Non-traditional pre-OD students

[74ponderosa]

Any other non-traditional pre-OD students out there?

I'm 34. Graduated college in 1997 with bio degree and 2.9 GPA from a Top 10 university - did bench research all 4 years of college + summers. Joined the Peace Corps after graduation. Upon returning, worked in non-profit admin x 5 years. Was unfulfilled and decided to return to science-related field. Career research opened up field of optometry to me, which was never before on my radar. Got a tech job with ophthalmologist. Just started working with an OD part-time for the past month. They are completely different. Optometry is much more my style.

Also, watching my 3 mo-old son 2 days/wk, and have recently taken classes. Hope to take more in the spring.

Currently studying for OAT, would like to apply this fall/winter but dont think I'm ready as I had orgo and chem and bio x 10+ yrs ago. Using MCAT prep-book, Morrison media flash cards (not great), and various chem texts/workbooks. Considering kaplan online course.

Prerequisite GPA is 3.4, Total Science GPA 3.0.

What's your story? What pre-opt, pre-OAT studying are you doing? Resources are you using?

Non-trads only please.

Thanks.

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[Absolute Vision]

It's nice to meet you Ponderosa. The story of how I ended up in optometry is long, so I won't bore you with the details. You can always PM for that. However, I graduated the same year you did with a BA in psychology with honors.
I've spent the past decade teaching chemistry, and I'm now changing careers after spending a extensive amount of time shadowing different specialties of optometry including experience with both retail and private practice ODs.
I'm only applying to SCCO this year, and I'm interviewing on Nov 15, so I'm definitely excited. My decision to apply to only SCCO is because of my wife and her established chiropractic office, my two young sons, and Dr. Munroe, the Admissions Director at SCCO. My decision to apply to SCCO was due to Dr. Munroe’s tireless effort to help future applicants/students like myself pursue optometry…she even started and maintains the SCCO Pre-Optometry Forum where she answers all questions from pre-optometry students...and the helpful staff and students at SCCO.
I’ve already posted some of my OAT prep advice on SD Forum, but you could always PM me, and I will clarify or offer other suggestions. I would highly recommend you check out the SCCO Pre-Optometry Forum by Dr. Munroe…I’m sure you will definitely learn a lot of valuable information regarding how to successfully gain admission to optometry school, but also about the optometric profession. Good luck with the OAT and your pursuit of becoming a future OD.

 

[74ponderosa]

You can always PM for that.

I will, thanks.

 

[Absolute Vision]

I sent you a response at 1 pm PST. Did you receive it..if not please contact me again, and I'll send it again.

 

[RegularGuy]

Hello fellow RPCV!

My story is very similar to yours. I'm almost your age, had a career change, and am now a student at SCCO.

I learn best by reading and doing sample problems. Therefore, I studied using the big purple book from Kaplan and did all the practice exams they gave me. The live classes weren't really useful, and I think they're rather expensive, so if I had to do it all over again, I'd just buy the book and exams from someone who took the course.

Anyway, my TS was 400 and my AS was 390, so I feel my test preparation efforts worked. Check my other posts to see how I studied, if you're interested.

Also, I retook a bunch of prereqs when I decided to apply for school: Chem, Ochem, physics, anatomy/physiology, microbiology, biochem. This helped, because I didn't remember much from my undergrad years. It also helped me to significantly raise my science GPA. Finally, as a first year student, I'm finding that the classes I took are coming in handy, because we cover a lot of the same material (anatomy/physiology, micro, biochem), but at an much, much faster pace.

So, you might be wondering what school might be like for you. Being an older student has not been that bad, really. I study with people who range in age from 22-25, and when we're hanging out, I sometimes forget that I'm much older than they are.

Also, there is a married couples club, which I didn't join since I'm not married, but I think it's pretty active since we've got a surprisingly large number of married people in my class. (5+?) (5-8% of my class?)

Also, some people in my class have kids or have them on the way. I bet it's tough, but they're managing to keep up, so odds are, you can do it, too.

And yeah-- sometimes I do feel my age. A bunch of people went to Vegas to attend a convention (party), and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to keep up. But-- more than a few people asked if I wanted to carpool, share a room, hang out with them, so I didn't feel excluded, but felt welcomed instead.

