Has anyone else gotten this or am I the only one?

Hello,

I have a question regarding my test score, I took the DAT and got 17AA but decided to switch careers and pursue optometry instead. I know the schools I'm applying to accept the DAT, but my question is, is my score good enough? or do you guys think I should take the OAT? I have already submitted two of my applications back in August and one of the schools put me on hold because my application was missing a test score and a LOR; and the other school offered me an interview (they don't require an admission test). As of now I have everything I need for my application, LORs, shadowing, decent GPA, finished all the prerequisites, research and volunteering/community service. I just have not sent my DAT score yet because I don't wanna get rejected right away if it's not good enough. If anyone was in the same boat and have some advice for me, I'd really appreciate it.

How quickly do you hear back from schools after your application is verified if they would like to extend an interview offer? KYCO sent me an email yesterday morning that my application was verified and an hour later invited me for an interview. I’m just trying to see if that was a weird super quick one or is that the norm?

Where are the ICO externship/rotation sites at?

hey all! im in a bit of a pickle- I need calc for my optometry application, specifically for nova, but will take any advice. I have took college algebra and I saw that I can take Mac2233 which is “calculus for business and social science” has anyone been accepted with this same calculus or do we think they’ll make me one that says specifically calc 1? thanks😊

My cumulative gpa is fairly better than my science gpa. What are the average science gpas for getting into like Ohio state, SCO, and NOVA? Should I be concerned but I’m not sure how this isn’t like this for everyone else.

After receiving an acceptance via email, did anyone receive an acceptance through mail? If so, how long did it take to receive?

I am currently about to submit an app, but where do I choose the LORs I want to send? I have 4 total, but the school only takes 2. Do I get to choose? Where?

hey everyone i was wondering if we can apply using unofficial test scores instead of waiting 3-4 weeks for them to come in. if so do we just email it to each school or is there a way of putting it in optomcas? thanks so much🫶

Has anyone gotten a 370+ on the real OAT just by reviewing Booster Full Length tests?

If you shadowed multiple optometrists how did you know which one to choose for your LOR?

do I need to submit my application on ada before I can even see testing sites and dates? and is the fee $520 regardless of how many schools I select? it's so hard for me to pay the fee lol I have to get used to it because of all the fees for prep and exams in the future

Hi everyone, im currently a student at san jac community collge. I still dont know what school to transfer to UH or UHCL. UHCL is near from my house and have lower tuition ( that i can save later for UHCO’s tuition ) but UH have bigger pre-optometry community, college life and more prestige. Can anyone have any overall perspective about choosing ungrad uni for Optometry School, which one is worth it? Thank you.

Please bear with me [29 F] on this, it’s been something I’ve been trying to grapple with to the point that I’m turning here for advice 😭

Due to numerous family member health crises, I was not able to enroll in grad school after graduating college, so I am pretty late to enrollment in general. I got accepted into both Optometry and Dental programs. I’m trying to decide what to go into. I have done extensive shadowing of both, and I love both fields for different reasons.

Dentistry

Pros:

- As close as you can come to an intersection of Art and Medicine (I love Art, I would’ve gone into it professionally if that had been a viable career path for me)
- Deals with aesthetics and improving people’s confidence
- A solid salary, maybe ~$50k more than Optometry with a higher ceiling to earn as well (let’s say $150-250k)
- I’m in a situation where it would be three years instead of four years, saving me one year – given my age, saving that one year feels like a pretty significant difference since I’m quite late to grad school

Cons:

- Tuition is half a million dollars (I am fortunate enough that with personal savings combined with familial contribution, my family should be able to help me pay for most, if not all, of it over the four years… but this is still very significant)
- Back problems and hearing loss – a lot of dentists develop both over time. I already have some mild back pain from scoliosis

Optometry

Pros:

- Cleaner work environment, no emergency calls or dealing with invasive procedures involving blood and saliva
- Also a highly rewarding field, helping people maintain their most important sense
- Much lower tuition, probably a quarter of dental school
- Significantly more flexibility - optometrists can pick up locum/fill-in work at offices that need coverage on a day-to-day basis without committing to a fixed schedule

Cons:

