What can I do this summer?

[ashleydh]

I went to a prestigious (29% acceptance rate) but LARGE university for my first 3 semesters. I just couldn't function in that type of environment and it showed in my grades (I had exactly a 3.0). I transferred to a smaller, less prestigious school (61% acceptance rate) in my hometown and I'm doing much better! I wanted to look for internships or optometry summer programs, but since I transferred my GPA reset back to 0 and most of them require a 3.0. My grades won't be in until most of the deadlines have already passed. What else can I do this summer to make my application competitive? I didn't do anything the summer of my freshman year because I was undecided, so it's really important that I start now. Thanks!

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[catsomgcats]

Shadoooww, shadow, shadow, volunteer, volunteer, shadow some more, make connections with doctors so you can get good reference letters from them, play sports, be active in the community, go to the beach

 

[ashleydh]

Shadoooww, shadow, shadow, volunteer, volunteer, shadow some more, make connections with doctors so you can get good reference letters from them, play sports, be active in the community, go to the beach

Thanks! What type of volunteering do you recommend? Will optometry offices let you volunteer?

 

[whymisha]

I agree with shadowing, although it gets repetitive after a while. Some of the best experiences I got before optometry school was volunteering with a charity for the blind. Also enjoy your free time! You definitely won't get a lot of free time once optometry school starts! A lot of my classmates worked in summer, but I didn't because I figured what's the difference with the amount of debt we'll be in anyways

 

[catsomgcats]

Thanks! What type of volunteering do you recommend? Will optometry offices let you volunteer?

Of course. They do allow volunteers but some also don't. Just depends on the clinic. Most are excited to have someone come work for them for free lol.
Any type of volunteering is great as long as it shows community involvement. Just make sure that you have your optometry volunteering/shadowing done so your application can be set.

 

[Inharmonious]

I pretty much called all my local optometry practices and asked to shadow, other than that just be active, tutor kids, volunteer at the community center, maybe some big brother/sister program things like that.