optometry school time management?

[AVkidd]

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Hey,

I'm kinda worried about Opt school. Ive heard people going home from school and studying until they sleep. I wonder if this is what it is really like. Is there no free time? Just curious, but do people get fat in Opt school? I could imagine students studying so much that they have no time to stay active.

 

[cpw]

I used to study at the gym to wait out rush hour traffic. Bring your notes and study on the recumbent bike. Or, some students would tape lectures and listen to them on ipods while they ran on the treadmill. (that would never work for me, I'm not good at audio learning)

It's VERY easy to gain wait in OD school. You're on your butt studying a lot (whilst snacking) and you really have to just force yourself to make time to work out. It became much easier at UHCO after they built the enormous campus gym right next door to our building.

 

[eyestrain]

Personally, I found that i had quite a bit of free time most days. There were the occasional weeks when tests would stack up where I would have to study quite a bit, but I never had any problem finding time to work out. I think the best way to know how it will be for you is to analyze how much time you spend studying and doing school work in undergrad. If you're able to do well in undergrad without working your ass off, you'll probably have a fair amount of free time in optometry school. But if you're studying all the time as an undergrad, you'll be doing the same, and probaby more, in optometry school.

 

[beaneek]

This may not be the best advice, but what I do is usually skip most classes, because at my school all of the lecture notes are online and the professors just read word for word from the notes. So instead of going to class from 8-5 every day, I go to a coffee shop from about 8-1 and read thru ALL the stuff that is covered that day and MEMORIZE it too so, come the day before the test, I really don't have too much to worry about, while everyone else in my class is stressing out and has to cram. I have done this for all 3 yrs of school, and have gotten all As and Bs so far. This learning style may not work for everyone, but it does for me, because I do better reading the material on my own and teaching myself the stuff (plus, when I'm class, half the time I don't pay attention anyways). My advice is to find the best method that works for you for learning the material, and stick with it! If you have good time management and are an efficient studier, you should have plenty of time to do whatever it is you need to do outside of school (i.e. work out, shopping, etc).

 

[swiftiii]

I got nothing but time... sometimes I want to kill myself. I had planned on getting a job for something to do, but instead I made the honor roll. Yet, I wasn't studying all the time and I certainly could have had a job too. People who say they don't have any time may just need to study more in order to learn, or they practice really, really poor time management, so whether or not that is a problem for you, I cannot say. As for working out, you definitely should. Whether you can get away during a break, or when you get off of school when you need a break, it's something that can be fit in with ease. The only reason I gained weight is because I decided wine would help me get thought studying for finals!

Is Nova the only school who isn't actually in class most of the day? Some days of the week, I have the entire time off. I'd be curious to know why the other schools keep their students so busy with.

 

[sniklegem]

The only reason I gained weight is because I decided wine would help me get thought studying for finals!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA 😆

That's awesome!

 

[xenopsyllus]

Your free time will depend on the semester, your study habits, and how well you budget your time. I made the choice this semester to swap exercise time for sleep and sanity-preserving time with non-optometry friends, but I also put on ten pounds.

Is Nova the only school who isn't actually in class most of the day? Some days of the week, I have the entire time off. I'd be curious to know why the other schools keep their students so busy with.

At PUCO, we usually have one or two afternoons free each week, though that depends on what the lab load is like for the semester.

 

[alferec]

Overall, free time is there but time management is key. I always make time for friends, family, and sleep because those factors are all important for my ability to study. Oh and also some people have more free time because they put studying on a lower priority e.g. those who like to go out a lot and can settle for a B (or even a C) in all their classes vs. those who are aiming to be 4.0 students.