What is optometry school like?

[gatewasani]

could someone give me the breakdown of what optemetry school is like...year by year...

specifically ICO if anyone has gone there?

i posted this in the pre-opt forum but pretty much failed getting any responses probably because of the fact that most people in that forum are trying to get in, while I am hoping that most people here have already been or are currently in. Thanks

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[alferec]

I'm not in ICO, but I've made a blog that started from day one at SCCO if you want to check it out:

http://www.optstudent.com/nucleus

 

[WoodyJI]

I haven't started my 4th year yet and I've only got my experience to speak from, but I'll take a stab at this. Here are the cliff notes for a generic opt school experience (other people can weigh in with their varied experiences):

1st Year: You've got lots of baseline data to learn. It'll be very academic, and fast-paced. You'll need to keep up every day or you'll fall behind. Plenty of memorization, so work-ethic/study skills will be key, even if you didn't need to study much in undergrad.

2nd Year: You've got a lot of diagnosis and treatment to learn. Still some hefty memorization going on (like pharmacology), but things get more interesting. You'll do more clinical work and learn the basics for each technique and how to think as a doctor.

3rd Year: Your academic work will slowly be reduced, and it'll focus more on techniques. However, you will need to review all that stuff you learned in the first two years for part one of boards. Some of the courses will be more advanced versions of previous ones. You'll be spending more time in clinic with patients, and interacting attending doctors as well as your course professors.

4th Year: This will be almost entirely clinical. You'll rotate around and do more exams in a week than you did in a month as a 3rd year. You'll get exposure to lots of things, and you'll solidify your methods for each clinical technique you've learned previously. You'll learn shortcuts, and do a better job at deciding what tests to do and how to interpret them for a given patient.

 

[gatewasani]

great responses, Can I ask you what type of lab work is required of you to do in opt school, I HATE HATE HATE all labs, especially chem, chem labs sucks.
There were some bio labs i didnt mind but mostly everything else sucks,

also does anyone know where i can find the coureses required in the freshman and sophmore years. Thanks.

 

[gatewasani]

great responses, Can I ask you what type of lab work is required of you to do in opt school, I HATE HATE HATE all labs, especially chem, chem labs sucks.
There were some bio labs i didnt mind but mostly everything else sucks,

also does anyone know where i can find the coureses required in the freshman and sophmore years. Thanks.

 

[illuminate]

ICO has their courses listed on their website.
http://www.ico.edu/AcademicPrograms/index.html
Click the links for First (Second, Third, Fourth) Professional Year for a breakdown of courses/labs/credits/etc. You can even click the course number link to see a paragraph describing the class/lab.

 

[JMU07]

great responses, Can I ask you what type of lab work is required of you to do in opt school, I HATE HATE HATE all labs, especially chem, chem labs sucks.
There were some bio labs i didnt mind but mostly everything else sucks,

also does anyone know where i can find the coureses required in the freshman and sophmore years. Thanks.

What is it that you hate about labs so much? Definitely no chem labs in OD school.

Most schools have a catalog on their website that lists the courses.

 

[gatewasani]

just got back from what will hopefully prove to be my last chem lab

EVER!!!!

 

[scalded]

1st year Like being shoved in a sack and dropped down a flight of stairs
2nd year. Instead of using the stairs they just drop you down the elevator shaft.
3rd year. they cut a hole in the bag so you can see little while they drop you down the stairs again.
4th year ask me when I finish.

I have a good GPA so it's not sour grapes about the classes there is just a lot to learn and I think I will like the work, but you do get a bit bitter after a while especially when you see your younger siblings/friends buying houses and getting on with their lives while you sit in a classroom and learn about convergence insufficiency.

Don't go unless you really love the work. Make sure you shadow a lot of docs.