So, let me know if you have any questions I can answer for you. Even if it's something that I can't answer like how to get childcare, or married housing, etc., I'm sure one of my married classmates would be happy to answer your question. (Or, there may be an email address on the SCCO website for the married couple's club-- you could just shoot them an email directly.)

Finally, I just have to throw this in-- If you're still not sure what school you want to attend, I'd recommend checking out SCCO. My experience here has been wonderful and I am very pleased with my decision to attend here.

All the best!

 

[Absolute Vision]

Hey RegularGuy,

I'm happy to see there are other non-traditional students at SCCO. I enjoyed reading your perspective as an older optometry student. It will be strange to be older than some of the faculty at SCCO if I'm a student there next year. What year are you at SCCO? What type of questions did they ask you during your interview...was it mostly about why you switched careers? Did you have to go out of state to attend SCCO? From my experience with the faculty, students, and staff at SCCO...in addition to recommendations from SCCO alumni and friends, I also feel that SCCO will be the best fit school for me. Thanks again for your post.

 

[74ponderosa]

Regular Guy-

thanks for the post. very great to see there are more of us non-trads out there! and thanks for all your input. i took a kaplan practice test this weekend and while my scores were'nt great, i wasnt totally crushed given the fact that i haven't had these courses for more than a decade (that doesnt make me feel old!) i am considering post-poning my application, until next year, and taking some courses this spring. the practice test did make me consider more the possibility of taking a kaplan course, which i am about 95% sure I'm going to do, not because of their sales pitch, but because i think it would be helpful to have some structure to my re-studying all these topics, and to have someone I could ask questions.

thanks also for the input on being an older student. its good to see that you are being so well accepted by your classmates. i would love to consider scco. i've heard so many great things about it, and i would love to move out west...just would have to convince the wife. 🙂

again, many thanks!

 

[RegularGuy]

Hi Absolute Vision,

Yeah, it's a little weird being older than some of the faculty. But I feel that the staff treats students as future colleagues more than lowly students, which makes things a lot nicer. I just try to treat everybody the way I'd like to be treated, and things have worked out well.

Also, during my interview, I was asked why I was switching careers. Specifically, they wanted to know why I wanted to do optometry in particular. They asked me questions about HMO's, private practice vs. retail practice and my long term goals.

Finally, I'm a first year student here, and I did travel out of state to attend SCCO.

If you end up interviewing here, let me know-- Good luck!

---------------

Hi 74ponderosa,

When I took Kaplan last year, they had a thin white book and a thick purple book. The class went straight through the white book and had some assigned readings from the purple book. However, I didn't feel like they materials matched up very well-- Eventually, I stopped attending the classes.

So, I wouldn't say that taking the course added a lot of structure to my studies. But taking the course did scare me a bit because I saw how intense everybody else was. It scared me into studying!

Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Absolute Vision]

Thanks for your reply RegularGuy, I really appreciate you taking the time to just respond to some of my questions earlier...I can remember how busy one of my friends was when she was a first year in optometry school. I've thoroughly researched SCCO for the past year, so hopefully it will pay off when I interview there next month on Nov 15. I've been anxiously preparing for the interview for the past several weeks, so I feel like I'm ready for it.
This past week, I've had a chance to talk to other optometry students from around the world at the AAO Conference in Anaheim to get their perspectives. In addition, I've had the privilege of learning from SCCO faculty members Dr.'s Marsden, Kirschen, and Tassinari on topics concerning orthokeratology, sports vision, and vision therapy, respectively. It was a great way to network with faculty members and practicing ODs about the current and future outlook of the profession. Thanks again for your input... hopefully I will get a chance to meet you and become one of the future students at SCCO.🙂

 

[NCOpt1]

I'm a LITTLE non-traditional... as in I'm not going to Optometry school straight out of college.

I graduated from a top 30 national university in 2006 with a degree in Health and Exercise Science. I worked in residence life (at a boarding school) for a couple years, and have now decided to start the process of applying to optometry schools. I still have some more pre-requisites to get out of the way (one bio, two chemistry's, and two organic chemistry's... ugh). I live in NC, so the two schools I'm really interested in are UAB and IU.

I'm very glad I found these forums, they will definitely help as I go through the process! I'm working at Border's right now and just ordered the Kaplan OAT study book with my employee discount...

