Questions from a prospective optometry student

[bballa99]

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Hello, I'm a undergrad university student from Canada considering going to an optometry school in the states.

As it stands right now my GPA is about 2.7 but I should be able to get it up to 3.25+ by April 2012, will that be sufficient? I have a lot of volunteer work with the YMCA, and I've had several health related jobs but none optometry-related.

If I finish all prereq's for most optometry schools by april 2012 will I be able to apply for the fall 2012 admissions at most optometry schools?

If I do apply for the fall 2012 admissions, when should I take the OAT? Would it be okay to take it now once just to see how it goes then retake it a second time? What do admissions think about that? Do they average it or take the highest score or...?

I'm also not familiar with optomCAS.. how do I get my grades to show up? Who do I send my transcrips to? Oh and what are 'rolling admissions' ?

Thanks guys! I've read most of the stickies but some things still don't make sense to me 😛

 

[bballa99]

Bump

 

[jc328]

April 2012 is a bit late to submit your application for the fall 2012 admission, I believe it passes most school's deadline already. It would be better if you send in your application in earlier time ~winter 2011. You also need to shadow optometrists to gain some experience in this field. I believe optomcas have a section just for your optometric experience, and this question is often brought up during the interview.

You can apply to schools without completing the pre-reqs, but make sure you finish them before your admission of optometry school.

You can take the OAT anytime you want, but I would take it when I feel ready. Each school has different deadline to submit the OAT, you might want to check each school's requirement. SUNY for example: "OATs written after February 28, 2012 will not be accepted." I personally would not take it just for the "experience" because it is a costly and exhausting process. Since I only took it once, I am not sure how would the schools judge multiple OAT scores.

You send all your transcripts to optomcas, and they will verify your grades, it takes ~1 to 2 weeks of process time in my experience. Rolling admission means school continues taking students through out the application cycle until their spots are filled. Hence applying early has better chance of getting in. If you want to apply for the fall 2012 admission, the application cycle already started, better hurry up to get everything in order. Good luck!