You are right to be worried. What people don't realize is that there are dozens, sometimes even hundreds of applicants for each job posting . LensCrafters is the nation's largest employer, with a few hundred job listings at any one time, but there are thousands of new graduates a year. I applied for a position 15 years ago in the Bay Area , when there were far fewer optoms, and the Doc said he had received 40 applications. And the situation has gotten worse. I attended long before forums like this existed, so consider yourself lucky. I thought I did my due diligence speaking with and shadowing local optoms, but never had any idea of the job situation until my fourth year. Docs tend to be embarrassed to admit how little they make or how hard it is to get a job. They dI'd not want to admit they made a mistake and hoped things would improve with the advent of therapeutics . Only malpractice insurance, required CE, and legal culpability went up. I love my job, but it was very difficult to get and does not pay well compared to other professions with similar levels of education. Remember, people tend to lie about sex, money and taxes. Consider yourself lucky to be open minded enough to rethink your plan.
On a funny note, the sleaze bag from "Wolf of Wall Street" said in an interview that he started as a dental student. First day of class a gray haired professor spoke to the class: "If you are here expecting to make a lot of money...the golden days of dentistry are over...you are not going to get rich." So the fellow got up, left class and proceeded to auction off all his brand new dental tools in the student lounge. I wish we had a professor like that. Your opto professors are not going to say anything, because they know they are not getting jobs in the real world if student admission drops.
