Worried about experience!

[semopreod]

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Hello all I am a new member to this forum. I am a pre-optometry student from missouri I am a double major/double degree chemistry and biology. I was interested in the experience that is talked about so much on previous threads. My stats are as follows:

Science GPA 3.61
Overall GPA 3.68
OAT TS 360
OAT AA 350

As far as experience goes i have about 15 hours of one-on-one time with optometrists and yearning for more, but i do have other experiences as well.

3 years of tutoring (20+ hours a week) at the university for students in high risk classes and students with disabilities. Tutored every subject from english to biochemistry.

3 Summers of work (40+ hours a week) with a cardiovascular disease research group from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where i assisted in everything from surgeries to actual magnetic resonance imaging on nanoparticles that target cardiovascular disease. This experience was hard to come by, the doctor i worked for is one of leading nanotechnologists in his field and wrote me a two page letter of recommendation for my optometry school applications. Some may be thinking why this experience, well i started off as pre-med and switched to pre-optometry my sophomore year and could not give up this experience because of the advances.

2 years of microbiology research (10 hours a week) at my university again medically related. Presented research in a regional American Society of Microbiology conference where my presentation was awarded outstanding undergraduate presentation. The research is being continued and this may i will be presenting at the national meeting in toronto.

So basically in my blabbling what i am trying to ask is do you think optometry schools base their admissions solely on optometry experiences?

 

[eyestrain]

Probably not. You can always pick up a phone and call them.

 

[aam0050]

Wow, your non-optometry related experiences are incredible! The schools will definitely eat that up and love it. Keep working on getting more optometry exposure and stay occupied with the field. Show the schools that optometry is your main focus now. Good luck. 😀

 

[luckyfool]

Hello all I am a new member to this forum. I am a pre-optometry student from missouri I am a double major/double degree chemistry and biology. I was interested in the experience that is talked about so much on previous threads. My stats are as follows:

Science GPA 3.61
Overall GPA 3.68
OAT TS 360
OAT AA 350

As far as experience goes i have about 15 hours of one-on-one time with optometrists and yearning for more, but i do have other experiences as well.

3 years of tutoring (20+ hours a week) at the university for students in high risk classes and students with disabilities. Tutored every subject from english to biochemistry.

3 Summers of work (40+ hours a week) with a cardiovascular disease research group from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where i assisted in everything from surgeries to actual magnetic resonance imaging on nanoparticles that target cardiovascular disease. This experience was hard to come by, the doctor i worked for is one of leading nanotechnologists in his field and wrote me a two page letter of recommendation for my optometry school applications. Some may be thinking why this experience, well i started off as pre-med and switched to pre-optometry my sophomore year and could not give up this experience because of the advances.

2 years of microbiology research (10 hours a week) at my university again medically related. Presented research in a regional American Society of Microbiology conference where my presentation was awarded outstanding undergraduate presentation. The research is being continued and this may i will be presenting at the national meeting in toronto.

So basically in my blabbling what i am trying to ask is do you think optometry schools base their admissions solely on optometry experiences?

I am a little confused as to why you didn't apply for medical school and become an optho? Your extracurriculars seem to be geared toward medicine and research.

 

[lesset01]

I was thinking the same thing....That may be a question you have to answer in interview....

 

[semopreod]

First things first, thank you to everyone that has provided me with feedback it is very much appreciated.

I chose optometry over medicine because of several reasons. I have seen the lives of physicians and i've seen the lives of optometrists. Quite honestly I care too much about my family and friends to go down the path of being a physician (some of the highest divorce rates are for physicians). Of course i've met physicians that lead normal lives but many of them, although in the academic field, never see there families and many ended up consumed with their field to the point that they don't have kids or never see their kids. In my own opinion, I think the quality of life of an optometrist is different than that of a physician and of course many may disagree with me.

As far as the academic side of the two compare, medicine is much harder to gain acceptance in than optometry school. The MCAT is a totally different test in my regard. I took practice tests and they all scored below average. I also took practice tests of the OAT and scored above average in every try. So I chose the discipline that I felt I could advance in.

Believe me i can sit here and tell you a million reasons why I should go into medicine based on my record but what it all boils down to is do what you feel you would have a passion for. Being a physician is just not something i feel i would have a passion for. Instead I'll do something I feel I will love for the rest of my life and thats optometry, in particular i'm thinking of going pediatrics.

 

[mme27]

You have a lot of science and medical related activities and that is great. Remember though, what also really stands out to these kind of schools is extracurricular activites that may not be related to science at all. While medical school and optometry school are very different, admissions committees want similar things in their applicants. They want "balance." All of my brothers are doctors and when they interviewed at Yale, Johns Hopkins, Harvard and other top notch schools, they admissions committees were more impressed with the things they did that made them very unique that were not science related. They loved how they were heavily involved in music (orchestra), scouting, religion (they served a two year mormon mission). In fact, during the interview, thats what was focused on the most. Of course science and everything else is important.

What I am saying is you have done great in your classes and have succeeded in many areas. But I can imagine that optometry schools are much like med schools in that they want a person who is very well rounded in many types of areas that are not just non-optometry related, but non science and school related as well. While these kind of things are not required, they sure set you apart and I can guarantee you that these are the types of things that people love. Make sure and mention these if you have any. Otherwise, you have the GPA, OAT, and science backgorund pretty covered. Just cover other areas as well. Prove to them through your experinces that you aren't just a school nerd. Tell them that you can ace a physics test, go out and hit a home run in softball, and sing in a choir later that night.

