OptomCAS School Decisions

[tresrisque]

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Hey guys!

If you get accepted to a school, does the School Decisions tab update before you pay your deposit? Or does the school notify you first?

Just wondering.

Thanks! 🙂

 

[DawgOD]

nope..

I don't think they do it b/c other schools MAY be able to view it..

 

[Mewcakes]

I was wondering what that tab was for...apparently nothing. huh. 😛

 

[lnh]

Yes, pointless tab as far as I've seen.

tresrisque, I just saw you accepted your seat at NSUOCO. That is awesome. Congrats and good luck with your final semester! I hope you stay active on the forums. It's such a small class size, so we don't hear much about it. Looking forward to your input!

 

[tresrisque]

Thanks, lnh! I am really happy! I wish you luck with acceptance as well :]

You are definitely right about NSUOCO having a small class size. I don't see many people (if any at all) from NSUOCO posting here. I'm sure that there will be future applicants who would want to know about the campus, town, curriculum, application process, etc. so I'll be active in the forums!

And to anyone else who'd like to know, the Schools Decisions Tab still hasn't updated 😛

 

[heatherm]

I'm part of that small NSUCO class size too! I'm looking forward to beginning school in August and meeting everyone!!

 

[Commando303]

nope..

I don't think they do it b/c other schools MAY be able to view it..

I don't know how other schools would be able to view your OptomCAS account (without hacking it...), or why they'd even want to.

Overall, OptomCAS, in my opinion, isn't a great system, especially considering many schools still have you fill out a redundant supplemental application, for which you must pay ~$50.00 (N.E.C.O. doesn't even bother with an additional form; they just demand $45.00 to process what you submitted via OptomCAS...).

 

[JennieJoy]

(N.E.C.O. doesn't even bother with an additional form; they just demand $45.00 to process what you submitted via OptomCAS...).

the three extra questions they ask you to fill out on the optomCAS website is the supplemental application.

 

[Commando303]

the three extra questions they ask you to fill out on the optomCAS website is the supplemental application.

Yeah, but the $45.00 they charge, thereafter, are simply for general "application-processing" — it's just extra money they charge because they can...

 

[lnh]

Aww c'mon, give them a break. The admissions committee people need to make a living too. $45 won't break the bank, and optometry school is pretty cheap to apply to compared to other similar fields. Hell, some of the adcoms have been so phenomenal I'd have gladly tipped them the $45 if that was possible. 😀 After the app cycle of course. Wouldn't want to be accused of bribery, now. 😉

 

[opto2be]

The admissions committee people need to make a living too. $45 won't break the bank,

But that's why we pay tuition.

and optometry school is pretty cheap to apply to compared to other similar fields.

Cheap? 😱 Wow. 150-200K in loans is not cheap for most of us. It's similar to the amount students pay for other health professional schools, not really any cheaper. Ideally, the tuition for optometry school should be lower than that of other health professions because, as the optometrists and others have mentioned on this forum, the income potential for ODs is generally much less than that of dentists and MDs.

 

[Commando303]

Aww c'mon, give them a break. The admissions committee people need to make a living too. $45 won't break the bank, and optometry school is pretty cheap to apply to compared to other similar fields. Hell, some of the adcoms have been so phenomenal I'd have gladly tipped them the $45 if that was possible. 😀 After the app cycle of course. Wouldn't want to be accused of bribery, now. 😉

Forgive me, but you sound like a shill. Hell, maybe colleges could charge $100.00, instead — it's only a little more than twice what they've settled on, which is an amount with which you seem very comfortable. Spin it however you want ("weed outing" uninterested applicants, etc.), but I feel this habit of charging fees on top of fees is just greed — schools do it because they can.

Also, which "similar fields" are you looking into? Taking P.C.O. as an example, the cost of just tuition/fees, over four years, comes to more than $120,000. This is not an outlier: only a few schools of optometry are significantly cheaper. Are the med./dental colleges you've checked out outrageously more costly?

If you find all this to be "pretty cheap" — and if you're glad to pay the supplemental-application charges and those simply for "processing," or you consider the amounts satisfactory "tips" for people's having done their jobs properly — good for you. For many of us, it's more money to try to scrape together from pieces of paycheques that haven't gone to rent/food/etc.

 

[lnh]

Cheap to apply to. I believe AMCAS, PharmCAS, and the service they use for dental school all cost more than OptomCAS, and many also have supplementals. Again, cheap was a relative term. I'll clarify that next time.

Ouch, a shill? I guess I can sorta see how. I'll give you that one.

Sorry if I hit a nerve. That was just my lighthearted attempt to put a positive spin on something we have no control over. I've done freelancing, and I've worked retail, so I know how it feels to get paid purely for my services. So when it comes to my turn to pay up, it always makes me feel better if I know that money doesn't go to a greedy school, but it is going to a real person who also has bills/rent/family/etc. Feels better than complaining, anyway. If this mindset doesn't work for you, then again, very sorry. I don't mind if you don't agree with me.

 

[Commando303]

Cheap to apply to. I believe AMCAS, PharmCAS, and the service they use for dental school all cost more than OptomCAS, and many also have supplementals. Again, cheap was a relative term. I'll clarify that next time.

Ouch, a shill? I guess I can sorta see how. I'll give you that one.

Sorry if I hit a nerve. That was just my lighthearted attempt to put a positive spin on something we have no control over. I've done freelancing, and I've worked retail, so I know how it feels to get paid purely for my services. So when it comes to my turn to pay up, it always makes me feel better if I know that money doesn't go to a greedy school, but it is going to a real person who also has bills/rent/family/etc. Feels better than complaining, anyway. If this mindset doesn't work for you, then again, very sorry. I don't mind if you don't agree with me.

Fine, to "apply to": $125.00 to apply to one, plus $45.00 for each additional school. Then, many of the colleges charge ~$50.00 fees, themselves. Applying to three schools easily can cost more than $350.00.

I've not researched how much the dental-school application-process tends to cost, so I'll accept optometry isn't more expensive. In my opinion, though, that doesn't really excuse the additional fees. Most of the supplemental apps. I've seen simply ask for a restatement of information clearly provided to OptomCAS (which classes have you taken? Why do you want to be an optometrist? Etc.). Is this necessary? Is it even helpful to admissions committees?

To my mind, charges of this kind are reprehensible, and, ultimately, they stem just from greed. I don't care if the college will use the additional money to construct a new wing, pay the janitor more, hire new teachers, send a monkey to Saturn — the funds are being acquired in a shady way, and that's not all right.

Yes, I accept your disagreeing with me, as well...

 

[lilxkgrli]

I was hoping someone could tell me a little about how their interview at NSUOCO went. Not that many people apply there so its hard to find any information about that school. Thanks in advance!

 

[dollkiss]

I was hoping someone could tell me a little about how their interview at NSUOCO went. Not that many people apply there so its hard to find any information about that school. Thanks in advance!

I interviewed there last year, so I don't know if they have the same individuals conducting the interviews. My interview didn't go so well. Two of the three interviewers (It was a one-on-one interview with three different people) kept trying to get me to completely bash commercial Optometrists. I was currently working in a practice in a commercial setting, so I could speak only from what I witnessed first hand there, and I never experienced any of the negativities that they were trying to get to say happened in that kind of setting. Neither of the interviewers would back down as I was trying to politely say that I didn't see any of the things that they mentioned; they actually seemed upset that I didn't bash commercial optometry. Again this was last year so things may have changed.

Also, they had me do an essay there on the spot. That was a little scary as I had no time to prepare for it.

I did like that the school was very small and the town was also very small. Very rural setting, which I liked.