Wow I thought I was the only one this happened to! Everyone else who has lower than average GPAs talks about how their GPA started out low and got higher. I totally know where you're coming from... After 2 years I had a 3.7, after 3 years a 3.5, after 4 years a 3.2, and after 5 years a 3.1 (I did a 5th year). I worried about the same thing. Fortunately, I did decently on the OAT so that saved me... I applied to 2 different schools and got interviews at both. And honestly, after you get the interview, I have been told by many people that grades don't matter much at that point. At that point it's whether you can explain your grades/mistakes that matters. For instance, if you have a 3.5 but can't explain a low grade in an important course, you are worse off than someone with a 3.0 who can totally convince an admissions committee that they are capable of handling a hefty optometry school load and will excel doing so. Like you, I had an impressive volunteer/extracurriculars record during undergrad. And unfortunately, that's one of the reasons I was told by an optometry school why I got waitlisted. He said it had nothing to do with my grades; rather, I put too much emphasis on the importance and amount of time I spent volunteering, which made the admissions committee assume that I put more priority into my extracurriculars than I did academics. That made them concerned I would do the same in optometry school, sitting myself up for possible failure. When I met with the head of the admissions committee to find out why I got waitlisted, I was lectured how optometry school is so time consuming that I may not have time for extracurriculars and volunteering and that those should come only if I can excel in all my schoolwork, which I was well aware of (but they didn't know that). And to top that all off, I was asked the question "what do you do in a class when you're not doing well?" and I was so nervous that I replied, "I volunteer more!" I was just trying to boast about my strong points to avoid talking about my grades, which were the downfall to my application. Definitely don't hide your awesome well-roundedness (it will help you as long as you don't make it sound like it hurt your grades), but make sure you show them you're much more interested in academics. Did you do well on the OAT? If you got at least a 320 or 330 you should be good for getting an interview... If you didn't do that well on it, definitely retake it. I found out that although volunteering and leadership accentuates an application, it won't get you an interview alone. You need either a good GPA or a good OAT score. Your GPA, like mine, is not "bad"; it's just not as "competitive" compared to some students'. But I totally know how you feel!!!!
