optomcas

[jc812]

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I get that this is a new program, but if someone has a better understanding of this, please elaborate.

The most difficult thing for me during applications are LORs. According to optomcas, committee letters will be considered ONE letter!!!!!!!!!

"Some pre-health advising offices compile academic/personal information and will also coordinate the collection of letters of recommendation in order to provide a "Commitee Letter" for pre-optometry students. Please note that OptomCAS considers committee letters and/or letters written by a committee as ONE letter. Some schools and colleges of optometry will not accept a committee letter at all while others will require a committee letter. Therefore, if you are submitting a committee letter, please submit three additional individual Letters of Recommendation. Please check the requirements of each individual program for the types of letters they will accept. OptomCAS will accept the name of a college pre-health profession advisor in lieu of the evaluator(s) on the recommendation form."

If schools accept committee letters, would I be able to submit that to the school directly?

 

[cloud99]

I think all LOR's must now go through OptomCAS. They will then be sent to schools once a week. Previously, many schools wanted one committee letter and one letter from an OD. If you can't get a committee letter, some school allow you to substitute 2-3 other LOR's (usually from science prof.) Only OAT scores are sent directly to each school.

OptomCAS will take a max of 4 LOR's. You list the name, address and e-mail of 4 people. You can choose different ones for different schools so it must be a max of 4 for each school you are applying to. OptomCAS then sends an electronic form to them to complete and return electronically.

So to be safe, maybe
1) committee letter
2) letter from an OD
3) a personal reference from an e.c. or volunteer service you are involved with
4) ??? maybe another OD or a science prof.

If no committee letter, maybe
1) Sci. prof. #1
2) Sci. prof. #2
3) OD
4) personal ref. or OD#2 or non-sci prof., depending on what the school asks for.

Remember, schools may not require 4 letters. That's just the max that OptomCAS will send to each school.

 

[Noemimi]

I think all LOR's must now go through OptomCAS. They will then be sent to schools once a week. Previously, many schools wanted one committee letter and one letter from an OD. If you can't get a committee letter, some school allow you to substitute 2-3 other LOR's (usually from science prof.) Only OAT scores are sent directly to each school.

OptomCAS will take a max of 4 LOR's. You list the name, address and e-mail of 4 people. You can choose different ones for different schools so it must be a max of 4 for each school you are applying to. OptomCAS then sends an electronic form to them to complete and return electronically.

So to be safe, maybe
1) committee letter
2) letter from an OD
3) a personal reference from an e.c. or volunteer service you are involved with
4) ??? maybe another OD or a science prof.

If no committee letter, maybe
1) Sci. prof. #1
2) Sci. prof. #2
3) OD
4) personal ref. or OD#2 or non-sci prof., depending on what the school asks for.

Remember, schools may not require 4 letters. That's just the max that OptomCAS will send to each school.

yea it basically allows for the schools to keep their separate requirements. Some schools require 3 LOR where others require a committee letter. Therefore, the school gets to pick if they want to see your 3 LOR or you committee letter based on what they require... it makes it a little easier for us since we only have to have things sent once

 

[luvely]

Just to add to this post, since I have some confusion about OptomCAS and LOR's as well~

I am applying for admission for the year 2011 and I realize the OptomCAS application for the year 2011 does not open up until July 15, 2010. However, I'm a bit confused because I made an account and opened up the application which was listed for the 2010 year, which I know I'm too late for.
So the application I opened up, would it still count towards the 2011 year?

On that note, I've already asked a professor to write me a letter of recommendation and she said yes, but I'm confused as to what to tell her. Can I just enter her email into the current application, or will I have to wait until July 15, 2010 to enter her email when OptomCAS opens for 2011 for her to fill out the letter of recommendation.

I'm also confused about the committee letter, because so far only one of the schools I'm applying to: SUNY Optometry requires a committee letter and my school does in have such a committee to write a letter.

I know that in order for the committe letter to be written at all, you have to submit like 3 letters of recommendation that they compile for you and then write a letter of their own.

But if OptomCAS only counts the committee letter as ONE letter, can the 3 available slots slots left (i know the max is 4) still be the individual letters of recommendation that the committee used to compile their letter in the first place?

Am I making sense? 😕

So basically I would have to ask my recommenders to send a paper file to my schools committee office and when the OptomCAS application for 2011 opens, I would enter their contact info in and then they would be emailed the form to fill in the letter of recommendation? (or can I just enter their emails for the application on the website?)

