New to these forums

[djau]

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Hello everyone,

I've read a fair amount of the posts in the given week to try and prepare for the OATs and applications. I just got back from teaching rudimentary English and middle school science in Korea about 7 weeks ago. Problem is, I took a year off to do this, and I came back a million times more rusty than I had expected (btw, i would suggest not doing this if you need to take a big exam like MCAT/OAT/DATs... at least take it before while you're still fresh, haha). In any case, I made the big mistake of trying to enter Berkeley. Since their application deadline was Dec. 1st, I forced myself to take the OATs early, and I only had 6 weeks to study for it 🙁. Nonetheless, I bombed the OATs (took it today).

I guess the real question that I'm asking is the common question of "what are my chances?" (I'd rather not waste money applying if I know I'm not going to get accepted) I recently decided to do optometry so I still need to get some shadowing done, but here are my stats:

Major: Chemistry; Minor: Biology
Overall GPA: 3.86

OAT Scores:
QR: 330
RC: 300 (not sure how this happened)
Biology: 280 (not sure how this happened - feeling quite idiotic atm)
GC: 340
OC: 330
Physics: 330
TS: 320
AA: 320

I guess these are calibrated for the new scoring system, but I'm not feeling confident at all, and I'm not quite sure what to do. My EC's aren't great, in fact they're not great at all, I spent most of my time working in undergrad. The only thing I was able to do was get published in a small Chemistry journal while doing research.

The schools I'd like to apply to is UCBSO, ICO, SUNY, PCO
-I've been reading multiple posts, and it seems that UCBSO and SUNY are definitely out of the picture just from my OAT scores alone.

Any insight is helpful, and any responses would be greatly appreciated. (If I should wait out applying, etc [would like to apply for fall of 2010, I seriously don't wanna sit around for 1.5 years])

Thanks in advance!

 

[mshea413]

Your GPA is really high but your OAT scores are not the best (but also not terrible). SUNY seems to care a lot about your OATs but I would say that you have at shot PCO and maybe ICO. I think that the biggest thing working against you is the fact that you just recently decided to do optometry and it sounds like you have very little experience with it. If you don't get in this cycle I would suggest trying to get a job at an optometrist's office to show the admissions committees that you really know what the profession is about.

 

[misstd]

I agree.. You definitely have a shot because you're GPA is so high. I had about a 3.6 and my scores were about the same as yours (but none were under 300). I got all my interviews and went to 2. I got accepted at ICO and UHCO. ICO did mention my low scores compared to my GPA, but I think they weighted my GPA more. Also, it depends on your experience in optometrists' offices. ICO loved that I had shadowed in different types of offices: private, HMO, and VA. Assuming that you have some experience, plus your time in Korea. I'm sure that you can land an interview. I definately think you should apply. Good luck!

 

[djau]

Thanks for the quick responses. It helped a lot, and is greatly appreciated.