Shadowing Hours

[lauren1124]

Hi,
When it comes to applying to optometry schools, do you think its okay to mainly have experience working in ophthalmology? I currently work full time as an ophthalmic technician for two retina specialists (have been for 9 months) and besides that I have only shadowed one optometrist for 16 hours. I still interact with ODs regularly even though I don't technically work in optometry and have a lot of experience and knowledge when it comes to vision care at this point. I also perform refractions for clinical research studies we participate in. Basically, I feel very prepared in this aspect but I'm not sure if this is technically enough to put on applications in terms of shadowing.

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[furiousvullns]

School & College Prerequisites | OptomCAS

OptomCAS is the Optometry Centralized Application Service. Through this service applicants may file one application and send it to multiple optometry programs. The schools and colleges of optometry will be able to process applications more efficiently. All schools and colleges of optometry...

www.optomcas.org

Each school is different.

 

[ycbchiang]

I would recommend getting between 20-40 hours of shadowing to show schools that you really know the difference between the two practices

 

[Optgal96]

If you've got decent GPA and OAT scores, it won't matter. If you're not doing so well, having experience with optometrists in different specialties (VT, hospitals, private practice, etc.) can really help.

I'd suggest checking the average GPA/OAT for each school you are interested in and seeing where you lie within those numbers. If you're close or above the average, I think your experience is sufficient! During interviews, really be ready to explain why optometry and not ophthalmology considering your experiences though.

If you are below, you still stand a chance. I would get at least 10 hours in different settings. In this case, the type of experience outweighs the number of hours.