Thinking about Optometry, Would I be considered "In the running"?

[GypsyHummus]

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Hello Everybody,
I am a senior this year taking a gap year. I have been shadowing many health professions, posting in the different forums, and have taken an interest in optometry.

I am not sure how competitive I would be. I have a 3.4 GPA and a 3.0 science GPA. I believe I have all of my pre recs taken care of with the exception of anatomy. I have not taken any admissions test: DAT, MCAT, PCAT, OAT etc. at this time. I have a fair amount of Extra stuff: Lots of volunteering at a health and dental clinic, two years of undergrad research, summer of research at a medical school, and even tutoring.

One thing that I have not done is secure an OD letter of rec. I have done some shadowing in the clinic that I am at, so I could get one there.

So my questions if you don't mind me asking:

1) Are my GPAs good enough to at least get me to the interview stage? Are they even on the lower end of acceptable?

2) If my GPAs are good enough, What OAT score should I shoot for to offset the lower GPA?

3) If my GPAs are too low, are there special masters programs with guaranteed admissions to OD schools like medical schools?

4) What would be good OAT practice?

5) Overall, how do you think my chances would be?

I appreciate any feedback anyone could give! Thank you so much for your time

 

[futureOD2018]

Get a job at an office if you can, I have a friend who is doing that right now and applying next year. That way you can work long-term with a doctor and they can get to know you. If you have the experience and study hard and do well on the OAT, I can't see why you wouldn't get in. Just be careful about your LOR because different schools require different types of letters.

As for GPA/OAT scores, look up different schools' incoming class averages. That will give you a really good idea of what types of applicants that school usually accepts and what you should aim for. If your GPA is lower, a higher oat will offset that (so I've heard).

 

[p0intless]

your GPA is fine, optometry doesn't have that stringent of GPA requirements. its not medical school. I think avg overall GPA of optometry students is around 3.0, although if you want to go to schools like SUNY or Berkeley, that will be higher (maybe 3.5-3.6).
Aim for 300+ on OAT, id recommend at least 340/340 TS/AA and you should be in good shape, especially if you apply early
there are 3-4 programs where its 3 years undergrad then 4 years optometry, look at specific schools. I know SUNY has one but being in the program does not guarantee you a spot even if you meet all the requirements
Use MCAT Examkraker to study concepts, use OAT Destroyer for practice.
Your GPA is fairly competitive, with a decent OAT your chances are very good.

FYI, I did not have an OD letter of rec and only ~20 hrs of shadowing but I still got accepted, so don't worry about that too much.

 

[EyeCaptain]

I think avg overall GPA of optometry students is around 3.0

Definitely not.

Most schools accept an average GPA of around 3.4, but many higher. 3.0 is a little low for science GPA, but just to reiterate what has already been said, the OAT is a big deal. Dedicate yourself and study as much as you possibly can. To answer your question, you should shoot for a 400 across the board. Safer to miss that mark than shooting for a 320 and missing it. We've all had different experiences through the application process, but in my personal opinion, make sure you do as well as you can on the OAT. If you are above the minimum you will probably be interviewed somewhere, although it may not be your top pick.

 

[p0intless]

You are correct, I underestimated quite a bit: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/profile-of-the-2013-optometry-entering-class.1038775/

 

[GypsyHummus]

Thank you all for your responses.

Definitely not.

Most schools accept an average GPA of around 3.4, but many higher. 3.0 is a little low for science GPA, but just to reiterate what has already been said, the OAT is a big deal. Dedicate yourself and study as much as you possibly can. To answer your question, you should shoot for a 400 across the board. Safer to miss that mark than shooting for a 320 and missing it. We've all had different experiences through the application process, but in my personal opinion, make sure you do as well as you can on the OAT. If you are above the minimum you will probably be interviewed somewhere, although it may not be your top pick.

Thank you for the response. Do you know off the top of your head if state schools give preference to in state applicants?

Also, how hard is the OAT?

 

[Digitalized]

OAT is not ridiculously difficult if you learned well in undergrad.

