Please help: Questions for all optometrists or optometry students!

[preopstud]

Hello everyone...i've recently looked into optometry as a career. A little of it had to do with the fact that i know i can't handle 8+ yr of med school. Currently, I will be a junior this fall. I have a few questions for optometry students or optometrists:

1. If you could choose your career over again, would you still want to be in the optometry field? why or why not?
2. How was the difficulty range with 4 years of optometry school?
3. If you are an optometrist, after graduating from opt school, how was the job prospect? did u have to relocate? did you initially start with working with a retail chain like lenscrafter?
4. how is the stress level with optometry school in a scale of 0-10 with 0 being the least. how is the stress level with being an optometrist, in private practice or retail?
5. How long did you prepare for the OAT? If you did bad on the OAT, can you take it over again. I know with the DAT and MCAT it looks bad if you retake the test again, but what about the OAT?
6. How did you shadow optometrists in your area, i read that a lot of optometrists do not like students shadowing.

Because I will be a junior this year, what do any of you recommend me doing as initial steps, (keep in mind that i have already taken many of the pre-req classes for the schools that i have looked at)? Anything I should do in this summer.
Thanks for any and all advice!

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[IndianaOD]

An MD GP has basically the same length of schooling? Because you mistakenly think Optometry is the easy route, I do not respect you enough to answer your questions. We don't need anymore lazy ODs.

 

[eyestrain]

Well, I respect you enough to at least answer your questions, but agree with Indiana that you shouldn't go to optometry school just because you don't want to do med school. Bad idea.

Anyway...

1) I love optometry, so, yes, I'd do it over again.

2) This is really different for everyone. I'd say about a 3 out of 10.

3) I had a private practice offer that didn't really interest me. I started my own practice and do some fill-in work at a corporate place and a private office. If you want to do the corporate thing, you can pretty find a job anywhere, anytime because of the ridiculously high turnover (there's a reason for that).

4) Again, different for everyone, I'd say a 2 for school, a 10 for starting a practice, and a 0 working corporate.

5) Not very long

6) I called one and said, "hey, can I shadow you for a week?", he said yes.


I hope that helps, but please don't do optometry because you want to take the easy way out.

 

[Oculomotor]

preopstud,

I can only comment on the academic side of your questions as I am an optometry student. In either case here goes:

1) Optometry school is rigorous and just as difficult academically as Dental, Medicine, or Podiatry. You will have 20+ semester hours each semester and 8-10 classes depending on the program.

2) OPTOMETRY IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR MEDICINE. Do NOT go to a doctor of optometry program unless you WANT to become an optometrist. An optometrist is a PRIMARY EYE DOCTOR that is able to practice OPTOMETRY not medicine within the individual state's scope of practice laws (these vary from state to state.) One more thing---OPTOMETRY IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR MEDICINE!--You will be able to supply primary medical eye care (prescribe oral and topical drugs and do minor procedures like foreign body removal, irrigation, punctal plugs, etc....)----you will NOT be an eye surgeon in any way shape or form.

Here is a link to an AOA video that does a good job summarizing what I just said:

http://www.aoa.org/x5878.xml

3) Take the Kaplan review course for the OAT it is a solid review.

4) Respect the profession of optometry and do NOT say it is a shortcut
for you (or an easier route academically)----it is not. I know several
people who found this out the hard way and failed out.

 

[eyestrain]

1) Optometry school is rigorous and just as difficult academically as Dental, Medicine, or Podiatry.

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but where do you get this from? Why are you hellbent on convincing everyone that optometry school is "just as difficult" as med school? Have you been through each program?

 

[IndianaOD]

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but where do you get this from? Why are you hellbent on convincing everyone that optometry school is "just as difficult" as med school? Have you been through each program?

There is no way to prove med school is more difficult either. Yes you spend more time at the hospital waiting for some action.

Sorry, but every time some one says A, response B (above) always appears.

 

[hello07]

Here we go again. Oculomotor, when you become a physician, dentist, and a podiatrist you can then tell us that Optometry is just as difficult as Medical, Dental and Podiatry. where in the world are you getting this from?
Medical school in my opinion, is much rigorous than optometry school. what is your hang up with this everytime. Have you seriously been a two time or three time reject from med school? How many times did it take you to get into Optometry school? Hopefully once.

How do you run your mouth with all this crap? I'm so tired of listening to your garbage. PLEASE STOP!

 

[gochi]

Here we go again. Oculomotor, when you become a physician, dentist, and a podiatrist you can then tell us that Optometry is just as difficult as Medical, Dental and Podiatry. where in the world are you getting this from?
Medical school in my opinion, is much rigorous than optometry school. what is your hang up with this everytime. Have you seriously been a two time or three time reject from med school? How many times did it take you to get into Optometry school? Hopefully once.

How do you run your mouth with all this crap? I'm so tired of listening to your garbage. PLEASE STOP!

I think you have just answered your own question by saying "Medical school in my opinion, is much rigorous than optometry school."

 

[Jay12]

I don't really think Oculomotor meant anything by what he/she said............
saying that Optometry school is just asdifficult as Medicine, dentistry, podiatry, etc.... is just a generalization as to how difficult professional school is........I didn't see him/her saying anything about optometry school being MORE or EXACTLY THE SAME in difficulty..............So unless I got it completely wrong, let's give them them the benefit of the doubt.....

 

[sportvision]

eyestrain...i am just curious. What is the reason for the high turnovers for corporate?

