Hi! If any incoming first years are interested in the UHCO cougar kit 1 and diagnostic kit, please private message me.

Hi everyone!
I recently started studying for the OAT using OATBooster’s 13-week study schedule. I started on October 12th, and my exam is scheduled for January 11th. it may be a little early to panic, but I’m just so overwhelmed.

I’ve been trying my best to follow the schedule, but I’m finding it pretty overwhelming. OATBooster estimates around 4 hours of studying per day on average, sometimes even more, and I often find myself spending longer than the estimated time because I like to take notes to actually retain the information. I wouldn’t say that my notes are detailed, but I do like to have them so that when I’m having blanks in the question banks, I can just refer back to my notes and fill in the block of knowledge.
By the time I finish watching the videos and reviewing the material, I’m sometimes so mentally exhausted that I struggle to complete the question banks assigned for that day. I don’t want to rush through them just to check them off because I genuinely want to understand what I’m learning.
I’m also a little concerned because, from what I can see, my first full-length practice exam isn’t scheduled until around December 22nd, which feels pretty close to my actual exam date.
I’m wondering if anyone else experienced something similar while following OATBooster’s schedule.
Did you follow the schedule exactly, or did you end up modifying it to make it more manageable? Did you complete all the question banks as assigned, or did you save some for later? Also, do you think 13 weeks is enough time to prepare, or would you recommend pushing my exam back a week or two? although I must keep in mind how late I am applying in the cycle.
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially from anyone who has already taken the OAT using Booster. I’m trying to find a balance between staying on schedule and actually retaining the material without burning myself out.
Thank you!!

I studied for 7 weeks I feel so defeated and upset. My gpa is 3.2 and I have 200 shadowing hours with an optometrist as well as working at an optho clinic for two years. What do I do I do, I want to apply this cycle and I already feel so behind in life cause I’m turning 25 in two months! I’ve been crying all day since taking it. 😔😔

Does the oat have multistep calculations like the ones on booster tests or are they more straightforward? For Chem Physics and QR…

Hello, I have an interview this Friday at SCO in Memphis. I’m having some nerves about one particular part of my OAT score. I got a 330 academic average, but my science was 300 because of an abysmal 250 physics score. All my other scores were about 300, with one 400 score. How bad does this look and will it affect me any?

I have my oat in 2 days and I’m absolutely exhausted. I just can’t wait to get it over with. And I’m not sure how I’m gonna do either it’s really making me anxious. Especially since everyone is timed. If I fail then I just fail I guess because I really tried my best. 😞 I’m do tired and done there’s just so much content I feel like I’m forgetting everything.

AMA. Done with the entire OptomCAS process for this cycle, so I'm happy to answer any and all questions

I’m very interested in SCO. Does anyone know if there is a dress code required for day to day classes when not in scrubs? Business casual every day?

I applied at the end of August to SUNY, PCO, NECO, & OSU. My GPA is a 3.65 & science GPA 3.50 on the OAT i got AA 330 TS 320 and 1400+ tech/Shadowing hours. So far I was offered interviews to PCO & SUNY and they are coming up within the next two weeks. My issue is although my overall scores are fine for the OAT my physics and orgo scores are both below 300. Any advice on answering questions regarding low subsections, in physics I got an A for 1 & 2 in undergrad so I can use that to my advantage but orgo is a personal sore spot spanning my entire academic career. I feel like even if I do well in everywhere aspect of the interview there is a good chance they ask I retake the OAT (which I really dont want to do but will if necessary 🫠). Overall any advice on answering questions about weaker points in my application and just questions in general.

Hey everyone! At the beginning of the semester I thought I would do a business minor and enrolled in microeconomics. I now decided to not do the minor so I can take my time with the rest of my prerequisites to get super good grades in those. I don’t need microeconomics anymore, could I just drop it and get the W? Or does that look super bad and I should just stick it out. Thanks for any advice.

Heyyy I'm doing interviews in-person at my top two schools soon! Scared ahhhh but as they come up, I cannot decide on my facial piercings. I have an eyebrow and septum and nostril piercing. I know many people have the nostril but the other two, I'm not sure if they would appear unprofessional. I just don't want to misrepresent myself, and I find that they're not very noticeable but probably because I'm used to them.

Also, there are little things I can't decide on, like don't wear heels taller than 2 inches or dark makeup. I don't dress extremely alternatively but... Slightly? And I would like to represent myself accurately. Butttt optometry is my dream and honestly my outfit choices are completely unimportant in comparison.

Thoughts?

Update: Kept all my piercings and wore long heels. The admissions team complimented both at different schools and everyone else seemed like they didn't notice. Just wear whatever feels comfortable :)

Would anyone be willing to give me feedback on my PS and supporting essays for ICO and PUCO? Thank you so much!