 

[EyeCaptain]

Most Optometry schools are private institutions, and the ones I've dealt with don't have give in-state tuition. SCO gives in-state tuition benefits despite being a private university, but only to a certain amount of Tennessee residents, so even they don't all get it. I would guess that all of the public schools give in-state tuition. As far as giving preference to in state applicants, I don't think so. UHCO might be looking for a certain amount of Texans, but most schools won't care if you're from that state or not. There are only 21 Optometry schools in the US, (as opposed to 65 dental schools and who knows how many medical schools...) so Optometry programs are aware that most people don't have a school in their state.

The OAT is a five hour exam that will test you on all the science you've learned in college. It's hard, but like Digitalized said, if you did well in your classes you should be fine. That doesn't mean you shouldn't study though. Just remember that when you study for the OAT, you're not trying to learn new material, just bring to the surface what you've been learning for the last few years. I would recommend coursesaver. It's a website that you have to subscribe to, but Chad's instructional videos are worth it in my opinion. I'd like more people to use the site so that he gets paid more, he deserves it.

I studied for three weeks, and did well enough on the OAT to get into school. Don't do that. I would give yourself three months if possible, and study for a few hours every day.

 

[p0intless]

http://www.opted.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Profile_of_Applicants_2012.pdf
Read this if you want numbers on what GPA/OAT scores youll need for each school

 

[contactspecs2020]

here's an updated one for the entering class of 2013 : http://www.opted.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Profile-of-the-Entering-Class-2013.pdf

 

[GypsyHummus]

Update for anyone who is interested:

I contacted a couple schools and from what they told me:

while science GPA is important, the final ranking is based off of cumulative GPA and OAT.

Volunteering, ECs, and leadership isn't as important as high grades.

GPA deff takes precedence over a OAT score, however, an OAT score can really help a borderline applicant

They are looking at the very least mostly Bs in the sciences.

They are looking for at the very least a 3.2-3.3 to be considered "In the door".

There are no state preferences.

 

[RetinalCrawler]

GPA-wise, you want to have at minimum a 3.0 to be really considered against other students in the US without the OAT. Next comes in the OAT scores. Most importantly are the Math, Reading, General Chemistry, and Biology scores. All the interviews I had, focused on those scores specifically, even though overall and overall science scores matters, those are the main areas of importance. Next are your reference letters are extremely important. They can break you if they're not good enough. Make sure you find the right people to ask. Participation clubs, side jobs, tutoring, work study, and volunteer work are also looked at. Any research you might have done looks really good as well. BS degrees are mandatory, having a MS or PhD are even better. Remember, the application alone is step one, you must present yourself in the interviews professionally and motivated. Especially, now in a growing field which is slowly starting to get saturated, the application market is narrowing down and becoming very specific. Good luck!

 

[GypsyHummus]

here's an updated one for the entering class of 2013 : http://www.opted.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Profile-of-the-Entering-Class-2013.pdf

Thats kind of weird, some schools on the list are higher than they report. For instance, AZ Optho school GPA average they say is a 3.2, while on the sheet its a 3.4

 

[ChocolateRun]

Thats kind of weird, some schools on the list are higher than they report. For instance, AZ Optho school GPA average they say is a 3.2, while on the sheet its a 3.4

Ophtho? VERY different than optometry. I just looked and there is no discrepancy. The sheet in your quote lists 3.37 for 2013 entering class and AZCOPT lists 3.36 for class of 2017. So it's not weird at all.

 

[GypsyHummus]

Ophtho? VERY different than optometry. I just looked and there is no discrepancy. The sheet in your quote lists 3.37 for 2013 entering class and AZCOPT lists 3.36 for class of 2017. So it's not weird at all.

Yeah, I was just gonna make an edit, I was looking at class 2016 lol.

Why the sudden jump in stats?

 

[ChocolateRun]

Yeah, I was just gonna make an edit, I was looking at class 2016 lol.

Why the sudden jump in stats?

Probably due to accreditation.