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[ramibazlamit]

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Hello!

I dropped out of dental school this November and I immediately knew that I wanted to get into optometry. Right now I am studying for the OAT and signed up for some pre-optometry prerequisite classes. I withdrew with good academic standing those those grades do not count towards my GPA.
Here are my stats:
GPA: 3.73 (for both science and overall)
Work: 2 years as dental assistant, 1.5 years as a chemistry and physics tutor. (+much more)
Volunteer: volunteered 75hrs with hospital, 75hours with urban teen counseling center, 75hours with nonprofit job-training for people with disabilities
OAT: studying for it now (I am confident I will do well since I did excellent on the DAT)
Shadowing: I am currently in the process of beginning to shadow optometrists.

I plan to apply the next cycle (EY 2015)

I am interested in optometry, but I am afraid optometry schools won't me that way because they might see me as some drop out who is looking for PlanB.

Questions
1. For my case what more activities do I have to do in order to show optometry schools that I really want to join? I apply on July 2014. Do I have to need WORK experience as an optician/optical assistant?

2. How many hours of shadowing should I do?

Thank You!

 

[Bubbatello]

I'm 99% sure that you will get in to any school you want to go to, as long as you do well on the OAT and get some shadowing hours under your belt. My suggestion would be mainly for YOU to make sure that optometry is the right choice, especially since dental school didn't pan out for you. When you are shadowing, ask a lot of questions. Also, talk with a bunch of current optometry students about what it's like in school. Like I said before, you'll get in; just make sure that you WANT to get in before you apply.
p.s. it's not necessary to work as an optician or optical assistant, but it couldn't hurt for you to get the exposure to the field.
p.s.s. I just got accepted this cycle to SUNY; I shadowed 30 hrs.

 

[Rain Clouds]

>> I am interested in optometry, but I am afraid optometry schools won't me that way because they might see me as some drop out who is looking for PlanB.

Write a strong personal statement. That's your letter of introduction to each of these schools, your interviewers, and the admissions committees. If you have strong personal statement, you would have no problem showing yourself to be a person who has taken past experience to really know what they want.

>> 1. For my case what more activities do I have to do in order to show optometry schools that I really want to join? I apply on July 2014. Do I have to need WORK experience as an optician/optical assistant?

Based on your history, I don't think you'll have any problem getting interviews. I think the stick really is when you go for the interview, you need to come across as having really done your research and knowing what the profession is about, especially in contrast to dental. Do you need WORK experience? No, not at all.

>> 2. How many hours of shadowing should I do?

Some schools require a certain magic number of shadowing hours, but for most schools, shadowing is honestly just for your benefit. Again, like I said before, do your research, know what you're getting yourself into. Write a strong statement, and I think the more forthcoming you are with the fact that you dropped out of dental in good standing, and that you know you want to be an optometrist, it will show.

I'd make good friends with an OD who can show you the ropes and write a good recommendation, too.

 

[ramibazlamit]

Thanks for your help!

 

[paasnaas]

Just curious, What made you to decide to drop out of dental school? Thats a really hard decision! And do you know which optometry schools you would like to apply to?

 

[ramibazlamit]

I dropped out of dental school for a combination of two reasons. Lack of dexterity and lack of interest. My interest and enthusiasm in dentistry climaxed when I was a sophomore at undergrad and then it waned down ever since. My increasing experience as a dental assistant made me realize how dentistry behind the scenes really is. Dentistry started to feel very monotonous and insignificant in terms of clinical wellness. When I joined dental school, I also struggled in the classes that required intense hand skills such as dental anatomy carving and operative dentistry. If I was genuinely interested I wouldn't have dropped out and would've instead accepted the possibility of remediation or repeating the year, but I just wasn't interested. I believe that if I am truly interested in the science and the practice of something, then I will succeed. I know for a fact that I am interested in the science of optometry, and I am still in the process of learning the practice of it (hopefully I will love it!).

