OAT, schools, and application!

[oo0Archangel0oo]

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Hey, guys! There aren't very many pre-optometry students at my school so I've had to try to learn the ins and outs of the oat and application by myself. I've been stressing out and it would be great if someone could help answer some of my questions. 🙂

I want to try to enter optometry school, not this upcoming fall, but the next. I am currently studying up for the OAT and plan on taking it within the next month. Today, I noticed that on the application to take the OAT, they ask for a list of up to five schools to send the results to without any additional fee. My question is, I haven't really chosen ALL the schools I want to apply to..... so is there any way I can send my scores to other schools later?

And just to verify (because I want to make sure I'm correct), to apply for next cycle (2014-2015 academic year), OptomCAS will probably open applications in June, right?

Anyway, sorry for all the questions. I'm feeling very nervous and jittery right now from stress.

 

[csandova]

Yes you can add schools later on. Just call the people that administer it (Prometric I think) and you can take care of that once you start applying. The application for your cycle will be available in late June or July.

 

[optoapp2012]

Hey, guys! There aren't very many pre-optometry students at my school so I've had to try to learn the ins and outs of the oat and application by myself. I've been stressing out and it would be great if someone could help answer some of my questions. 🙂

I want to try to enter optometry school, not this upcoming fall, but the next. I am currently studying up for the OAT and plan on taking it within the next month. Today, I noticed that on the application to take the OAT, they ask for a list of up to five schools to send the results to without any additional fee. My question is, I haven't really chosen ALL the schools I want to apply to..... so is there any way I can send my scores to other schools later?

And just to verify (because I want to make sure I'm correct), to apply for next cycle (2014-2015 academic year), OptomCAS will probably open applications in June, right?

Anyway, sorry for all the questions. I'm feeling very nervous and jittery right now from stress.

Whatever 5 schools you designate when signing up to take the OAT are free score reports. Then it costs for each score report you send later (even if you don't designate all 5 now, so you might as well just pick 5 at this point). I think it's $10/school later, but I'm not positive.

The next cycle does open around June or July (I think it's usually late June or early July).

 

[oo0Archangel0oo]

Thanks so much for the replies, csandova and optoapp2012!

One more quick question that I forgot to ask. If I ask for letters of recommendation from my professors and optometrist now, would I ask these people to write the letters and then send them into OptomCAS when it opens in June? These people wouldn't send the letters directly to the schools, would they? Sorry if this is an odd question. I am trying very hard to figure out how this whole process works!

 

[csandova]

Thanks so much for the replies, csandova and optoapp2012!

One more quick question that I forgot to ask. If I ask for letters of recommendation from my professors and optometrist now, would I ask these people to write the letters and then send them into OptomCAS when it opens in June? These people wouldn't send the letters directly to the schools, would they? Sorry if this is an odd question. I am trying very hard to figure out how this whole process works!

Your recommenders need to send the letters to optomcas. They can do it electronically or by mail. What you will do is put in their information into optomcas and then optomcas will contact them in order to get the letter from them. If I were you, I would start asking for letters, but tell them that your application doesn't open until June so they still have a few months to write it. Then in June when you are able to access optomcas, remind them again and let them know that you are putting their information into optomcas and that they will be contacted. If you start asking people now, you will at least have an idea of who is willing to write you letters.

 

[oo0Archangel0oo]

Alright. I got it. Thank you so much for your reply! So helpful! 😍