 

[eyestrain]

There is no way to prove med school is more difficult either. Yes you spend more time at the hospital waiting for some action.

Sorry, but every time some one says A, response B (above) always appears.

Meh. I look at this argument this way: saying med school is harder than optometry school is like saying a BMW is better than my used Ford. I have never driven a BMW, but don't really have to to know that it's better than an old Ford. Common sense and logic applies there. Now, if I were arguing my used Ford was just as good as a new BMW, I better have something to back it up besides my opinion, because that statement would fly in the face of logic and reason.

 

[eyestrain]

eyestrain...i am just curious. What is the reason for the high turnovers for corporate?

Working every weekend, running a refraction mill, having to refer everything out because disease doesn't make the optical any money, having a high-school graduate boss who can boot you out with 30 days notice, etc etc.

 

[Oculomotor]

Hello 07,

Your insults are not appreciated and I don't take your jaded opinions seriously. You are the "med-school reject"---you are the one that "secretly laments the choice of being an optometrist" Let me make this simple enough for you to comprehend this....I go to an optometry school that has a DO program and a Dental program under the SAME roof. WE share SEVERAL classes with the Dental school and our class averages vary by a 2-4% on the exams! MY BEST friend is in the DO program. I did a YEAR of med-school classes a la carte before I went to optometry school (I have a frame of reference)..............you don't know what you are talking about. Maybe I am just a BETTER student than you were and to me they are equally hard. YOU INSULT EVERY OPTOMETRY STUDENT ON HERE. You need to stop kissing the proverbial rear of medicine, go back to med school (although according to your own admission you wouldn't cut it! ), stop insulting optometry students (REMEMBER YOU GOT SUSPENDED FROM SDN BEFORE), Hello 07, ALL PROFESSIONAL SCHOOL PROGRAMS ARE HARD.

Back to topic before "the malcontent" (hello 07) sidetracked me,

Optometry school is a difficult program and I reinforce my point that unless someone is committed to becoming an OD you are going to be VERY disappointed. I have seen this happen already. A student in optometry school back home who did a year of med school and just did not like it (she had a B average while in med school.) She withdrew (in good standing) and got into optometry school. I found her complaining when she was pulling an "all nighter" for an optics exam when she said," I didn't do this to study 8 hours a day like I did in med school. I am putting in almost as much time as I did before." She was surprised the amount of work she had to put in. She said that med school had more "busy work" while OD school was more "conceptually difficult"----she had trouble with optics, motility, and some other class.

Oh ya eyestrain, optometry is an Acura
Med school is a BMW
Both nice cars--- the BMW maybe has a little more cache than an Acura but not by much......

I'll drive the Acura with my head held up high........

I consider all professional school students equal, just as I consider all of the degrees of OD, MD, DO, DDS/DMD, and DPM equals.......

enough said, peace out my optometry brothas and sistas!

 

[futuredoctorOD]

I have to agree with oculomotor on this one. Hello 07 please go and apply for MD school so you can address your "feeling of inferiority"

As to the question by our preopstud, hmmmmmmmmmm.........

Optometry school has been challenging for me because I study my ?!!*! off and I have aged 5 years in 3. So please don't tell me (hello 07 or eyestrain---both feel inferior to MD's) that optometry school is easier then MD school because it is not.

I come back on here from time to time and the most negative and ridiculous comments made on here (a.k.a folks like hello 07) are made by OPTOMETRISTS! That's great Optometry is not perfect but hell it's a damn good deal for 8 years of education (4 undergrad + 4 professional school) and for all that you get:

1) to be an Eye Doctor
2) prescribe medicines
3) "treat most patients most of the time"

there is my take.......

Seeeeeeeeeeeeya

 

[eyestrain]

So please don't tell me (hello 07 or eyestrain---both feel inferior to MD's) that optometry school is easier then MD school because it is not.

1) I don't feel "inferior to MD's". I never have.
2) So based on your experience in optometry school, you can definitively say that optometry school is just as hard as med school? Brilliant.

 

[NormanRockwell]

eyestrain...i am just curious. What is the reason for the high turnovers for corporate?

I've read a lot about the corporate vs. private practice debate, but I have yet to have seen any numbers on how many people actually go into them. I know there are more optometrists practicing in private practices, but it seems like this trend is shifting towards corporate.

I guess what I'm looking for is the percentage of recent grads that are in private practice vs. corporate? Is it 50/50? 25/75?

 

[eyestrain]

I don't know. My guess would be 35% private, 50% corporate, and 15% other. That's a total guess based off people I knew.

 

[IndianaOD]

I don't know. My guess would be 35% private, 50% corporate, and 15% other. That's a total guess based off people I knew.

Per a recent VSP survey, over half of new grads are selling out to corporate.

 

[IndianaOD]

Meh. I look at this argument this way: saying med school is harder than optometry school is like saying a BMW is better than my used Ford. I have never driven a BMW, but don't really have to to know that it's better than an old Ford. Common sense and logic applies there. Now, if I were arguing my used Ford was just as good as a new BMW, I better have something to back it up besides my opinion, because that statement would fly in the face of logic and reason.

Are you serious?

When it comes to vision care, my Ford beats the crap out of almost any BMW. Heck Fords are much more reliable!

I'm feeling good, I just smoked an IQ test . A real one at that!

 

[eyestrain]

Per a recent VSP survey, over half of new grads are selling out to corporate.

Well, it was a good guess then. I wonder how VSP figures that out? How do they count people who do a little of both? I started a practice, but I also work some corporate on the side. Which boat would they put me in?