ucbso admissions and other questions/comments

[JG777]

i was looking through berkeley's stats on admitted students...and i was pretty shocked that student(s) with a 2.6 was accepted. does anyone know how that works? i'm pretty sure they have had to have stellar oat's, but for the sub-3.0 hopefuls like myself, i'd like to have some tinge of hope for a slightest chance at an acceptance at a cheap optometry school

also, i have only spoken to one recent opt school grad about her debt, but does anyone know approximately how many years it taktes to pay off loans? assuming your school has a tuition of about 20g's a year?
i'm having second thoughts about optometry schools mainly because of the debt and the rise of commercialized optometry. although i know there will be a rising need for eye care, i highly prefer that i do not work in chain stores. but of course, who knows...

by the way...congratulations on all who have been accepted to optometry schools!

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[cpw]

to be honest.. with a sub-3.0 Berkeley is a HUGE long shot. The only thing that might save you would be a VERY high OAT (over 360+), TONS of experience, a graduate degree, or to be an under-represented minority.

I got to the interview round at Berkeley with a 3.35 and a 340 OAT. I was not admitted to the program. They interview 120 and take 60. (interviews count for practically nothing -- which is what they told the docs I worked for when they called to find out why I wasn't admitted)

I don't want to discourage you.. I didn't think i had a chance at berkeley and sent in my app anyway. I got to the interview round which I never thought could happen.

Other than going private from california I would recommend looking at going out of state to another state school. Out of state at UHCO is actually cheaper than SCCO tuition (and the rent is cheaper too)

If you have any other questions freel free. I applied to UHCO,SCCO, and UCBSO. I got into SCCO and UHCO.

 

[Richard_Hom]

Dear JG777,

The admissions process takes many factors into consideration. As with many educational institutions, I would imagine that applicants are pooled into thirds.

The first third are accepted because of their grades and OCAT scores. The second third may be accepted because of recommendations and work experience in the field of optometry and the last third would may require additional unique advantages

In addition, optometry admission has in the past been biased towards a model of who would become a successful optometrist and whether a student could match those traits in some way.


Regards,

Originally posted by JG777
i was looking through berkeley's stats on admitted students...and i was pretty shocked that student(s) with a 2.6 was accepted. does anyone know how that works?

 

[ramsestiger]

George W. Bush got accepted into Harvard Business School with quite a few C's and even some D's undergrad. BUT, don't expect that anyone can pull that off. I think you catch my drift. You should be able to get a couple of acceptances at other schools with a decent OAT, but think of Berkeley as a very, very long shot with a 2.6. Their average OAT is around 360, so EVEN IF you almost get a perfect score (say a 390), you're really not impressing them all that much because there are plenty of applicants who have a 400 with a high gpa. There's no such thing as "hitting a homerun on the OAT to get in" because they expect the homerun for you to have a decent shot!

cpw - I think those numbers changed significantly last year. Berkeley only interviewed about 90 students and accepted 60-65. Those are pretty decent odds as an interviewee.

 

[cpw]

well, the year I applied they interviewed 120 and took 60.