 

[bluesfan]

I am a non-traditional. I am also 34 and have been out of graduate school for 10 years. I majored in psychology/pre-med in undergrad and have a master's degree in public health. I am married with two small children (4 and 2). I had always intended to go to medical school but after time passed decided that it might not be the best approach for me. I let some time go by and worked in the "real world" to see if I would be happy not pursuing another degree and of course I was not. I do enjoy public health work but it is not fulfilling enough for me. I really enjoy working with people and want to be involved in direct patient care.

I am working part-time in public health and also very part-time as an optician in a private practice. I took my OAT on 10/25 and submitted my application on 10/31. I studied for about 2 1/2 months from the Kaplan MCAT book, Lippincott OAT book, Kaplan OAT flashcards, Kaplan OAT book (the thin one not from the course), OAT Destroyer, textbooks from a friend and the Topscore OAT CD-ROM. It had been 7-15 years since I had most of the material and I was definitely nervous. I also had to find time to study working around my work schedule as well as my family schedule.

I am really glad to hear of other non-traditionals out there. I wish all of you the best of luck and invite you to PM me if you want to go more in-depth about interest in optometry and background.

 

[leonard1234]

I am a non-traditional applicant for Optometry school as well. i graduated a year ago with a degree in film & media. after working in the film business for a year i decided to work towards Optometry. it has always been another field i've been deeply interested in and i've grown up in a family of ophthalmologists. i'm currently taking all my science prereqs at a community college. i'm hoping to take the OAT next October.

does anyone know which specific schools don't accept community college classes?

 

[Absolute Vision]

It will depend on the preference of certain optometry schools. Some schools like SCCO actually encourage and don't mind if you take your pre-requisites at a community college. However, other schools such as NECO prefer that no more than 50% of the prerequisites be taken at a community college. Just check out the specific optometry school's website or call them.
Since you're a post-bac, perhaps completing your pre-requisites at a community college will be feasible...to be sure, I would just call and ask.

 

[MissMel]

Hello! I am non-traditional. It is comforting to see there are a few others. I am 28. I got a biology degree and then worked in dna labs for 4 years and am going to take my last prereqs next semester.
I haven't taken the OAT yet. I am apllying to SCCO, SUNY, and NOVA this year.
I expect that since I didn't apply early and haven't even taken OAT yet, I will have to reapply next year but I fig'd wasting a little money now isn't so bad and may pay off bc at least schools will know I am interested next year if I am a re-applicant. Good Luck to all of you.

 

[Absolute Vision]

Congrats on finishing up your pre-reqs and preparing for the OAT. I would definitely recommend reading some of the older posts from non-traditional applicants from this season and past seasons on this forum to get their perspectives. I'm sure when you get an interview, the admission's committee will want you to explain why you decided to change careers. Good luck.

 

[74ponderosa]

Hello! I am non-traditional. It is comforting to see there are a few others. I am 28. I got a biology degree and then worked in dna labs for 4 years and am going to take my last prereqs next semester.
I haven't taken the OAT yet. I am apllying to SCCO, SUNY, and NOVA this year.
I expect that since I didn't apply early and haven't even taken OAT yet, I will have to reapply next year but I fig'd wasting a little money now isn't so bad and may pay off bc at least schools will know I am interested next year if I am a re-applicant. Good Luck to all of you.

MissMel-
yes, glad there are others of us out here. just curious about when you are planning to take the OAT. I'm shooting for late Dec early Jan. With the goal of applying for this cycle.

 

[OPTICIAN21]

I am also a non traditional student. My exam is scheduled for Nov 20 but I have to rechedule. Im going to rescedule for Dec 19. Im having trouble with the QR section. Im using the OAT destroyer to study but im not sure if that will be enough. I know someone that took the OAT and she said there was 5 physic questions that were exactly the same as the sample OAT. Has this happened to anyone?

 

[Absolute Vision]

If you're having trouble with the QR section, then I would recommend doing the practice problems in Arco's GRE/GMAT Math Review...it also gives you plenty of examples of how to solve different kinds of word problems. If you really need additional timed QR practice problems then you could also purchase the Crack the OAT, which provides either 10 or 25 full-length practice tests under timed conditions. Be warned that sometimes the answers to the Crack the OAT QR tests are not fully explained. http://www.crackoat.com/

Good luck with your OAT prep and test.

 

[OPTICIAN21]

🙂Thanks Absolute Vision. I appreciate your help.