Indecisive (Med or Optometry School?)

[TreeofRoses]

Sorry if I offend anyone, but I'm a new member here.

Is it possible to apply to both medical school and optometry school? I know this might sound really weird to some people, but I'm only starting out in college so I'm not very sure about what exactly I want to do.

If I remain indecisive by the end of my college career, then would it be sensible to apply to med or optometry school, and if I get rejected, then apply to the other choice? Do med schools and optometry schools know when a student applies to two different fields?

I mean, both med and optometry fields seem similar to me because they are both in the healthcare field, and I am seriously interested in both, but I want to remain practical and have at least one school that I'll get accepted into. Once again, I may offend some people, and I'm sorry for that in advance.

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.

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[J ROD]

Best advice I can give as someone that went back to school for healthcare. I had to decide between medical, dental, pharmacy, and optometry.

Shadow. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do. Almost all the prereqs are the same.

And I planned to get the MD, PharmD. Looked hard into dental and almost did that. Worked as an optometry asst for several months and knew eyes were not for me. Learn yourself and what you want to do with your life. Be proactive and reactive in this decision and shadow any and everything you think you might want to do.

 

[witzelsucht]

As a practical matter, plan for MD since its more competitive. Shadow to see what you like, or try to find some job working at a multi-specialist eye practice. I would say that for most traditional students (not career changers, not > 30 y/o) just do the MD because you will have infinitely more options and you will not have to deal with as much "which state is more ophtho/PA/whatever friendly" bull****. That being said, you are a freshman and have plenty of time so just focus on grades.

 

[Smurfette]

Moving to PreAllo since user is not yet a med student.

 

[sampler]

Best advice I can give as someone that went back to school for healthcare. I had to decide between medical, dental, pharmacy, and optometry.

Shadow. You have plenty of time to decide what you want to do. Almost all the prereqs are the same.

And I planned to get the MD, PharmD. Looked hard into dental and almost did that. Worked as an optometry asst for several months and knew eyes were not for me. Learn yourself and what you want to do with your life. Be proactive and reactive in this decision and shadow any and everything you think you might want to do.

I agree with your advice to shadow; I am also considering several health professions, especially optom, dent, and med, and I have shadowed several optoms in the past. However, I would like to shadow some dents and meds, too. But is that an option?? I just assumed that med offices might not be receptive to it like optom offices are. Please enlighten me

 

[moisne]

From experience, optometrist tends to be happier over all. Was reported as top 10 most satisfying job. Less schooling, and you can apply faster. OATS is easier than MCAT.

 

[TheWeeIceMan]

From experience, optometrist tends to be happier over all. Was reported as top 10 most satisfying job. Less schooling, and you can apply faster. OATS is easier than MCAT.

You must not go into the Opto forum much. Not a lot of happiness in there.

 

[moisne]

You must not go into the Opto forum much. Not a lot of happiness in there.

Def not 80hours/week caps on residency. Optometry was hugely tempting but I don't have too much interests in eyes/vision

 

[darkstars]

Def not 80hours/week caps on residency. Optometry was hugely tempting but I don't have too much interests in eyes/vision

I think it's more along the lines of the job market being extraordinarily crappy from what I read on here.

But honestly it seems like in every forum with different careers on here gripe all the time. We don't get enough happy people posting onto SDN.