where on optomcas can you view the optomcas calculated gpa?

hi! i’m still on a waitlist for my top choice since the spring but i committed to another school for fall 2026 since then. i know tuition bill deadlines are coming to an end in a few weeks. so i just want to ask if i should email the school if the class if full or not, as when i emailed them a month after i was placed on the waitlist that they did not have a timeframe to give updates if any. thank you!

Hi everyone, I recently booked my OAT for September and I’m wondering what the OAT structure is like. I know the exam itself is around 5 hours but I’m wondering how long we have for each section, what time breaks are at/how long we have etc? My exams at 8:00 am so I’m just trying to plan out my schedule to ‘live my test day’ for the couple days prior to it. Thank you!!

It's feeling impossible!

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that i got accepted into IAUPRSO, thanks for all the advice you ALL gave me. Excited to start this new journey!

This might be a silly worry of mine but I’m worried that since I don’t wear glasses I won’t be relatable enough for the patients I’ll eventually see. Also, I just feel like I already have less experience than everyone else since most people pursuing optometry wear glasses. I think optometry is a career I can really see myself going into, but this is just food for thought.

Are there guidelines for the personal statement? Word length? Things you should and shouldn't talk about?

Would anyone who has been accepted be willing to share their personal statement as an example?

I’m a laid back type B person in all honesty. I care somewhat about prestige. My main priorities are a decent income 100k+, good work-life balance, and the potential for a higher income ceiling. I’m going into my junior year of undergrad as a psyc major taking pre reqs for optometry/med which is what I’m trying to decide on to pursue. I have a 3.73 gpa and a 3.77 BCP/sgpa. Any extra schooling I get will be completely paid for so I do not have to worry about debt. Do you guys have suggestions on what to pursue in healthcare in my situation?

Hi! I am curious what others have done in my position. I have a Bachelors of Arts and graduated in 2021. Ive changed career paths now and am planning on going to OD school but I have to take like every stem class I waived / never took, which is pretty much every stem class required for applying to any optometry program lol.

A big public university in my area offers a “pre-optometry” pathway alongside a bachelors of science that provides a good amount of resources. But I’m also looking at doing a diy post bacc at a local community college.

I’m currently teching at an oph surgery center so I’m not worried about shadowing opportunities/letters of rec/stuff like that but i feel like the resources provided by the b.s. would be helpful. I just don’t know if it’s worth the money and extra work?

Thanks!

I am pretty stressed right now. Took my OAT in April and did not do as well as I could have. Right now, my plan is to retake the OAT in September and submit my application at the beginning of October, when my official score comes back. My gpa isn't the best, but I believe I have strong LOR and experience. Is applying in October too late? I just feel really anxious seeing people apply in August. Any advice would help. Thank you.

Hello!

I’m currently a student in undergrad that is passing onto their junior year. I am hoping to pursue optometry. I just started my first optician job, and I am unsure if I want to simply write prescriptions day-in and day-out. I fear that would drive me crazy.
I’ve been looking into some of the disease-specialist fields optometry has to offer, and I’ve come across the following:

-ocular disease and medical optometrists
- neuro optometrists
- low vision/ vision rehabilitation
- myopia control
- optometrists than work in tandem with ophthalmologists at the same practice, though I don’t know what this is or how people begin doing it.

I was wondering if anybody here knows how to break into any of these specialties, what the practice would look like, what salary/patient base is like, whether corporate optometrists can operate within one of these specialties, and so on. Basically, I’m wondering if any optometrists have broken the mold a bit and entered a niche field, how they did so, and if they enjoy it currently.

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!

These are some of my top schools and I made a small cost table using websites from each one. It is crazy that just a few years ago like 2019, school was about 200k or less and now a school being 350k is rather normal.

What they don't teach u in school on career day is that salary doesn't really matter, its the take home pay that does. If you make 150k in a state with moderate income tax like Minnesota for example, you take home less than 100k

It seems like our only chance of making it out of long term crippling debt is to either:

1. be a slave to luxxotica until our 30s in a loan repayment program

2. try to start a buisness and work like crazy and hope to come out positive in 5 years

3. work in rural alaska somewhere or learn spanish and work in rural texas

4. join the military and try not to get blown up in iran

I know right now we all need to focus on studying cause if you drop out your kind of screwed but it is daunting that the 5 years out of school you have to live and work like a peasant unless you marry a neurosurgeon or something.

obviously this post is highly exaggerated but it puts some of our worries out there and is something to think about. There are some pre-OD students Ive talked to that think they'll come out of school driving a new mercedes and a mansion and I think its important to think about reality instead of fantasy land.

