School vs. Practice Location

[Visualizer]

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I was wondering if anyone had information on school vs. location of practice. I have been lucky enough to be accepted to both SCCO and UCBSO for the class of 2015, but I am having a lot of trouble deciding which school I want to attend. There are many other factors that are leading me one way or the other, but those have really balanced out and left me in the middle...

So now I am wondering, if I want to end up practicing in Southern California, is it better to go to SCCO? and basically why or why not?

 

[socal2014]

You don't want to be practicing in California.

It is, financially, the worst place for an OD to work. Unless, you find a niche practice....but those are hard to come by.

Try Kentucky!

 

[blackhole2]

Congratulations on your acceptances! Southern California is more than saturated with optometrists so it will probably be difficult for you to find full-time work if you decide to remain there after graduating. If you're really torn between SCCO UCBSO I'd say go with the cheaper one.

 

[pootz]

I'm debating between the two as well and I'd like to hear your pros/cons for each.

one thing that I can't get over about UCBSO is the majorly outdated facilities

 

[thecgrblue]

I was wondering if anyone had information on school vs. location of practice. I have been lucky enough to be accepted to both SCCO and UCBSO for the class of 2015, but I am having a lot of trouble deciding which school I want to attend. There are many other factors that are leading me one way or the other, but those have really balanced out and left me in the middle...

So now I am wondering, if I want to end up practicing in Southern California, is it better to go to SCCO? and basically why or why not?

It doesn't matter at all. Go to the school that gives you what you want.

 

[Visualizer]

Congratulations on your acceptances! Southern California is more than saturated with optometrists so it will probably be difficult for you to find full-time work if you decide to remain there after graduating. If you're really torn between SCCO UCBSO I'd say go with the cheaper one.

Thanks!

I calculated the costs for both (minus living expense) and they came out to be about equal because I will be an out of state student for the first year at Cal. My parents own a house in Irvine, which I would live in if I went to SCCO, so that will save on rent, but I would need a car. All in all, I think that finances work out to be about equal.

In terms of Pros/Cons:

SCCO: I love the nice campus and clinic. Very modern and they have a great clinical program. I really like southern California(the beach, the weather, etc), the location is great, and a lot of my family and friends are in southern California. However, I feel like I would miss the big university feel too much (there's no school athletics, no rec center, no intramural sports, and you can't really meet anyone outside of optometry). Another down side would be the commute that I would need to make every day (about 30 minutes one way) from Irvine to Fullerton. I know I don't have to live in Irvine, but it would be the financially responsible thing to do and is the reason why the cost, compared to Cal, would be roughly the same.

Cal: Essentially the negative for going to SCCO is the positive here (big university and living close to campus). I don't have many friends or family in northern California, I don't like northern California as much as southern, and the main Cal campus is nice, but the clinic and pre-clinic aren't so great when compared to SCCO.

I have heard from some optometrists that scco prepares you better to get into practice, while Berkeley prepares you better if you were heading towards academia or research (but this might just be a matter of opinion).

So that's where I am in my decision... pretty much still in the middle haha. Sorry about the long post, but if anyone has any more advice or anything, it'd be greatly appreciated!

 

[pootz]

Thanks!

I calculated the costs for both (minus living expense) and they came out to be about equal because I will be an out of state student for the first year at Cal. My parents own a house in Irvine, which I would live in if I went to SCCO, so that will save on rent, but I would need a car. All in all, I think that finances work out to be about equal.

In terms of Pros/Cons:

SCCO: I love the nice campus and clinic. Very modern and they have a great clinical program. I really like southern California(the beach, the weather, etc), the location is great, and a lot of my family and friends are in southern California. However, I feel like I would miss the big university feel too much (there's no school athletics, no rec center, no intramural sports, and you can't really meet anyone outside of optometry). Another down side would be the commute that I would need to make every day (about 30 minutes one way) from Irvine to Fullerton. I know I don't have to live in Irvine, but it would be the financially responsible thing to do and is the reason why the cost, compared to Cal, would be roughly the same.

Cal: Essentially the negative for going to SCCO is the positive here (big university and living close to campus). I don't have many friends or family in northern California, I don't like northern California as much as southern, and the main Cal campus is nice, but the clinic and pre-clinic aren't so great when compared to SCCO.

I have heard from some optometrists that scco prepares you better to get into practice, while Berkeley prepares you better if you were heading towards academia or research (but this might just be a matter of opinion).

So that's where I am in my decision... pretty much still in the middle haha. Sorry about the long post, but if anyone has any more advice or anything, it'd be greatly appreciated!

seems like we're in the exact same situation. However, I grew up in the bay area and went to school in socal so I feel attatched to both. I have a girlfriend in socal but one of my good high school friends has already set her mind on Berkeley and it'd definitely be a lot more enjoyable going to school with a friend. I didn't get the whole campus town environment at UCSD which is comparable to how SCCO is and I like that aspect of Berkeley.

Another thing that may make a difference is the prestige that Berkeley has.. allthough it may not matter in the optometry world too much, Berkeley is definitely more well known. Also, from my own research and reading through old posts on here, I hear the whole Berkeley-research thing isn't necessarily true, but the option is available if you are interested in research.

heres some old discussions that may be of interest to you. They pretty much spotlight everything you've already said though:

http://206.82.221.135/showthread.php?t=307008
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=4037346#post4037346
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=505376&highlight=suny+vs+berkeley

SCCO has a lot wider selection of external rotation sites available and a few international ones as well, whereas Cal has less of a selection.

Let me know if anything else comes into play and where you decide to end up going! I guess I'll just have to wait til admit day and see how the rest of the class is

 

[Visualizer]

One thing I forgot to mention as a pro about SCCO is the 4th year clinical externships. From reading both websites, I think scco has a much larger selection of externship locations compared to cal.

 

[xeno655]

Does anyone know why Cal has a smaller selection of external rotation sites than SCCO? I would have thought that Cal would have better connections since it's a bigger university. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[eyegotcha]

Visualizer and pootz....SIGH! I am in the same boat 🙁

Another thing to consider in choosing between SCCO and Cal is..the demographics of patients/cases that we would see in clinic. The location of both places vary significantly...so I am assuming that the type of cases seen will also differ quite a bit. Would anybody on here be able to comment about this??


I have a friend at PCO and he says that he has seen hundreds of patients with ocular diseases, which probably is due to the lower socioeconomic status of the people in the area and the lack of adequate healthcare. He also rarely sees complex contact lens cases because of the location. He says that on the first day of his externship (in california) he has seen more keratoconus cases than in his entire time at PCO!

So....my question....to current CAL/SCCO students is...how many cases of each sub specialty do you really get to see? Do you think the location makes a difference...if not...why??