New Pre-Optometry Student - Please Help!!

[ash118]

Hi Everyone!

I am new to this forum but I have heard a lot about this site and I am really excited to get your advice and opinons.

I graduated undergrad in May 2010 on a pre-med track. After a year off, I have had some time to think about my career track and I have been giving optometry a serious thought. This year I had a lot of trouble with my eyes after recovering from severe conjuctivitis (I recently found out I have amblyoepia along with astigmatism) and this experience helped me realize the importance of optometry.

Unfortunately, as I have always been premed, I was hoping to get help on what I need to do be on a pre-optometry track. My cGPA is 3.75 and sGPA is about 3.5. I have a lot of community service and shadowing experience with allopathic doctors, but I have not shadowed an optometrist yet. I have LORs from science professor, public health program director, research mentor, and a science TA.

I am currently residing in Arkansas (although I am from MD). What advice / tips would you give me?

How do I start shadowing an optometrist? Is a LOR from an optometrist necessary/important? What is the best way to study for the OATs and how do I get the best study material?

I have taken MCAT in the past - does this make a difference?

Please help! Thank you in advance and I look forward to your responses!!

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[Blondiechick919]

Your gpa will definitely help you. That is universal. If you don't mind my asking, what did you get on the MCAT? The OAT Is scored 200-400, 300 being median. I would imagine it's similar to a 30 MCAT. A lot of the material is the same and studying should be similar. I used a lot of MCAT material to prep for m OAT. Shadowing an optometrist is a requirement to apply, they want to make sure that you have a good view of the profession. Try to shadow on more than one day to see a variety of patients. (I've been working at a multiple OD practice for the past year so this doesn't really apply to me)

Take a look at opted.org and take a look at some schools to see what might be a good fit for you locale-wise as well as monetarily. Your grades seem to be in line with any program and if you get a good oat score, you should be well apt to apply to any program. The following link should also quickly sum up all the schools. Hope this helps!

http://www.opted.org/files/public/Applicant Admissions Data Table 2010 updated 7-20-11.pdf

 

[ash118]

Hey Blondiechick!

Thank you so much for your response! I got a 28 on the MCAT (I have not retaken it since). I'm going to take a practice OAT online next week to see where I am and what I need to improve on.

Do you have any other suggestions in terms of shadowing an optometrist? Thanks again!!

 

[Blondiechick919]

Honestly if I were you I think the best way to shadow would be to call your own eye doctors office and tell them your plans. Call and ask for a good time to speak to the doctor about setting up a shadow time or ask for a good time to speak to them directly. If there is a doctor you are a patient of and would like to work with, bonus points! Don't try to explain all this to the receptionist, they will just get confused and lose the message in a sea of appointments and routing slips, just ask that they have the doctor call you soon.

If I were the doctor, I would be flattered that I was the one who inspired one of my patients to go into optometry. Bring a copy of your resume so that they will be able to comfortably write you a letter. Keep in mind that some optometrists recommend candidates based on one 8 hour shadow day, and that coils have been fudged. Get as much experience as you really can. Have been working in the field for over a year now and have done everything from selling progressives and adjusting to glaucoma testing, I & R's, ordering contacts, assisting with punctual occlusions, or dilating a patient. I've seen a lot of eye infections and a lot of peoples lives changed. I'm positive that i want to make people see better. The doctors I work with are an inspiration to me and see something in me and feel confident in me to recommend me to be a fellow doctor. If your eye doctor knows you as a patient and spends a few days with you shadowing, he or she may see your potential to follow in their footsteps too.

 

[Jason K]

How do I start shadowing an optometrist? Is a LOR from an optometrist necessary/important? What is the best way to study for the OATs and how do I get the best study material?

Shadowing and talking with practicing ODs in the type of setting you hope to work in is probably the most important thing you could do for your future. My advice, don't just do it with the mindset of "I'll just satisfy the requirements that the schools are looking for." Make it your mission to learn as much about optometry as you can by talking to as many ODs as possible. Be sure to talk to experienced ODs along with newer graduates. The experiences they have will be vastly different from those of older docs. There's a lot of change going on right now in optometry and the future of the profession is uncertain. If you were focused on a career in medicine and changed gears, I'd look really hard into what steered you away from medicine and what you hope to gain in optometry. If you are planning on a career which is similar to medicine, but without the time commitment and stress, you may be very disappointed with the results. A lot of people rely on the public "picture" of optometry that's put out by the American Optometric Association and the schools themselves, but the reality of the profession is very different from what they portray. Optometry is becoming a commercial business, Walmart, Costco, LensCrafters, America's Best, etc. That used to be a smaller portion of the profession that people tolerated, but with the incredible excess of ODs that's been cranked out in recent years, that side of the profession has grown exponentially and won't go away any time soon. OD grads used to have a choice between private practice and commercial practice. That's not so much the case anymore. Most new grads these days are unable to find work in private offices because the jobs just aren't there. Where do they go? Commercial practice. A day or two here, a day or two there. It's part-time, no benefits, low pay and lot's and lot's of patients in less time than you need to do your job well. Commercial optometry is not about taking care of patients, it's about making money from the sale of glasses and contacts. You're only there to sign a piece of paper that allows the company to sell your patient their correction.

I'm not telling you to avoid optometry, but make sure you know exactly what it is before you apply or you may waste a lot of time and money in your professional pursuits. I was premed for most of my college years and then switched at the last minute after realizing an MD was not what I was after for many reasons. I made the right choice in steering away from an MD, but I made the wrong choice in choosing an OD as my path. They are comparable on few levels these days, other than the title of "doctor."