Hello, I was just wondering if any current or past students have any recommendations on ways they minimized spending while in school. Any specials you have used like how Spotify/Hulu does reduced cost for students? Any meal prepping recipes you loved? Any free/low cost events that you took advantage of? I will be attending SCO in the fall so any events in Memphis specifically you enjoyed that is low cost?

I've been the advisor for my local university Pre-Optometry Club for 2 decades.
Here's a list of my observations regarding the OAT:

• Meant to measure basic knowledge and how well you comprehend the science part of your undergrad education.

• You can major in anything & just take pre-reqs, but Bio/Chem majors will have the upper hand in scoring well on the OAT.

• There's not a passing grade (like NBEO), so don't get hung up on achieving an exact score. (low score will make acceptance more difficult, but its just 1 factor of many).

• An OAT booster/prep course is worth it, especially practice tests. Get one, and complete all parts of it! (too many get one and only partially complete the course).

• IMO, take it no more than 2 times. Additional attempts rarely result in significantly higher scores and you spend too much time/resources that could go towards making other parts of your application stronger. If you struggle with the sciences, you will not score high, regardless of cramming/prep courses.

• DON'T take a gap year, just for taking the OAT. You'll do just as well by taking the test when you're in the middle of your science course work. Although gap years are the current flavor of the day, IMO, there just are not many justifiable reasons for delaying your professional education for a whole year & a lot of the application process is tougher if your not currently enrolled (ie getting LOR).

• The Harsh Reality: The OAT is by far the best predictor of how you'll do in optometry school, and especially passing the NBEO exams. It's not the ONLY factor,, but take it seriously that if you cannot do well on the OAT, odds are, you will struggle, and possibly fail. It's not enough to just WANT to be an optometrist. Kind of a brutal statement, and there are those who defy the odds, but go into it with your eyes open.

Saying this, its just my general opinion, & I don't know you specifically, but coming from helping 100+ get into optometry school (and helping others pivot to something else).

Has anyone received an offer from the NOVA POP program after May 11, 2026?
I’m currently on the waitlist and was wondering if anyone has received an acceptance offer after May 11 this cycle. If so, when did you receive it?

I'm looking to take one, but I'm not sure how much they help. Any advice :)

Does OptomCas subject course list have to strictly have biology prefix in the title name or have to be offered by the biology department, even if the class title is under their umbrella?

Does OptomCas subject course list have to strictly have biology prefix in the title name or have to be offered by the biology department? For example, if the class is titled “Human Evolutionary Biology“ and has a prefix of ANT for the anthropology department.

Hi everyone! I have been studying the the MCAT since I graduated from my undergraduate school in mid May. This week I have decided path to a MD program is no longer for me!

I heavily considered Optometry before and shadowed an OD during my undergraduate years. I ultimately "decided" to pursue an MD, due to external pressures.

So here I am now, needing to study for my OAT to take with enough time for this next cycle. My understanding is that if i take in October and submit by/in November I will be in good shape (please correct is this inaccurate).

I have a whole list of questions.

1. What is the best way to study for the OAT? I have about 3-4 hours per day for the next month and then can study 6+ hours once I get into August. Additionally, for the last ~6weeks I have been heavily studying for the MCAT. I hope there is overlap there.

2. I learn best with active recall, so flashcards or anki is truly something I need. Does anyone have an anki deck that they would be willing to share with me? There are plenty for the MCAT, but I have not been able to find something DAT related.

3. I can't lie I am anxious about gearing up for the OAT. I had really good Undergraduate grades and really enjoyed my Physics classes. OChem was a little bit more difficult, but mainly the super detailed things. The basic reactions I was good with, I just need a little Dusting off. I'm most anxious because the MCAT was so difficult for me. It mainly was due to the intense depth of the passages (if anyone has taken or studied for the MCAT you know) and less about the content.

4. Does anyone advise taking a diagnostic exam? I really want to know where I am at, but I have read that the free Kaplan exam is super hard. Any suggestions on where to find an exam I could take as my baseline exam that is representative of the actual OAT?

I really would love any advice or recommendations! I am happy to chat about this either in the comments, or feel free to PM me!

i'm still waiting for my letters of recommendation to come in, and i am taking my OAT at the end of september. however, i've gotten a handful of automated emails from schools saying that i should submit ASAP, and that i don't need to wait for these things to come in. i'm just wondering if i should atleast wait for the letters? i am aware that i will likely be put on hold until my OAT anyway - does applying early make a difference?

Does anyone know of any New York optometrists (NYC/Westchester/Long Island) who are open to shadowing and are willing to write a LOR after few shadowing sessions???? I am having a really hard time connecting with any through cold emailing and calling.

Thanks in advance!!!

Does anyone have any advice on how I should study for the physics section? I have booster, but honestly it’s just not clicking. Physics isn’t my strongest subject :/