I'm no graduate or practicing doctor, but here's my viewpoint. I've heard the over saturation issue from almost every field in healthcare, even in medicine. So what should we do? Not specialize in or study anything because there are already too many people doing it? A lot of this seems like paranoia to me coming from prospective healthcare specialists and just straight up whining from current doctors. Perhaps optometry isn't in its glory days anymore (which was a long time ago, it seems), but it is in no way a career path that will leave you homeless or struggling to get by. You will live a comfortable life, and maybe that's an understatement considering the economic conditions of present day. You probably won't be able to afford a mansion or Ferrari, but hey, maybe that's asking for too much. Here's the question you should be asking yourself: do you like optometry and is it something you want to do as a career? If so, I wouldn't let these things bother you. Every field has its own issues, even those outside of healthcare. Keep in mind, most people who post on SDN are fairly negative/pessimistic about their experience. Doctors are more inclined to come on an online board to complain rather than talk about how happy they are. Take anything you read on this forum as you will, but I would also ask this question to multiple practicing optometrists in real life and see what they say.
With that being said, loans do suck and it's something I'm scared to deal with as well. I think with smart spending while in school and a good plan after graduation, we'll be fine. Here's my biggest pet peeve: when I hear current optometry graduates on this forum saying something like "oh man these loans suck, I wish I went to med school instead." It doesn't work that way... I gave up my applications to med school because I didn't like medicine and realized that it would be a nightmare putting in so much work into something I didn't truly enjoy - I probably would've dropped out after the first or second year. But the thing is, we rarely hear from the graduates that have something positive to say about their loans on online boards, and trust me, they exist.
I think the most important thing to remember is that nobody is a prophet or has the ability to see into the future. It's difficult to accurately predict what the field will be like by the time we graduate and find a job. People are quick to see a couple trends and predict the demise of a certain field, but who really knows what it's going to be like? We will be fine. If not, hey, at least you won't be alone. I'll be right there with you when the prophecies of SDN come true and we live in a cardboard box under a bridge my friend.
