Optometry in the US

[Anna33]

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I'm a 3rd year student at UofT with an 82-83% averaeg (3.62 gpa). If I were to apply to the States, how does the gpa/mark conversion work? Do they have a different gpa system from Canada? Thanks!

 

[Aristen]

I'm a 3rd year student at UofT with an 82-83% averaeg (3.62 gpa). If I were to apply to the States, how does the gpa/mark conversion work? Do they have a different gpa system from Canada? Thanks!

They standardize everyone's GPA-- American and Canadian. This helped me when I was applying: https://portal.optomcas.org/applicants2013/faq/gpas.shtml

I applied this year from a Canadian school and my GPA didn't change at all.

 

[Anna33]

@Aristen thank you, though it's a little confusing!! If you don't mind me asking, which Canadian school do you go to? Also, what do you think my chances are of getting in?? Thankss!

 

[easyyyuser]

Although OptomCAS standardizes GPA, they give Canadians a small bump. I'm not sure by how much, but I can pretty much confirm it. When I did the interview the admissions straight up said "We understand that the Canadian grading system is different". We're probably compared to other Canadians though.

 

[Anna33]

Although OptomCAS standardizes GPA, they give Canadians a small bump. I'm not sure by how much, but I can pretty much confirm it. When I did the interview the admissions straight up said "We understand that the Canadian grading system is different". We're probably compared to other Canadians though.

Ohh okk, thanks for the feedback! Also, if you don't mind me asking did you get accepted to optometry in the States and what was your gpa when you applied?

 

[joeytab]

OptomCAS and UofT actually has the same grade conversion from a numerical mark to a letter grade scale. I'm from UofT as well and my GPA more or less stayed the same (I was in two different departments so I had two separate GPAs within UofT). Though I'm not sure if OptomCAS converted 85-89% as a 3.9 or 4.0 because OptomCAS only showed me a final overall GPA after transcript entry

 

[easyyyuser]

Ohh okk, thanks for the feedback! Also, if you don't mind me asking did you get accepted to optometry in the States and what was your gpa when you applied?

Yes I was accepted to all the schools I applied for. My gpa was 3.3, kinda low but compensated with a 380AA OAT score. If I were you I wouldn't worry about your current gpa, it is quite competitive even if you're applying to Canada (Waterloo). Just keep it where it is and begin focusing on other parts of your application (interviews, job shadowing, learning about optometry, etc). I think in the States they look into those other things more than they do in Canada.