I was wondering how helpful it would be to conduct voluntary research in the sciences in efforts to get admitted to optometry school? Is it an important/beneficial factor if your volunteer stuff is decent?
I don't think it's a requirement or anything, but it definitely helps to make you stand out. You can write about it in your personal statement, mention it in your interviews, etc. It just makes you more well-rounded.
yeah i figured so. i'm thinking about doing research in marine/organismal bio, which is totally different from any kind of health-professional type of research...this is okay right? I heard research is research and schools like the idea of it, not exactly the subject- is this true? And also does it matter if you are doing research for course credit or if it's on a voluntary basis? which would be better?
I don't really think it matters what you research in, but doing research would definitely be beneficial for your application - especially for those research-based schools (SUNY, Ohio State, Berkeley)...
It can definitely look good on an application, but it is also definitely not a necessity (even for the research schools). It's about being well-rounded over all. It's really up to you!
Do the one that you get the most learning experience out of or the one you find the most interesting. If you do research and get an interview for optometry school, you will most likely be asked about what you did/learned through that research so you want a research experience that you can learn a lot from/have enough information to talk about.
It's not going to make up for a low GPA or low OAT scores. Schools aren't going to be impressed by research unless it is really high quality and you are a strong applicant anyway.
Despite some of the stuff you read on this forum, its the GPA and OATs that get you the interview.
Research really isn't that important in admitting into the OD program. It can help and give you something to talk about during your interview, but if you're interested in strictly clinician work, probably not important. If you're applying for a combined degree, you want to have the experience.
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