bigheadgirl said:
when repeating classes, do we get to use the new grades to calculate our GPA or is it a combination of old and repeated grades? To jennyw, I think you're very mean and rude.
I'm sorry you feel that way, hon. I'm just trying to be honest with you.
Here is somethingt that I posted on an old thread that I dug up. Perhaps this will help you.
I was on the admissions commitee of an east coast school for 3 years, and I'll try to give you some insights into what I saw:
Obviously, GPA matters. The number of applications to optometry schools is not in the thousands, so each application DID get a look. But if the GPA was painfully low, then the likelihood of the application getting more than a passing glance was low UNLESS:
1: The student was from a well known school
2: The student was in a difficult academic program that concentrated heavily on the sciences. Low GPA applications with excessive elective courses or with majors that did not have a reputation for being difficult were usually flushed quickly. (read: "communications" majors with GPAs of 2.6 needn't bother.)
OAT scores probably mattered more than GPA since it's the one thing that all applicants have in common. If you don't score above 300, you should probably consider retaking it, even if your GPA is high.
Recommendation letters from people other than ODs mattered little. Most of them were generic, with the students name just being inserted into a form letter. I recal that often times male pronouns were scattered through recommendation letters for female candidates and vice versa. What was always helpful was a letter from an OD who graduated from that school.
Work experience in the field mattered a lot, even if you were the receptionist at a lenscrafters. Research didn't matter unless you were applying to the PhD program.
The personal statement mattered a lot, but only if it reflected on why one wanted to be an optometrist, and gave a description as to the steps one took to reach that decision. No one cared about your brother who was killed in a car accident, or the fact that you played piano every week for the people at the old folks home.
Sometimes there is also plain luck involved. I recall that one girl had an application with a modest GPA and only slightly above average OAT scores. However, in her application she mentioned that she had been in girl scouts all through high school and had attained her gold award, which is the girl scout equivalent of an eagle scout. (I only made my silver award. lol) Well, one of the other woman on the committee was ALSO a gold award recipient 15 years prior, and fought hard for this applicant, so she was admitted. (And actually was one of the top performing members of her class the following year.)
One year, it was down to the final spot. It was narrowed down to two applicants that were virtually identical. No one could decide. Flipping a coin was ACTUALLY CONSIDERED! All of a sudden, the DEAN of admissions leaned forward and said "Wait a minute! Where is this one from?" Turns out the applicant was from a small town in southwestern Wisconsin, and the Dean grew up in the town 10 miles over. Guess which applicant was admitted?
One thing that I noticed right away was that there was NO quota whatsoever wrt race, location, or gender. As the process went along, at no time did anyone say "we have too many women, or not enough minorities" or anything like that. So white men, take comfort.
So, the best advice I can give you all is to do the best you can, and try to have ONE thing that makes your application stand out.
Jenny
