Maternity Leave

[LUC78]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Has anyone taken or heard of anyone who has been pregnant during optometry school and taken a short maternity leave after delivering? Just wondering what the policies are about this and if schools allow a couple weeks off or if the only option is a whole quarter/year off. Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[haddiebee]

I gave birth during what was supposed to be my "spring break" of March 2020 (I was an OD1). I approached my academic advisor in the fall semester (of OD1) and was offered the chance to take an incomplete and come back the following year. I declined the offer as I did not want to be behind -- my plan was to do well enough during the first half of the semester that I could do the bare minimum the remaining half. Our lectures are not video recorded and audio recording is forbidden, so the plan was to rely on powerpoint slides and the texts for most of the information and only be present for mandatory classes and labs. Because my daughter was born right after the migration to distance learning with COVID, I was able to do school virtually with recorded lectures. In the current climate I would recommend to try to give birth during your longest break (ours is 3-4 weeks at Christmas vs the 2 weeks in between semesters) to minimize time off. I think at the very least you will be offered an incomplete with an invitation to return. Your best bet is to schedule delivery during a school break.

 

[hnines]

In conversations with faculty at my school, they said women who have delivered babies during the semester have typically been able to take 1-2 weeks off from school. Beyond that, professors started to worry that the students wouldn't have enough time to get caught up. I agree with the previous poster that the other options are to take a full year off and then restart the program, or deliver over a longer break.

 

[LUC78]

Thank you for the insight!