This is all in reference to the info on OptomCAS shown below:

"Some pre-health advising offices compile academic/personal information and will also coordinate the collection of letters of recommendation in order to provide a "Commitee Letter" for pre-optometry students. Please note that OptomCAS considers committee letters and/or letters written by a committee as ONE letter. Some schools and colleges of optometry will not accept a committee letter at all while others will require a committee letter. Therefore, if you are submitting a committee letter, please submit three additional individual Letters of Recommendation. Please check the requirements of each individual program for the types of letters they will accept. OptomCAS will accept the name of a college pre-health profession advisor in lieu of the evaluator(s) on the recommendation form."


I'm sorry if this post is so long winded! I really am looking for concise answers to the 3 questions I mentioned just because I'm already grateful that my professor agreed to taking the time to write a letter, I'm going to be meeting her soon and I want to know I'm telling her the right info!

Thanks so much for reading this looong post! 🙁

 

[socal2014]

what is a committee letter guys? lol

 

[chewbacca4321]

Just to add to this post, since I have some confusion about OptomCAS and LOR's as well~

I am applying for admission for the year 2011 and I realize the OptomCAS application for the year 2011 does not open up until July 15, 2010. However, I'm a bit confused because I made an account and opened up the application which was listed for the 2010 year, which I know I'm too late for.
So the application I opened up, would it still count towards the 2011 year?

On that note, I've already asked a professor to write me a letter of recommendation and she said yes, but I'm confused as to what to tell her. Can I just enter her email into the current application, or will I have to wait until July 15, 2010 to enter her email when OptomCAS opens for 2011 for her to fill out the letter of recommendation.

I'm also confused about the committee letter, because so far only one of the schools I'm applying to: SUNY Optometry requires a committee letter and my school does in have such a committee to write a letter.

I know that in order for the committe letter to be written at all, you have to submit like 3 letters of recommendation that they compile for you and then write a letter of their own.

But if OptomCAS only counts the committee letter as ONE letter, can the 3 available slots slots left (i know the max is 4) still be the individual letters of recommendation that the committee used to compile their letter in the first place?

Am I making sense? 😕

So basically I would have to ask my recommenders to send a paper file to my schools committee office and when the OptomCAS application for 2011 opens, I would enter their contact info in and then they would be emailed the form to fill in the letter of recommendation? (or can I just enter their emails for the application on the website?)

This is all in reference to the info on OptomCAS shown below:

"Some pre-health advising offices compile academic/personal information and will also coordinate the collection of letters of recommendation in order to provide a "Commitee Letter" for pre-optometry students. Please note that OptomCAS considers committee letters and/or letters written by a committee as ONE letter. Some schools and colleges of optometry will not accept a committee letter at all while others will require a committee letter. Therefore, if you are submitting a committee letter, please submit three additional individual Letters of Recommendation. Please check the requirements of each individual program for the types of letters they will accept. OptomCAS will accept the name of a college pre-health profession advisor in lieu of the evaluator(s) on the recommendation form."


I'm sorry if this post is so long winded! I really am looking for concise answers to the 3 questions I mentioned just because I'm already grateful that my professor agreed to taking the time to write a letter, I'm going to be meeting her soon and I want to know I'm telling her the right info!

Thanks so much for reading this looong post! 🙁

Because the application opens on July 15th for the next round of applications, the account you made will most likely not work. I would make it on or after July 15th. If you are doubtful, I would call Optomcas and ask, which would also clear up questions about the recommendation. I believe you have to wait to enter in the names until the 15th of July, but you can go ahead and ask her to prepare your letter.

As for the committee letter, if you school doesn't write them, then don't worry about it. Just send in your letters as you would and explain to the schools that require them that such a committee doesn't exist. A committee letter, aka the composite letter, is a letter that a committee writes, based off the letters of your recommenders. At my school, you don't necessarily know the composite letter writer, but they interview you to get to know you, and then write a letter based of that as well as your other recommendations. This is supposed to evaluate you as a student in comparison to your other classmates. Schools who have a committee typically have a long-standing tradition of writing such letters so that the schools receiving them can trust the letters when they say, for example, that you are the best student in the graduating class. I hope that wasn't too confusing.