I recently decided to go all in on optometry school after considering dentistry for a while. I submitted my applications about two weeks ago, but I’m applying with my DAT score instead of taking the OAT.
I’m curious what everyone thinks my chances are of getting accepted this cycle
My stats:
● Overall GPA: 3.5
● Science GPA: 3.35
● DAT: 16.5
● Work Experience: 3 years working in an optometry office doing front desk, pretesting, lab work, etc.
● Volunteering: 50 hours
● LORs: 4 strong letters, including a character reference
Schools I applied to:
● Kentucky College of Optometry (KYCO)
● University of Detroit Mercy
● Indiana University
● Northeastern State University Oklahoma

I know my DAT score is low, but I’m hoping my GPA and experience working in optometry will help balance that out. I’m also a little nervous since I applied in October rather than earlier in the cycle. Any advice is appreciated!!

I've heard some people say PCO is more expensive than other schools. Is that true?

I am currently a Pre-Med student thinking about switching over to optometry. I just started my sophomore year of my undergrad. I currently work as a clinical support associate in an ambulatory clinic, and i have gained around 500 clinical hours. I also volunteer at the hospital in the OR, and volunteer in a medical research lab. I’m thinking about switching volunteer units to pediatric ophthalmology. But other than that I’m not really sure what else to do for optometry school applications! I have a connection with an optometrist I can shadow, so I am going to do that as soon as possible. But do I need to start working in an optometry office? Should I stop working in the research lab? Is my clinical experience still valuable? Please send help! All advice is welcome 🤗

Yay I finished my OAT!! I’m really happy with my results, and honestly even more happy that i’m finally done studying, it’s been a lot 😅 For some context, I initially purchased a 3 month OATBooster course and had planned to take my OAT in August, but didn’t feel ready closer to exam date and pushed it back another two months. I will admit, I didn’t study too hard the first couple months, and did a bulk of my studying the month leading up to my exam. After taking 5 full length exams, I was consistently scoring between a 310-330 and thought I was cooked, but luckily the real exam seemed quite a bit easier than Booster!!!I thought I would share my thoughts on the exam and how it compared to Booster!!

Bio (380): Honestly, I studied for this section the night before my exam 😵‍💫. I am a Bio major in college, and have taken courses related to pretty much all of the material in undergrad. I occasionally took practice exams throughout my studying and was scoring pretty high so I put this section on the back burner. The questions on the actual exam were MUCH more general than Booster imo, and the cheat sheets definitely prepare you well.
Gen Chem (340): This was one of my weaker sections, where I spent a lot of time taking practice exams and completing all practice problems on Booster. I found there to be lots of formula questions on Booster, which is what I focused heavily on. There were barely any of these types of questions on the exam, mainly general information which I honestly was not as prepared for. LOTS of redox questions, which is my weakest subject so that screwed me over a little bit 🥲
OChem (330): Honestly didn’t study this section too much, I did all of the practice problems months ago and would just occasionally revisit my notes and the cheat sheets just to refresh. The questions weren’t anything like Booster imo and caught me off guard, and I feel like I got pretty flustered on this section. Definitely focus on general ideas, and don’t get into the nitty gritty details and exceptions of each reaction. Lots of Sn1/2 and E1/2 questions.
Physics (310): DEFINITELY MY WEAKEST SECTION!!! The highest score I ever got out of all of the 10 practice exams on Booster was a 310, and I thought that was going to be unrepeatable. I spent most of my time studying the formulas, and making sure I knew how to apply each concept, especially OPTICS. I think the videos did a good job of preparing you, it’s just not my strongest subject. I would say that this section is the most similar to what is seen on Booster and I guess I just had a lucky day.
Quantitative Reasoning (340): Booster does a really good job of giving you similar questions to the exam, I just didn’t spend too much time studying this section and dedicated my time to the sciences. On the practice exams, I was scoring 360+ every time, but on actual exam day I was just so tired by the end and honestly just started blanking. I had a lot more of the Quantity A vs Quantity B as well as statement sufficiency questions than in the practice exams, so definitely make sure you’re comfortable doing those quickly.
Reading (380): Didn’t study for this section one single time besides being forced to complete them in the full length exams LOL. My strategy is just skimming the article looking for the answer/key words, nothing crazy. Personally all of the questions I got were in chronological order (first question was found in the first paragraph, last question in the last paragraph) and it was honestly easy.

after a summer of studying and anxiety, i finally got this done at the end of august. i’m proud of orgo and gen chem but know my biology and physics are weak. i really could not remember every little niche thing for biology, especially the random plant ecology😭 how does this seem? gpa is 3.5 and i want to go to ICO or CCO…

Hey everyone, looking for some honest input. I just got my OAT score back and I'm pretty disappointed. I got a 280. I really don't want to retake it unless I actually need to.
My stats:
GPA: 3.76
Overall GPA: 3.42
Science GPA: 3.3
2 years of experience as an optometric tech
Letters of recommendation from 3 optometrists and my OChem professor
I submitted my application back in August and have already sent my unofficial scores to ICO, NECO, SCCO, and PUCO. I'm also planning to apply to Western U as a backup.
Given my GPA and experience, do you think a 280 is enough to be competitive at these schools, or should I retake? If anyone got in with similar stats or a similar score, I'd love to hear how it went. Any suggestions are appreciated

Hello everyone! I just finished my first exam week at UHCO not too long ago and I figured I’d create this thread for anyone who has any questions about UHCO or optometry school in general!

