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What do optometry schools look for when screening you for interviews?

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Elizah46

Full Member
5+ Year Member
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Hey guys! Does anyone know what schools look at when screening candidates for interviews? Is it just GPA’s and OAT scores? My situation is that I don’t have a consistent grade trend. Some semesters I did well and others I didn’t. I also have some D’s and F’s that I’ve retaken a little too excessively. During my last semester I wanted to prove that I can handle a heavy course load so I ended up being a non degree student at 3 institutions and taking ~50 credits all together. That was my last semester and I did really well. I tried taking as many upper divisional as I can but 2 of the institutions were community colleges so some aren’t upper divisional sciences but lower divisional. My overall OptomCAS GPA is a 3.3 and science GPA is a 3.0 and OAT scores 380. Do you guys think I’ll get screened out due to my grade trends? I’m really worried because I worked hard to bring up my GPA and do well on the OAT.
 
An OAT score of 380 and a GPA above 3.0 should get you in for interviews at least. Just make sure to have experience shadowing optometrists at different settings and you should be fine.