I feel like I have been in school for far too long! However, my journey (of being in school) will one day end and I will be sitting in my own office as an Optometrist taking care of patients and providing my daughter everything this world can offer. For now, though, I have many milestones I have met and still need to meet in order to become a successful Optometrist.
When I decided that I wanted to become an Optometrist, the first thing I looked into were the Optometry schools. In California there are only 2 Optometry schools UC Berkeley and Southern California School of Optometry. All together there are only 22 schools of Optometry all across the United States, which is not a lot compared to Dental schools (which have approximately 58) and Medical schools (which have approximately 180). When I saw this I was pretty shocked and concerned because I know and have been told that any of these types of schools are very competitive, therefore when it is time to apply, you have to apply to as many as you can and you have to have really good grades, grade point average, and also a good “portfolio”.
My school of preference is UC Berkeley because it is one of the best Optometry schools in the U.S and because it is in the Bay Area. After I knew that this was my school of choice and that Optometry was the career I wanted to pursue, I did a lot of research on pre-requisites, exams, and other things that I will need in order to get into the school. Even though I mostly looked at the requirements for UC Berkeley, they are pretty much the same for all Optometry schools.
Optometry School's main class requirements are Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, and English. Since most of these requirements require atleast 2 semesters of each, many students choose to major in a branch of Biology; However, Optometry schools do not require a Bachelor's Degree in any kind of Biology. They accept any kind of Bachelor's degree whether it is a business degree, arts degree, or whatever you want, as long as all the science, math, and english requirements are met. I havc met 2 Optometrist that did not have their degree anywhere near Biology. One of them had a degree in business while the other doctor had it in history. Even though I knew that was an option, I still decided to major in Biology: cell and molecular, because I love biology and I find it fascinating. Other requirements that some schools look for is volunteering, working, or being an intern at an Optometry office. The reason they sometimes require this is because they want you to make sure that you are in deed interested in the field and you have a sense of what it is about.
Besides the volunteering and required classes a major part of applying to Optometry school is taking the OAT (Optometry Admission Test). In this exam, you will be tested on the courses mentioned above. There are courses that can help you prepare for this exam, such as the Kaplan course. This course, from what I have heard, is very good at preparing you to succeed in taking the OAT.
After I am done with Optometry school, which takes about 4 years, I would want to work in someone else's office first and then open up my own office. This video discuses some tips on how to open up your own business.
Something else I would like to share about the my road to a career in Optometry is that I did attend UC Berkeley's Opto- Camp. In this camp we learned a lot about the school, the admission process, deadlines, what makes a good candidate for the school, how to prepare yourself for school interviews, and so much more. It was so helpful to attend this past summer, 2012.
After reading this post I think that you give a good overview for someone interested in Optometry school. You show your experience and the steps you are taking to enter one of these 22 schools that you have available to you. As a college student I find this useful because most people who plan to go the next level in their major will have to do something like this. The only thing that I am struggling with is that you make it seem like anyone can go to optometry school. I know with my Psychology degree and a few science classes I can’t expect to just go to Optometry school. There has to more requirements for people that are applying to these schools that you did not mention. I am not interested in the Optometry field but I am curious to see you dig a little deeper.
ReplyDeleteI know it probably seems like anyone can get into Optometry school, but basically if you take the required math, chemistry, bio, and english courses and your passionate about being an Optometrist then yes you can apply to Optometry school. I have met a lot of Optometrists that have majored in other things such as business, history, and psychology and just taken all the chemistry, biology, english and math classes to get into the schools. I will provide the link to UC Berkeley's requirements and basically you can have any B.S degree that you want as long as you get all the required courses down. Most of the other schools do not require as many courses as UC Berkeley.
ReplyDeletehttp://optometry.berkeley.edu/admissions/required-courses
Here is the required courses from University of Houston's Optometry school (another school I am thinking of applying to)
http://www.opt.uh.edu/academics/OD/admissions-info.cfm
Its interesting that there are only 2 schools in California that offer an optometry program. It must be very competitive to be accepted. The bright side to it being so competitive for the education is there's less graduates looking for a optometry profession. I'd only imagine finding work in this field cannot be as hard compared to professions.
ReplyDeleteIt’s interesting how flexible the prerequisite is in order to be able to apply to Optometry school. In my opinion, this is the way how all the graduate schools should look like. Imagine people who have the combination between Business knowledge with Optometry that surely will become a good combination. Those people will be able to run their own business precisely, yet also have the required knowledge to perform all the procedure as a professional Optometrist.
ReplyDeleteit is very interesting to know more about the optometry, when i visit Markham in Canada my friend refers to one optometry services clinic there they are providing good training programs and awareness on eyes more than that they are too friendly to the patients thank you unionvilleoptometry clinic.
ReplyDeleteSince you posted this in 2012, I would like you to post again about what you're doing right now and how your adventure of studying optometry is going. :)
ReplyDelete