Worth it to take OAT in early summer?

[justsomestudent]

I am planning on applying to optometry school this fall, and definitely want to be applying as early as possible. Would it benefit me to try to take the OAT early this summer (late june/early july) so I can get my application in sooner, with the possibility of retaking it in September/October if I end up not doing as well as I would like.

I figured this way I could just go for it and if I do well then I am all set. If I don't do well then I retake it and still get my OAT scores in later, but not too late (I hope).

Also, when applying to take the OAT, I have the ability of sending my score to every school for no additional fees. I know this is a one-time deal, but is it worth it to send my scores to all schools if I'm not going to try applying to them? I figured I should just send my scores to the schools I am actually applying to.

Thank you in advance for your comments!

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[akkk]

I was contemplating the same thing as you but I decided to schedule my test at the end of August. I realized that the test is expensive and I only want to be writing it once. It also just didn't make sense to rush studying just to get my application in as early as possible. Applying in August/September is still considered pretty early I believe. Goodluck!

 

[LUC78]

I think this depends on your practice OAT scores, how confident you feel, and your score goal/school of interest. If you're generally pretty familiar with the content from undergrad and are scoring around an acceptable score for your top choice school I'd go ahead. (For ex, while my goal score was higher my top choice school found 300+ to be acceptable for admission)

If you're thinking of taking the exam early solely because you want to submit your app early, I'd advise against that. While it's helpful I've found it's not significantly advantageous. At the end of the day your score still matters. So if you're scoring on the lower end I would just push it back and study harder. I've heard this often about the MCAT and from optometry admission reps that usually you end up scoring similarly the 2nd time around. So I would just focus now and fix my studying methods to improve and take the exam once.

Doesn't hurt to send scores to all the schools. I would go ahead and do it. I didn't at first and was stuck because I decided late that I wanted to apply to another school.

 

[JBL0008]

I applied last cycle and took the OAT in August. You can also apply without taking the OAT yet. I know some schools will give interviews without an OAT score submitted at the time you apply. I would send your scores to all the schools. The first time you have the option to do it you can send to all the schools for the same price if you only send to 2 schools. If you decide to later to send your scores to another school that you didn't previously send you will have to pay more money.