'll get an interview.
Don't listen to bullies in this thread make the decision for yourself.

its not bullying its being honest to people. honesty is the best policy

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

Are they accepting applications? I applied last month and I still haven't heard anything from them.
Did anyone applied and got accepted?

Dont Worry they can't fill the class because no one wants to go there so I hear they are accepting anyone with even the faintest of pulses. Im pretty sure they will accept you trust me they dont have high standards there is no OAT orGPA requirement literally a pulse is all that is needed and well being able to get a loan to pay them really those are the only requirements.

 

[optostudent2017]

IAUPR class of 2017 alumni here, passed boards part 1 and 3 first time! The purpose of my post is to offer positive feedback to those who are curious about the school program. People need to realize that you are coming to an island for school ... Power outages are not fun or ideal, but the school has no control over natural disasters and how fast the electricity company works to fix things. I lived through a drought and a major power outage. Its what happens on an island - if you think this is something you can't handle, go somewhere else. You do have to make the most of your four years out here, but if this school is your only option (it was for me) you need to be more grateful for the given opportunity and complain less. If people spent as much time studying than complaining about language barriers, our board scores would probably be better. I would say the class of 2017 was made up of people who failed out of other optometry school and needed a second chance, people who did not do well in undergrad but were now serious about school/future/education and young new college grads who were more focused on partying ... and lets not forget the small chunk who were just naturally gifted with intelligence. All of our professors speak English. English might not have been their first language, but this is what you should expect when coming to school here. Don't come here if you are narrow minded and want things to be spoon fed to you. Spanish class teaches some basics, but you need to take imitative and ask the professors how to say certain things in Spanish so you can better communicate with your patients during 3rd year. I understand that some people come from areas where there is not a large Spanish speaking population, which is why they don't make any effort to learn Spanish. Majority of your patients prefer to speak Spanish, so it is important to take initiative to learn the language because you decided to come to school in PUERTO RICO. It takes ALOT of hard work and self teaching. I truly do believe that the students are provided with all of the necessary information to pass the boards. If you party a lot, "wing classes" and use "old exams" to cheat to barely pass classes ... (it is pretty obvious to me that you will not be passing boards the first time around). Those who were dedicated and put in work to learn concepts and not just memorize facts were most successful. It is do-able, you just have to put in the work.

 

[TheREALoptometrist2015]

IAUPR class of 2017 alumni here, passed boards part 1 and 3 first time! The purpose of my post is to offer positive feedback to those who are curious about the school program. People need to realize that you are coming to an island for school ... Power outages are not fun or ideal, but the school has no control over natural disasters and how fast the electricity company works to fix things. I lived through a drought and a major power outage. Its what happens on an island - if you think this is something you can't handle, go somewhere else. You do have to make the most of your four years out here, but if this school is your only option (it was for me) you need to be more grateful for the given opportunity and complain less. If people spent as much time studying than complaining about language barriers, our board scores would probably be better. I would say the class of 2017 was made up of people who failed out of other optometry school and needed a second chance, people who did not do well in undergrad but were now serious about school/future/education and young new college grads who were more focused on partying ... and lets not forget the small chunk who were just naturally gifted with intelligence. All of our professors speak English. English might not have been their first language, but this is what you should expect when coming to school here. Don't come here if you are narrow minded and want things to be spoon fed to you. Spanish class teaches some basics, but you need to take imitative and ask the professors how to say certain things in Spanish so you can better communicate with your patients during 3rd year. I understand that some people come from areas where there is not a large Spanish speaking population, which is why they don't make any effort to learn Spanish. Majority of your patients prefer to speak Spanish, so it is important to take initiative to learn the language because you decided to come to school in PUERTO RICO. It takes ALOT of hard work and self teaching. I truly do believe that the students are provided with all of the necessary information to pass the boards. If you party a lot, "wing classes" and use "old exams" to cheat to barely pass classes ... (it is pretty obvious to me that you will not be passing boards the first time around). Those who were dedicated and put in work to learn concepts and not just memorize facts were most successful. It is do-able, you just have to put in the work.

Most of what you say is true but some discrepancies are the following
1. there were 5 fail-outs of other schools in the class of 2017 (we started with 63)
2. Its one thing to speak in broken English, its quite another for the exams to be written in broken English and professors make no effort to write properly written exams.
3. Professors need to be more grateful for the students that keep them running instead of calling us spoiled in Spanish and trashing students behind their backs ( and this is very very true )
4. and this would be the most true Every other school prepares their students in areas where we lack bc certain professors are not the most knowledgable in their field and make no effort to teach. I have interns from other schools come work with me at my office as I am a site. Our clinical skills, contact lens fitting knowledge, pediatric knowledge, pharm and optics are abysmal in comparison to other schools.
5. other schools are more organized, we are a small school but there are even smaller schools then ours who have better professors and more of them to teach. Dr. Conde has little control over preclinical skills and most of the profs just gossip when they should be teaching. Dra. Matos does not teach contact lens fitting at all its a waste time even sitting there.
6. The Spanish teacher ineffectively teaches Spanish your first two yrs that when you get into clinic the clinicians yell at you for not knowing how to communicate properly which sucks because its not your fault that instead of teaching how to do an eye exam in Spanish she teaches you ******ed things like how to manage getting to a bar and how to flirt (the focus is not on education)
7. They grade based on whether they like you or not, they change bad grades to passing for those they like, and will fail those they dislike
8. The two biggest problems at that school are dean cabello and dean romero who target specific students and are biased and rude. Dean romero is in charge of academics so I guess thats why our board scores are so low. I know PCO had a drop in scores last year and had a meeting with students and professors alike to address the issues openly and are revamping the program using suggestions from both students and professors alike. That is dedication. Dean Romero's way of dealing with low board scores is refusing to let certain students he's deemed wont pass not take the exam as to meet the percentage the ACEO requirements to maintain accreditation. (short term solution with no long term goal). They are most certainly under review. Maybe they will learn to change their ways and focus on students instead of their own personal lives.


Now for some positives
your Nuero and disease knowledge is actually better than other schools we do have amazing professors in that aspect but that is mainly bc they ignore the two deans and make sure to treat everyone fairly and really want you to succeed. Patients are mostly really patient with the students. If you do work hard you will mostly succeed, though I disagree that you should have to teach yourself everything I digress. It is indeed do-able, its just much much harder at IAUPR as they are resistant to changing their ways. there are plenty of online materials that teach better than the school does. Get your hands on the KMK books early if you can, go to the NBEO website and find the outlines for parts 1 and 2 which tell you the concepts you need to know to pass those exams and start studying early on. This is the best and only way to pass your boards on the first try (its what a few of us in co 2015 did and we passed with flying colors).

 

[fitdoc123]

does anyone know or has anyone calculated how many questions for part 1 you can get wrong and still pass?