New Optometry Schools??????

[mtrlOATgal]

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why not open one more in canada for goodness sake- we only have 2 and the US has 17- and now 18!!!!!! 🙁

 

[hye345]

why not open one more in canada for goodness sake- we only have 2 and the US has 17- and now 18!!!!!! 🙁

Canada's population: ~32 million.
United State's population: almost 300 million.

 

[Opii]

Opening a Canadian school in the east side could be a good idea. After all there is one english speaking school in all of Canada. Maybe that might be a good argument to make. Let's open up a bilingual school in Toronto! Cool. Except I'm not Canadian. But you have my vote anyway.

 

[Dr. Gangrene]

You are correct, they have appointed a dean. The school is also adding dentistry and podiatry. It will be in Pomona, CA about 20 miles south of SCCO. If you go to the western website they have a little tidbit. Its a shame it will be controlled by some money hungry osteopaths. We really don't need another school. Maybe I'll start up a med school in the future! 😀

Interestingly, the pod school faces a lot of challenges. (i.e. most pod peeps don't want a 9th school).

 

[qwopty99]

the closest any plan at a 3rd optom school has come, was a potential school at McMaster university (!) - which is the closest major university to Waterloo. obviously, anyone with any sense of geography would say that's a dumb idea (it would be like the US with one optometry school, SCCO, and they build a 2nd one at WesternU).

the proposed idea, however, was to make it a PRIVATE establishment - to try to cash in on the money Canadians spend attending optom schools in the US. the plan eventually didnt make it very far, but it was discussed. this idea appeared about 5 years ago.

another proposed 3rd canadian school (this idea was first mentioned years ago, but has been off the radar for a while now) was to occur at University of Victoria in BC. obviously, such a location would be a reasonably "logical" one given its distance to Waterloo.

several years back, Canadian ODs were asked whether they would support a new school (in UVic). the understanding was if it were to decrese UW's enrollment, then they weren't in favor of it (i.e. why then, open the new school?). anyways, that idea didn't get off the planning stages either.

for the year 2007, it seems waterloo willl admit 90 students (30 more than, say 5 years ago). this must factor into any potential plans for a 3rd school. the next largest consideration a prospective university must deal with, is where to find qualified faculty to fill the school.

 

[qwopty99]

Let's open up a bilingual school in Toronto!

the school at Waterloo actually had as its forerunner, the College of Optometry of Ontario, which was affiliated with U of T. the College was on UT's campus, and they attended classes essentially as UT students. i'm almost certain, their diploma (Doctor of Optometry) had the UT logo on it.

at some point in the 1960s though, apparently UT wanted their "land" back to do other stuff (robarts library http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robarts_Library), so they turfed the school, and it merged with Waterloo.

had Optometry remained at Toronto, it would've absolutely become the most competitive program in Canada.

as a rite of passage, every year about 25% of their 3000 first-year science undergrads apply to pharm school (like, why are there some 800 students/year in ontario ONLY, trying to become pharmacists?? and - only ~200 students/year in Canada wanting to become ODs??). every year, lots of UT students who have no interest in pharm, get into pharm just because their friends apply and they did too (and everyone is afraid of not getting into med eventually). honestly, i'd say at least 50% of pharm students get there accidentally (the earlier they get into pharm e.g. after first year, the more accidental it likely was). by 4th year, most who end up in pharm aren't competitive for med, so are happy to be admitted.

if u took all those students, and made them vie for 60 optometry positions, that would just be sick.

 

[Opii]

Good bit of history. Good to know... Again money seems to be the driving factor in all this .... not patient need.

 

[lteddygrahamsl]

The point isn't to make a new school for subpar applicants to have a chance. They're opening up a new school probably because they think will benefit the reputation of the school. It's just going to be a lot easier to get in until the school is established enough to command more competitive applicants.

I am going to have to argue against this. I don't believe its going to be easier to get into Western once it opens. When the veterinary school first opened, their first class consisted of only those with their masters and Ph.Ds. Only 4 people had their bachelors out of a class of 88. They just recently took their boards and did pretty well considering it was the first class to take the boards for vet school. They had an 80% passrate and thats with some people not taking the boards until later.

 

[qwopty99]

I am going to have to argue against this. I don't believe its going to be easier to get into Western once it opens. When the veterinary school first opened, their first class consisted of only those with their masters and Ph.Ds. Only 4 people had their bachelors out of a class of 88. They just recently took their boards and did pretty well considering it was the first class to take the boards for vet school. They had an 80% passrate and thats with some people not taking the boards until later.

why did the vet school require MS/PhD?

do u think they'll continue to get 84 MS or PhD applicants a year into their program?

 

[hfpepperbean47]

Opening a Canadian school in the east side could be a good idea. After all there is one english speaking school in all of Canada. Maybe that might be a good argument to make. Let's open up a bilingual school in Toronto! Cool. Except I'm not Canadian. But you have my vote anyway.

I'm not sure where the second Canadian school is...Waterloo and Montreal? As long as we're on the topic of new optometry schools, why not open up a school in, say, Vancouver? Then we could have some thrilling debates between eastern and western Canadian optometry schools.

 

[Opii]

You have my vote for Vancouver


Maybe you can open it up to some of us Americans. Then we might stay. How easy is it to get your Canadian citizenship? Do the current two opto schools allow us into your schools?