I'm interested in applying to Southern College of Optometry and noticed they have an optical section on Optomcas to upload documents with observation hours. Does it affect you negatively if you don't upload this? Also if anyone has a sample of what their shadowing documentation looks like please let me know!
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I think it's just gravy if you can speak to 1 or 2 shadowing experiences showing you've done your homework. At the end of the day, I believe it comes down to OAT, GPA and the tone of your application (from the essay to your experiences, etc.). If no shadow experience or even optometric experience, no biggie. Just study your butt off for the OAT and proceed.
Hello! Currently a 2nd year at SCO. If you have any shadowing experience/hours recorded, I would share it. Although ultimately it is not the deciding factor, SCO heavily emphasizes shadowing experience in multiple settings & will consider it along with your application. I worked part time for 6 months at 1 practice, and part time for 2 months at a different practice. When applying, they still contacted me and said they would like me to gain more shadowing experience and to update them if so. Anyways, hope this was useful!
dang well i have a lot less experience than you ( i did 70 hours at two different private practices) but didn't really write any detailed notes down. i have all the dates though and i can write a little bit about the overall experiences but i don't know if that would hurt or help the application
I wouldn't worry about it too much! Like I said, it's important, but not the deciding factor. Do well on your OAT, prepare well for your interview, and you should be fine. I'd go ahead and list what you have. Those are good hours too! I believe the point is that they want you to be sure that you know what you're getting yourself into and that you can see yourself enjoying a career as an optometrist, rather than just using optometry as a back up option because you didn't get into med school or something like that.