If you do decide to submit a letter and need 4, I would submit the committee letter, as well as the additional three letters (though I believe they are already supposed to be attached to the committee letter). Or if you have other professors/optometrists you wanted to submit recommendations from, you can do that as well. I submitted my composite letter as well as two other letters that contributed to by composite letters and my optometrist.

Hope that helps. If that was confusing or you want clarification, feel free to PM me.

 

[luvely]

thank you for replying! thank you for the offer, i PMed you my question 😳

 

[Mewcakes]

I know for a fact that you will have to restart your entire application when the 2011-2012 one opens. I asked OptomCAS because I wanted to see if I would have to re-submit my LORs if I did a second application cycle. They told me that I would have to start from scratch. :-(

 

[luvely]

aw man that sucks to hear =/

i really hope i don't have to apply a second time around but at this point i dunno, i keep putting off studying for the oat's

and thanks for the reply 🙂

 

[Mewcakes]

Yeah. I think we all hope and pray that we all get in the first time around, but we always have to prepare for the worst. :-(. I would be so embarrassed to ask my letter writers to write me a letter again.

ya it's really tough to get motivated to study, I know. But definitly dont put it off, especially if it's your first time taking it. Otherwise you might have to waste 3 months waiting for exam eligibility again and learning from your previous mistake.

Buuuut I'm not one to preach, I totally waited until 2-3 weeks before the exam both times. Though I wish I hadn't. I still did okay though. 😛

 

[luvely]

o man.. i would need a LOT more time than a few weeks!! lol 😱

but definitely you reminded me about the THREE months in between a second try for the OATs, something at this point i definitely cannot afford to do!!

I was aiming for the end of July or early to mid-August to take the OAT's but now I realize I will have to wait till as late as possible to take it the first and hopefully ONLY time since I am already applying a year later since I've decided to take a year off inbetween to work.

ACKKK!!! okies thanks and congrats on doing well your OATs the first time~ 😎

 

[socal2014]

what is a committee letter guys? lol

well..

 

[Mewcakes]

It's uhm...like a letter written by your undergraduate like...health sciences committee. A lot of schools don't offer those anymore though. But what I THINK it is, and I believe it might have been explained further up, is a letter written by "the committee" about you. They base this letter off of letters written by others for you. Llike if you had a letters service and you had like...letters from professors and ODs and you sent it to the letters service, the committee will read them and write a "committee letter" based on the good recommendation from your other letter writers.

Then again I could be completely wrong. We didn't have a committee so I'm totally guessing. Such is the nature of a mewcake.

 

[319671]

**bump

i have
1) 1 non-sci
2 ) 1 sci
3) 1 OD
4) 1 extracurric

I think all LOR's must now go through OptomCAS. They will then be sent to schools once a week. Previously, many schools wanted one committee letter and one letter from an OD. If you can't get a committee letter, some school allow you to substitute 2-3 other LOR's (usually from science prof.) Only OAT scores are sent directly to each school.

OptomCAS will take a max of 4 LOR's. You list the name, address and e-mail of 4 people. You can choose different ones for different schools so it must be a max of 4 for each school you are applying to. OptomCAS then sends an electronic form to them to complete and return electronically.

So to be safe, maybe
1) committee letter
2) letter from an OD
3) a personal reference from an e.c. or volunteer service you are involved with
4) ??? maybe another OD or a science prof.

If no committee letter, maybe
1) Sci. prof. #1
2) Sci. prof. #2
3) OD
4) personal ref. or OD#2 or non-sci prof., depending on what the school asks for.

Remember, schools may not require 4 letters. That's just the max that OptomCAS will send to each school.

 

[shannon804]

**bump

i have
1) 1 non-sci
2 ) 1 sci
3) 1 OD
4) 1 extracurric

Now I am confused. Am I REQUIRED to have three leters in the system? For example, if the schools I am applying to ask for only a committee letter and an OD letter, do I have to get another one to fill up that third spot or will I be able to leave that blank?

 

[thecgrblue]

Now I am confused. Am I REQUIRED to have three leters in the system? For example, if the schools I am applying to ask for only a committee letter and an OD letter, do I have to get another one to fill up that third spot or will I be able to leave that blank?

NOPE! You need to have as many letters in the system as a school wants from you. I think optomCAS will allow you to have 4 slots total. optomCAS has no requirements in and of itself...it is only the facilitator.