What are my chances?

[eyegirl92]

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Hello, I am a pre-optometry student.
I only have a 3.017 Overall GPA, My Science GPA is about 3.00.
I am currently a fourth year and I will take an extra year to graduate.
My Major is Biology.
I am an officer (secretary) for a pre-optometry club at my school for 1.5 years.
I have been working as an optometrist assistant at a private practice for 1 year.
I shadowed an optometrist for 6 months.
I volunteer and do vision therapy at a free clinic for 1 year and a few months.
I participated in a vision walk and multiple fundraisers for a good cause.
I am planning to take the OAT in a couple of months, I understand that my GPA is bad, and I have to get a good OAT score. Do you know what score I should aim for to have a chance?

I love this field, When I am doing vision therapy or training patients how to wear contacts lens for the first time, I feel complete. I feel thankful that I could make a little difference in their life. My dream is to become and optometrist and I sincerely don't see myself doing anything else. But I am worried that I don't have a chance.
Honestly do I have a chance?....
(Please be honest but not too mean.)

 

[SouthoftheMasonDixon]

Heres a stat sheet from the 2012 entering class:
http://www.opted.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Profile_of_the_Entering_Class_2012.pdf

http://www.optomcas.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2011-20121.pdf

An OAT score of 340 or above generally gets the highest priority when they look at applications, with your GPA I would strive to get as high above a 300 as you can manage. If worse comes to worse try and retake some of the science classes you didn't do so well over the summer to get your GPA up! Good luck 🙂

 

[OpticalBlackOut]

Your work and volunteer experience is great, and that will definitely impress the admissions committee once you get an interview invite.

The problem would be raising the GPA during your remaining year+, because let's face it...it's definitely below average for most schools.
You would need to strive for a 340+ OAT (especially for total science), so that means take your time and don't rush your OAT studying. It's definitely doable with all the resources that are now readily available...good luck

 

[Roffles]

It'll be tough, but rock out the highest GPA you can this year and shoot for 360+ on your OAT. That'll get you an interview most places, once you get that it's just a matter of not being an idiot in person and having good experiences to share.

A 3.0 is low for, in reality, every school. Prepare for a long time for the OAT and invest in Kaplan or another structured study program to get the highest score you can.

Good luck.

 

[FreshVisionary]

I am in the acceptance class of 2018 and had a GPA of 3.11 and some outstanding extracurricular (your extracurricular is better) and I got a TS and AA of 340 on the OAT with no specific score below 330. Got an interview to every school I applied (OSU, IUSO, MCO, ICO, NOVA). Those are some good schools. If you get above a 300 in every section of the OAT you will get an interview just about anywhere you apply. They will probably look at your GPA and think "this student was involved in so many extracurricular" as the reason you didn't have the best GPA. Confidence is how you finish what you started, you've already done all this work to do what you love. It is not about chances at this point, it's about nerves and how you need to shake them. You will do great as an optometrist.

 

[eyegirl92]

Thank you everyone for your advice! I really appreciate your help, every little helps!
I understand my GPA is low, I truthfully was getting discouraged, but thanks for helping me realize how vital the OAT scores are, I still have hope lol.
Thank you again FreshVisionary for sharing your stats with me, you're very inspiring. Congrats on your acceptance!🙂