Importance of shadowing and experience in the field before applying

[JLopt2020]

I wanted to create a thread on shadowing and more specifically the importance of working in an optometry/medical setting before applying to optometry school from my undergrad experience. A lot of people stress the need for having many hours of shadowing and working part time during the school year to be a competitive applicant. THIS IS WRONG! Above all schools want a high gpa, in competitive challening courses, and good oat scores (nothing below 300, competitive being 330+). There is nothing worse than to have years of working in a practice and shadowing other optometry settings and having a poor gpa (<3.3). For those of you who are just starting their way through undergrad keep this in mind, don't jeopardize your gpa for working too many hours during the school year.

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[SunA21]

A lot of people stress the need for having many hours of shadowing and working part time during the school year to be a competitive applicant.

Really? I haven't been getting this vibe. Shadowing does seem way more important to optometry applicants than medical applicants, but no one's ever told me to work part time in order to get enough experience to be a competitive applicant.

 

[JLopt2020]

That's good! It was something that came up in the pre-opt club I am a part of and wanted to share.

 

[jaeiger]

I'll just throw a caveat in there and say that people should consider shadowing early on into their process - don't wait till after the OAT to do it, just get in there for a weekend or two just to make sure that this is the right path for you! After that, get your hours in but only secondary to school, for sure. Also, actually shadowing a doctor as they see patients is 50x more educational than teching for them (IMO).

 

[SunA21]

actually shadowing a doctor as they see patients is 50x more educational than teching for them (IMO).

I've done both now, shadowing for ~ 50 hours with lots of different doctors, and being a tech for about 3 months. I think both are valuable.

Shadowing gives you breadth, so you can see all the different ways optometrists can practice. You can ask lots of doctors the same question to get a pulse on what's going on in the profession. You see how the doctors interact with the patients.

Doing a technician job gives you depth, so you really experience what it's like to work in that office environment week after week. You get a better sense of the patient's experience, because they don't just interact with the doctor, they also interact with technicians and opticians.

For someone who's going to school, though, shadowing is more efficient and practical than a part-time job, definitely, for testing the optometry waters.

 

[jaeiger]

I've done both now, shadowing for ~ 50 hours with lots of different doctors, and being a tech for about 3 months. I think both are valuable.

Shadowing gives you breadth, so you can see all the different ways optometrists can practice. You can ask lots of doctors the same question to get a pulse on what's going on in the profession. You see how the doctors interact with the patients.

Doing a technician job gives you depth, so you really experience what it's like to work in that office environment week after week. You get a better sense of the patient's experience, because they don't just interact with the doctor, they also interact with technicians and opticians.

For someone who's going to school, though, shadowing is more efficient and practical than a part-time job, definitely, for testing the optometry waters.

I actually had the opposite experience as you with regards to breadth and depth, haha. But for sure, both are definitely valuable. For me though, I teched a ton before last minute cramming in a lot of shadowing - which, in retrospect, I wish I did in reverse order (and maybe even quantity-wise, too).

 

[chelle111]

I wanted to create a thread on shadowing and more specifically the importance of working in an optometry/medical setting before applying to optometry school from my undergrad experience. A lot of people stress the need for having many hours of shadowing and working part time during the school year to be a competitive applicant. THIS IS WRONG! Above all schools want a high gpa, in competitive challening courses, and good oat scores (nothing below 300, competitive being 330+). There is nothing worse than to have years of working in a practice and shadowing other optometry settings and having a poor gpa (<3.3). For those of you who are just starting their way through undergrad keep this in mind, don't jeopardize your gpa for working too many hours during the school year.

I can vouch for working too much in undergrad as it made my GPA suffer and if I could go back a few years I would've cut my 30-35 hours I worked a week to half that... However, being a non trad applicant who got in for this cycle , I can tell you that working part-time in undergrad (any setting) full-time in grad school (currently in biotech/research) has given some skills I would have not otherwise learned... Especially professionalism/maturity/and appreciation of my own money/ research interests...... I've seen other applicants at my interviews to have lacked these traits. Also, working full time in a medical / biotech company I've learned a lot of what goes on behind the scenes in healthcare on a diagnostic/therapeutic side, with insurance practices, patient outcomes etc.. it's really about being well rounded in it all BUT within balance. Definitely do the shadowing early!!! But I really think it's about QUALITY of your shadowing experiences and not QUANTITY of the hours. I learned more shadowing one doctor 20-24 hours since he was more hands on than the other 2 doctors I had shadowed. I can definitely tell you having amazing stats isn't the only reason you'll get in... And also having to take a break for a year or two after undergrad isn't always bad..

(sorry if this was off topic just wanted to give a different view point of my experience)