never had an optician job

[catzeye523]

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I became interested in optometry a bit late. I started to shadow an optometrist in October, graduated from UIC in December, took the OAT in March, and got accepted into ICO that same month. I couldn't land an optician job because of the fact that I wouldn't be able to stay very long, and it wouldn't be worth it for those places to train someone who won't even be there to stay for more than a few months. Is this disadvantage going to screw me over in optometry school?

 

[georgeyboy]

I swear optometry is the only program that you can get into with only 6 months of interest.

 

[xmattODx]

Is this disadvantage going to screw me over in optometry school?

No. Being an optician is not a prerequisite to becoming an optometrist.

I swear optometry is the only program that you can get into with only 6 months of interest.

How long should one show interest to earn the right to get into a program?

 

[S_SEEN2020]

Pretty much all of the things you do as an optician you get to do as an optometrist. So you will get to do all of the optician things plus a billion things more in optometry school.

 

[in_translation]

I couldn't land an optician job because of the fact that I wouldn't be able to stay very long, and it wouldn't be worth it for those places to train someone who won't even be there to stay for more than a few months. Is this disadvantage going to screw me over in optometry school?

I think when you get to school you will find many of your classmates have never had optician jobs. Some people just do some shadowing and that's enough for them. Some people work front office for optometrists and see the practice in motion. Some people do pre-testing. It's a wide range of experiences that incoming students will have. Don't worry about not having optician experience, because as other people have already said, we'll learn all those things in OD school along the way.