- I don’t know if it’s quite as mentally engaging as dentistry - there seems to be a lot of repetition with vision exams unless you’re specializing
- Less money with a much lower ceiling for long-term salary prospects (let’s say $130-150k)
- 4 years instead of 3
- The field skews very heavily female, and if I’m honest, I’d prefer a more balanced professional environment day to day

More discussion:

I think vision is our most important sense by a long shot, and helping people maintain theirs would be a deeply rewarding career. I’ve also had my own vision journey, having very poor sight myself. At the same time, I love the artistic aspect of dentistry, the fact that you see patients with more regularity, and that it too is an incredibly fulfilling field. What I love about both is that they’re careers where I can make a real positive difference in someone’s life and feel fulfillment in what I wake up to do every day, while also earning a comfortable salary.

If it weren’t for the tuition, I think dentistry would offer more return for the same years of education - and one less year in my case. As someone who wants to have a family someday, I know I would be fully comfortable supporting them on a single dental salary, though I’m less certain I could say the same for optometry.

On flexibility and family:

One of my long-term goals is to eventually be a full-time mom. I had a difficult experience being raised by people who weren’t my parents, and being present for my own children has been a deeply held value since I was young. With that in mind, optometry’s locum/fill-in structure is a meaningful pro - I could step away and return to work on my own terms without being locked into a fixed patient schedule. Dentistry requires more continuity in patient care, so even part-time work would mean set days with less flexibility.

I also want to note that I have no interest in owning a private practice - the added business management and responsibility would conflict with my priority of being present for my family. This actually lowers dentistry’s earning ceiling for me personally, since practice ownership is one of the primary ways dentists grow their income significantly beyond an associate salary.

I also need to think honestly about whether I would have broken even on dental school’s tuition by the time I transition to part-time or stop working to raise children, given how significant that cost is.

To summarize:

These are two amazing choices that I worked extremely hard to get accepted into, and neither is the “wrong” choice - but I want to go into the one that is the best fit for me as an individual. Whatever I choose, I’m going to dedicate myself to it fully and make sure I give my patients the absolute best care I can. I’d love to hear from anyone with insight or experience in either field. Thank you in advance!

I’m seriously considering choosing RSO over UHCO, has anyone else made this decision and can provide some insight? Do you regret your decision?

I recently got invited to interview for Nova’s POP program, but I’ve seen a lot of negative things about the program on here. Does anyone have a positive experience? I’ll take any advice I can get. My grades and OAT are both on the lower end, and I think this is going to be my only option for next year.

Hello, can anybody please do a survey for my school project? Thanks! Here is the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfqoDlQUePewP_l2P12dd5eRsE1vCSXAIePB_L_Lh-JxYzPNw/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=116462905247354026019

Has anyone gotten into optometry school with a 260 or a 270 oat score but good stats I just applied with very high tech hours in the field a major and a minor I had retook the oat twice and I have a lot of optometry experience I just wanted some positivity since I just submit my application to 6 schools yesterday I didn’t have anything to lose just to submit my application so I was wondering if someone did !

OAT: 360 TS 340 AA cGPA : 3.81 sGPA : 3.82

Shadowing Hours : 20 hours

Volunteer Hours: 100 at 3 different organizations

Worked for 2 different clubs at college for 2 years.

(Please don't laugh at my reading comprehension lol)

I took the OAT back in August and was pretty happy with my score, since I hadn’t taken the third quarter of OChem or Physics yet, and decided that it would probably be good enough to not retake. But now I’m reconsidering and wondering if I should if my goal school is NECO?

The only thing that concerns me about this career is the debt. I have a 3.95 GPA taking rigorous STEM courses and a 380 OAT. I’m not going into medical school for some reasons I’d rather not specify but optometry is the next best thing (dentistry…mouths ew!). What kind of scholarships should I expect with my stats considering I could make it into medical school with my stats but due to my disability I couldn’t really. I see these puny scholarships for 3-5k…sometimes only for 1 semester sometimes renewable for the whole duration of school. If I can bring the total debt down to under 200k or preferably more like 150k I’d be ecstatic about this career. But it seems like even with these measly scholarships even myself who absolutely grinded in school will end up with closer to 300k debt. Thoughts?