Realistically, should I apply?

[yabis]

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I'm a 5th year Biology/Psychology undergraduate. I have a 3.0 GPA and scored a 330 on the OAT.

I have 1.5 years as an Optometric Technician, 1.0 year as an EMT-B, regular clinical volunteer work (at a hospital) spanning two years, have been active in university pre-health organizations/clubs, but have very little (almost negligible) time put towards community service. I am also in an Auditory/Visual Neuroscience Lab and have been published.

Realistically, with the amount of credits I've accumulated, I won't be able to raise my GPA significantly. Retaking classes or taking new classes altogether, I might be able to bump my GPA up to a 3.10.

In all honesty, should I consider applying to optometry schools? If so, which schools would I have the best chance of being accepted to?

Thank you,

-Yabis

 

[GDR]

Your OAT is within margins for those granted interviews, and while the GPA is lower than average your experience adds up, not to mention being published is a good plus. It's well worth trying.

 

[DawgOD]

Go for it!👍

 

[bigdumy]

Definitely. Apply to schools whose curriculum weighs heavily on clinicals. Your experience in the field will really stand out to these schools... (PCO, NOVA, etc)

 

[Rinny]

Definitely apply! With your experience and OAT I think that you have a good chance of getting in somewhere. There have been several SDN members who have been accepted this application cycle with a GPA lower than yours.

 

[yabis]

I was particularly concerned with my low GPA and which schools to apply to. Thank you to everyone who posted. I feel a lot more confident about applying now!

 

[Mewcakes]

Hey, I have a 2.9, OAT 330 and 3 years as an optometric assistant and optician. I never worked in a lab nor was I published and even I got interviews. I guess I write a really good essay. I would say FOR SURE go for it. Though whether or not the strategy is to apply early or later is subjective. I applied mid October and got rejected from all the west coast schools. Then I dcecided to just bite the bullet and apply to some of the Schools in the midwest at the end of January through mid February and now I have interviews at SCO and UMSL (2 of the 3 additional schools I applied to).

So yes. Definitely I think you can and should apply. Just make sure you write really good essays! ;-)

 

[KHE]

I was particularly concerned with my low GPA and which schools to apply to. Thank you to everyone who posted. I feel a lot more confident about applying now!

If your GPA is low because you got hammered in your first year and you've done well ever since, I would apply. Every graduate school knows that people can get clobbered in their first year for any of a number of different reasons and few if any will hold a reduced GPA against you based on one bad semester or one bad year.

If your GPA has consistently been 3.0 every year, you'll have more trouble but in marginal cases, I would still encourage you to apply.

See, the thing is, you never want to reject yourself. Let THEM reject YOU. If you do not apply it's DEFINATELY "NO" so do it.