 

[Chuffsla]

Tell them that you can ace a physics test, go out and hit a home run in softball, and sing in a choir later that night.

That just struck me as funny....

But really, it depends on the school. I don't know where you're applying, but some schools (UW for eg) seem to only care about grades and OAT score rather than so-called extracurriculars.

 

[mme27]

Well I don't know about you, but if there was a school that only cared about things like that, then I wouldn't want to apply there. If they show that that grades are the only thing that is important to them, and you spend all your time padding your GPA and shadowing for three years doing nothing else, then I feel like you (you as in everyone) belong there. You are right, it really depends on the school, but I think schools are missing something really important when they just focus on that. Even though EC's might not matter for UW (which I highly doubt), I can assure you that most schools would look alot higher on a person who might have a little lower GPA but has tons of extra-curricular activites than someone has a 4.0 and none. If no optometry school feels this way than maybe I shouldn't go into optometry. I don't want to be in a school full of optometry nerds where their life evolves around it. That would totally suck! Optometry isn't that amazing come on! Then again, I probably shouldn't say that in this forum.

By the way I hope you like that quote! At least I hope you understand what I mean by that (sordove).I know its not med-school here but all of my friends and bro's who are in top schools said that there EC's carried them very far when applying. I am sure that it will carry very far as you apply to OD as well. It did me when I applied to SCCO. If UW is only focused on GPA and OAT and nothing else, I say DOWN WITH THEM! Anybody can study all day long and get good grades. But not everyone can:

"Ace a physics test, go out and hit a home run in softball, and sing in a choir later that night!"

(I know that was lame)

 

[semopreod]

Yes I do have other activities that were not listed. I felt I had taken up enough space on the message board with my other stuff. I have volunteered numerous times at a homeless shelter in St. Louis, greatly involved in church activities (community events), and there are others. As far as where i am applying the top 3 are UMSL, ICO, and SCO in that order of course.

 

[mme27]

semopreod:

Thats awesome! I just kinda got on my soapbox for a few paragraphs but it wasn't directed towards anyone in general. You will do great! Good luck to you!

 

[semopreod]

Thats what the forum is for, I like the interaction and advice. Thanks again to all. Good luck to everyone applying.

 

[Cal_OD]

with those scores and gpa, sco will kiss your ass and beg u to attend, trust me I had an interview a little higher oat but terrible gpa.

 

[pre-opt]

Semopreod,

I am sure that you would have no problem gaining acceptance to UMSL's program with your stats. I am currently a 2nd year optometry student at UMSL. Although I am sure that every school would like to see well-rounded applicants, in my opinion, I think UMSL is all about OAT and GPA, but mainly OAT, which you have. I'm not sure what the status of your application is, but it seems like they should be asking you to an interview. At the interview, they may somewhat question your motives since you do seem to have more pre-med qualifications (especially since there seems like there would be nothing else to pick on you about), but they would be a fool not to take you, and I am sure that they would know that. If you feel like you need/want more optometry experience, feel free to. But honestly, I know of a few people in my class that never really shadowed anyone before entering optometry school. I personally have always enjoyed shadowing (both in high school and optometry school- for an assignment), and it helped me decide that optometry is what I wanted to pursue. Just show them that you are passionate about optometry. I am assuming that you attend SEMO by your name...my boyfriend goes there...and I grew up about an 1 hr north of Cape. What a small world, if I am assuming correctly. Maybe try to shadow an optometrist in Cape, Jackson, or St. Louis, but like I said, I am sure that you will have no problem. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I am currently taking 23 credit hours, but would try my best to get back with you in a timely manner. Good luck with your journey!

 

[semopreod]

Yes i do go to SEMO it is a small world. As far as the application goes i am dieing for my last letter of recommendation to be turned in (going on two weeks now). When that is complete i hope to hear from UMSL. I have taken some time out to visit a couple of different optometrists one from Illinois and a OD from down here in Cape which was really fun. Thank you for you interest in my post i hope to see you somewhere down the line at UMSL.

 

[Chuffsla]

Well I don't know about you, but if there was a school that only cared about things like that, then I wouldn't want to apply there. If they show that that grades are the only thing that is important to them, and you spend all your time padding your GPA and shadowing for three years doing nothing else, then I feel like you (you as in everyone) belong there. You are right, it really depends on the school, but I think schools are missing something really important when they just focus on that. Even though EC's might not matter for UW (which I highly doubt), I can assure you that most schools would look alot higher on a person who might have a little lower GPA but has tons of extra-curricular activites than someone has a 4.0 and none. If no optometry school feels this way than maybe I shouldn't go into optometry. I don't want to be in a school full of optometry nerds where their life evolves around it. That would totally suck! Optometry isn't that amazing come on! Then again, I probably shouldn't say that in this forum.

I'm sorry if it upset you, but that's just the way it is. UW really doesn't care that much about extracurriculars. For them it's all about grades and OAT score. They're very particular about that. For instance, I had no ECs. None. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. But, I had great academic stats and I was even offered early admission. In the end I decided not to go but that's a whole other story.

Well I don't know about you, but if there was a school that only cared about things like that, then I wouldn't want to apply there.

If you're in Canada and want to go to optometry school, UW is pretty much the only choice you've got. It's massively expensive to study in the states and the only other optom school in this country teaches their courses in French. So, people have to apply here.