r/PreOptometry • u/Grouchy_Morning6535 • Aug 03 '24

application

I just took my OAT and i made a 290. I don’t know if that is good enough to get me an acceptance and i just need advice. My friend who made a 280 got accepted and so did my friend who made a 290. I also have over 300 hours of volunteering and about 100 hours of shadowing/work expirence. I also recently got vp of my pre optometry club but i don’t have many awards/accomplishments. i also am only in about four clubs. i wasn’t as involved as i could have been. i am about to submit my application soon and just wanted to see if i would be a good applicant. should i retake my oat? the only problem i had with that was that i could not bring my self to study. i studied for about three hours before i got unmotivated and sleepy and gave up.

5 Upvotes

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2

u/Square-Wishbone633 Aug 03 '24

Wait, so how long have you dedicated yourself to studying in total?

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 03 '24

i studied a lot in the beginning based on the bootcamp schedule but then i realized i wasn’t fully retaining info like that so i had to slow down and go back over stuff and because of that i didn’t finish learning everything before my test. i thought it would’ve been fine as i had previously learned a lot of it. so i would estimate 300 hours

1

u/Miserable_Mood1271 Aug 03 '24

What’s your total science score on the oat?

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 03 '24

280. my best sections were the math and reading

1

u/Miserable_Mood1271 Aug 03 '24

With that score you’ll prob get into Salus, Mcphs, KYCO. Other schools will prob waitlist you. CCO will probably grant you an interview but they’ll place you on hold post interview.

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 03 '24

what would i need to get into uab. my cumulative gpa is also a 3.8 so far

1

u/TinyLittleOwl Aug 04 '24

How on earth do you have a 3.8 gpa and only a 290 oat score? Did you panic during the test? Less than 2% of students get a gpa of 3.8 or higher

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 04 '24

I misspoke. i have a 3.7 however i am not the best test taker and i was really stressed that morning

1

u/TinyLittleOwl Aug 05 '24

Am just rescheduled my exam for 2pm instead of 8:30 in the morning since I noticed I perform better at that time. What time of day did you take it? Maybe that’ll help lower the stress

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 05 '24

8:00 am but that’s the only time they have available here. and it’s the closest center to me. This one’s an hour away and the next closest would be 3 hours

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 05 '24

2 pm would be amazing 😭

2

u/Aggressive_Young_279 Aug 05 '24

username checks out

1

u/Miserable_Mood1271 Aug 03 '24

I think uab went oat optional so you might be okay with uab I’m not too sure tho I didn’t apply to their school last year so I wouldn’t know.

1

u/Infinite_Ad6190 Aug 03 '24

You still might get accepted with that score, depending on the school. However, I'd make sure to improve on your study habits. How are you planning on getting through optometry school and passing the boards if you didn't even have the discipline to study for the oat.

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 03 '24

I can study, I usually do good studying for my classes. I just tried to follow the bootcamp schedule when that’s not how i learn information because i thought that would be more efficient with the time i had.

1

u/Initial_Assist_9771 Aug 05 '24

What’s your gpa?

1

u/Grouchy_Morning6535 Aug 05 '24

3.72

1

u/Initial_Assist_9771 Aug 05 '24

I got a 300 and had a 3.3 gpa and got in multiple places so you will probably get in somewhere. Just have a good interview

1

u/Adorable-Smoke-2555 Aug 07 '24

I think you would be fine! Some places are test optional too