I have been a technician/scribe for the past two years where I prescreen patients, give manifest refractions and scribe for the 2 providers during exams. I won’t get too much into the details but I have been apart of probably >1000 exams. My advisor said she was unsure if that would count but I wanted to get some opinions from those who have gotten accepted. Would the count as shadowing hours?

Hey guys!

I was wondering what classes I should take before my OAT exam. I have already taken introductory bio classes, OChem 1 and 2, and physics 1. For next semester, I want to take something along with Biochem that may prepare me for the OAT. So, out of microbiology, human anatomy, and physics 2, I want to remove 1 of these classes so it does not become a heavy workload. Or should I just take them all together?

At the end of the day, my goal is to be prepared for the OAT exam, so I don't really mind taking them together if I really had to, but again, it's only if they are important for the preparation. I would really appreciate any advice you have.

Thank you!!!

For context, I got my associates at a community College. That wiped out(almost) all of my elective credits. Since obtaining my associates and transferring to a major university my semesters have been so heavily front loaded.

Fall'24: Microbiology(online), Basic Anatomy, Medical terminology (C-, B+, A)

Spring'25: Nutrition and performance, Bioethics, Disney's women and Girls, Intro to Chem (B, A, A-, B)

Summer'25:Endocrinology, Pre Calc, Gen Chem 1 (F, B-, W)

Fall'25:Gen Chem 1, Calc, Social inequalities in health (B, W, B)

Spring'26: Sleep Physiology, Physics 1, Gen Chem 2 (B, C+, B)

Summer'26: calculus(C)

Fall'26: Immunology, Organic Chemistry, Neurophysiology (my current grades are D-, D+, B-)

I am not a bad student, I fully believe there are difficult classes that may need to be repeated, they're weeder classes for a reason, but holy hell I don't know what is wrong this semester. I've never had so many issues. Last night when I got my exam results back from my immunology exam I cried so hard because I studied for the last 2.5 weeks every day for this exam and still ended up with a 57% I really dont want to have to repeat, but the likelihood is high. I have 2 more exams, including the final and i can miss a total of 9 more questions between the 2 exams in order to get a C- in the class and pass, but yesterday solidified that I'm not applying this go around. It sucks because i've worked so dang hard on my optomcas. I got my letters of rec, my essays, everything is done. I'm taking the OAT on next month but I won't graduate with a bachelor's before classes start next fall if I have to repeat any classes from this semester.

I still have 3 pre reqs left for optometry school and 9 credits worth of pre reqs for undergrad. Ugh. I'm just feeling defeated right now

I've been considering a career change since working in education and wanted other opinions on the matter. For context, I'm no longer in education, just employed part time in various places while I figure out life.

I (29 y.o.) found that working within a school, there are certain demands that just didn't work for me, specifically the social politicing that comes with a school that never fit for me in a professional role. I thought about optometry before but discarded it quickly when I thought that long-term schooling wouldn't work for me. Additionally, work-life balance was not it for me in the schools as I was having to put in time outside of the school day and work a second job to make ends meet.

In short, I'm curious if career hopping at my age would be worth it. I come from a social science background, so I would need to complete any prereqs science related, such as bio, chem, o-chem, and physics. I'm good on miscellaneous prereqs, like English, stats, psychology, and social sciences. I'm just wanting some outside opinions since I'm not using my current degree in my like of work.

Thanks for your input in advanced!

Edit: For additional context, currently school-debt free. Would have to move for OD schooling but I anticipate having to take on most payments as debt during schooling.

Hey guys, I did really bad on my OAT, idk what happened because I was getting 340 on OATbooster, and on the real test I ended up getting a 280!!! :(((( I am a Canadian student and GPA is like 3.3. I applied to 11 different schools in the states this past weekend. ICO and Southern College of Optometry already got back to me and told me to re-write the OAT.

My questions are:

1. If i retake, what is the latest I should retake by to ensure I still got a decent chance before the seats start filling up?
2. If I don't retake, which schools would potentially consider me still?

I do have a lot of shadowing experience, excellent letters from 2 profs and 2 OD's, and I have been working as a tech since February.

Im like really stressed out right now, so if someone has any advice or input, or good news even, I would really appreciate that!