Questions regarding the requirement for admission

[Xenni]

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My friend (Pre-dental) recommend me to come here for my questions 🙂, so this is my first post here.

I completed my B.Sc (Honors) in Biochemistry back in 2010, with a cGPA of 3.34. Now I am currently doing my M.Sc in Cell and Developmental Biology and hopefully finish by the end of this year.

Some questions I have for the admission for the optometry schools in both US / Canada:

a) I am looking at the past average GPA for students entering Optometry, and it *seems* like my undergrad cGPA passed some of the US school's requirement. What I am wondering is if anyone know the average GPA requirement for students entering the two Canadian university?

b) I know that some universities (Like Waterloo) asks student to take full course load (five courses per four-month term) during their degree. For me, I only able to do full course load for my first two years, so I am wondering how will this affect my application?

c) I took some (graduate) courses while I was doing my M.Sc. Will those also count toward my GPA requirement (I did a lot better in grad school than when I was in undergrad). Also, I am wondering will having an M.Sc be helpful in my application in any ways? Since most sites didn't really talk about this aspect.

Thank you!

 

[Shaayness]

My friend (Pre-dental) recommend me to come here for my questions 🙂, so this is my first post here.

I completed my B.Sc (Honors) in Biochemistry back in 2010, with a cGPA of 3.34. Now I am currently doing my M.Sc in Cell and Developmental Biology and hopefully finish by the end of this year.

Some questions I have for the admission for the optometry schools in both US / Canada:

a) I am looking at the past average GPA for students entering Optometry, and it *seems* like my undergrad cGPA passed some of the US school's requirement. What I am wondering is if anyone know the average GPA requirement for students entering the two Canadian university?

b) I know that some universities (Like Waterloo) asks student to take full course load (five courses per four-month term) during their degree. For me, I only able to do full course load for my first two years, so I am wondering how will this affect my application?

c) I took some (graduate) courses while I was doing my M.Sc. Will those also count toward my GPA requirement (I did a lot better in grad school than when I was in undergrad). Also, I am wondering will having an M.Sc be helpful in my application in any ways? Since most sites didn't really talk about this aspect.

Thank you!

Hey there,

This may or may not be helpful, but I'll tell you what I know. I'm not sure about the french school, but I *think* the average GPA for Waterloo was between 80 and 90% or so, and the average OAT score was 370.

They really stress the importance of taking a full 5 courses every semester (I had a couple light semesters myself), but I read somewhere that if you have taken courses in the summer term, you don't have to worry as much about the lighter fall/winter loads. I would double check, because there seems to be some conflicting information on their website.

I'm not sure about your graduate GPA, but you could always email to ask them! They're pretty good at responding quickly.

Good luck!

 

[csandova]

Having a graduate degree can only help you. It shows the you've reached another level of professionalism, that you've already made the transition between undergrad and graduate and that you can handle the rigorous coursework. It makes you unique, something that you have that not many other applicants do. I myself have a master's too and I feel it has really helped me out in my application process. So far I've had 7 interview invites (I've had to turn some down), I've been to 2 interviews, been accepted to both schools, and have 2 more interviews coming up.

 

[Xenni]

Thanks for the replies! I am definately going to try to apply soon....having to write thesis, prepare defense, study OAT, and planning to retake courses are quite demanding in the last few weeks...

I also have another question, does optometry school actually limit the amount of foreign students that they accept? This would kind of affect where I should be applying to, since I am from BC, Canada.I know they do it for some medical schools in Canada, but not sure about the other schools.