I do not have one optometry in particular but I think the two that are the most on my mind is Salus and SCO.

 

[Groucho Marx]

Optometry also requires very good dexterity for procedures such as BIO, dilated and undilated 90, inserting punctal plugs, inserting and removing contact lenses, removing foreign bodies, etc. I really sympathize with you on this because I also don't have great dexterity, and I didn't expect it to be such an issue in optometry school.

 

[paasnaas]

You don't really need actually 'paid' working experience, just mainly focusing on getting about 60-100 hours of shadowing experience. If I remember correctly I think optometry schools require 60 hours of shadowing. I could be incorrect but thats what I remember. Shadowing opticians, optometrists is a great start, then look into shadowing optometrists that focus on different fields of optometry, low vision, pediatrics, vision therapy, contact lens'/glasses & also look into the different types of practices, private practice, corporate practice, VA hospital practice, etc. Also try volunteer events such as vision screenings.

Optometry is a very 'hand-on' profession, not so much fine detail as dentistry but still this profession requires a lot of hand work. For some Instruments like the BIO or Slit lamp are very sensitive and you have to be able have good hand coordination & sensitivity to perform it well. So when you mentioned that you didn't like dentistry because of all the intense hand skills you needed to learn, optometry does require a lot of hand skills using the instruments & machines to perform an eye exam. I don't believe it is as intense as dentistry but it I definitely feel its definitely learn-able with good practice. Since hopefully now you have better understanding that optometry is a hands-on profession, does that influence your decision at all?

And also where are you located? If are in the bay area, here at berkeley we have a cool shadowing experience for pre-opto students called "Friday visits" where we have pre-optometry students come in and shadow current optometry students in our pre-clinic. Just something to keep in mind if you are interested in seeing if you are in the area.

 

[ramibazlamit]

Thank You for your advice. Whether the profession requires hand skills or not isn't the only determinate. Its that I lost my passion in dentistry. If I loved dentistry and struggled with dexterity then I wouldn't mind taking remediation or repeating the year. But I didn't enjoy it, so I chose to leave.


I hope optometry requires much less hand skills than dentistry. Dentistry requires intense 3D perception, knowing how to distinguish between subtle different shades of white, know how to work on different teeth on different awkward angles and locations of teeth, knowing how to drill into something you cannot see but instead "know" and "feel" that its right, know how to work backwards when working on the upper-teeth, and creating irregular anatomical tooth shapes.

In VCU dental school I was spending 40 hours a week in school + had to practice every night after 5pm. I was falling behind because they kept on adding harder assignments and I didn't get enough practice.

How is it like in optometry school. What is your typical schedule like in optometry school? How do you master the clinical skills?

I live in the Washington D.C. area.. There isn't an optometry school within 100 miles where I live.

Thanks for your help!

 

[reesespieces]

You don't really need actually 'paid' working experience, just mainly focusing on getting about 60-100 hours of shadowing experience. If I remember correctly I think optometry schools require 60 hours of shadowing. I could be incorrect but thats what I remember.

Definitely do not need anywhere close to that amount. For instance Ohio State requires 10. Many others have unwritten requirements. At time of admission, I think I said I had 50. They want you to get a feel for the profession before dedicating lots of time and money to it. Now your case might be different- having dropped out of dental school, they might want you to do more so that both you and them are 100% sure that optometry is right for you. You should contact schools and find out.


Now in regards to you dropping out of dental school, you need to think long and hard about why you want to go into optometry. Playing devil's advocate, are you applying just because you want 'doctor' in front of your name? The fact that you dropped out is going to raise a big red flag so you need to come up with a good honest answer that will assure the committees that you are not going to start optometry school and drop out like you did with dental school.

 

[miyanjinges]

I think I said I had 50. They want you to get a feel for the profession before dedicating lots of time and money to it. Now your case might be different- having dropped out of dental school, they might want you to do more so that both you and them are 100% sure that optometry is right for you. You should contact schools and find out.