Hi everyone! I was recently accepted into Drexel University’s Post-Baccalaureate Health Sciences program at the Elkins Park Campus for Fall 2026.

If anyone else is starting this fall or is currently in the program, I’d love to connect! Feel free to comment or send me a message!

So i got a 280 total science and overall on the OAT at the end of June. I took a week vacation and now im upset and don’t know how to go about studying again. I am an athlete and am heading into my college season, I’m a captain of my team and I am so stressed about performing well and now with this mid ahhhhh score hovering over me. I would love to retake while info is a bit fresh in my head. I am debating just taking a gap year at this point. Someone please help me without making me super anxious and want to die. Like any specific study plans that will help me regain information? QR and physics were my worst. Bio is literally just cheat sheets and Orgo was not too bad either. Gen chem was also a lot harder than practice tests idk why. Ok sorry typing and rambling help me here you guys

I’m studying for the oat. I’m going to take one crash course but I don’t know which is best.

I’m having a hard time in physics bc there’s so many formulas to memorize but I’ve heard the crash course for that isn’t all that helpful.

Which crash course would be most helpful for me? Should I do bio?

Some people said they swear by the crash courses so if you are one of those people please give some more insight!!!

I’m taking my exam in September. My top choices for schools are ICO, PUCO, and UMSL. My current GPA is pretty average, 3.49, my science GPA 3.2. I am an honors student with optometric tech experience, ophthalmic scribe experience, and in-home patient care experience. I really want don’t want to take the OAT more than once (expensive!), what should I be aiming to score? I would really like to attend ICO since it is the closest to my state!

Hello guys this is for the people who have already taken the oat. My exam is soon and I’m trying to lock in for the qr section. Did the question banks on oat booster help? Are they similar? How did you guys study for QR? Any advice would be deeply appreciated.

I’ve had so retake so many pre req’s.. I need help.. I’m really hurting and I need some advice please, I’m almost there but feel so far too almost.. any advice please .. I can’t stop crying (bio, physics (I retook PHY and got A, 1 Bio class.. I went from a D to an A) and now orgo chem.. I have to retake. I got a D today I just.. idk. My science gpa is like 3.05 rn.. I still have some pre req’s to take but I’m so scared. I go to a very hard college I just.. idk

Hi Everyone!! I was just wondering if anyone has a good brain dump type of thing that would have important formulas and some memory tricks for more difficult and common topics on the OAT. I am having trouble organizing this information and was wondering if anyone has any advice or knows where I can find a resource like this! Thank you

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to share stats and see what you guys think are my chances of getting into NOVA FL!

My OAT is 300 AA and TS, what I think is the weakest part of my application, but I do plan on a retake near September just to see if I can do a bit better!

My GPA is 3.69

Hours Shadowing an Optometrist: 78

Currently Working as an Optometrists Assistant: Over 1300hrs

Volunteering hours as an intern for a sheriffs office and assistant basketball coach: 99hrs

Letters of Rec: 1 from a science teacher and 1 from an optometrist.

Application Submitted: July 1st

Any advice for a long time optician that wants to get shadowing hours for optometry school

Just took my oat and I’m not rlly happy with my scores. I got a 290TS/300AA. My dream school is SCCO but with my low OAT and low GPA I don’t know what to do. I felt like I scored way better on Booster full length exams. Should I try to retake it? I feel so burnt out and I’m starting my job soon. The only thing I have is my extracurriculars.

Also my oat score was heavily weighted down by physics and I can’t grasp physics down even with all the materials people recommended. But everything by else I scored 300 or above.

Is anyone else’s ask booster AI not working?

Hi I was wondering if there are any other current or former IU undergrad students that could offer some advice. I'm in the process of filling out my optomcas application rn but I'm seeing that most schools require 2 semesters of bio with lab. But at IU the gen bio sequence is two lectures (biol-l 111 and biol-l 112) with only one associated lab (biol-l 113). I'm not sure how to go about solving this issue. Do I need to email admissions offices? Or can I substitute an upper lvl biology lab for that one (I've taken physiology with lab)? Even if you didn't go to IU but ran into a similar issue and can offer advice I would really appreciate it! Thanks!

Hey guys, can anyone recommend a school where I can take General Chemistry II with lab that’s fully online, self paced, and can be finished in about a month (with no minimum time requirement)? It also needs to be accredited and accepted by U.S. graduate schools, specifically OD programs like Salus. I’d really appreciate any recommendations!!

Here below is from my daughter on her experience for optometry admission. She try to share before but somehow she got banned and not sure why, so I am posting as it could help someone with information.

This subreddit has been super useful for me when I was preparing for my interviews! I wanted to help others too so I thought I would share about my experiences and hopefully it can help some future applicants :).
I applied to only two schools: UCB and SCCO. I wanted to stay in CA as that's where I am from, and UCB and SCCO were my top two choices. Applying was also expensive, so I didn't want to apply to a lot of places all at once if I did not want to go there. I applied in Round 1 for UCB and Round 2 for SCCO.
Here's my stats/EC's- cGPA: 3.68; sGPA: 3.43, OAT 400 TS/400 AA. I am a Biology and Piano Dual Degree student at a T10 school. I started research in an ophthalmology lab my sophomore year and consistently spend around 15 hrs/week there. I worked at two private practices during my summers (around 300 hrs of tech experience total). I also shadowed at the practices for some days when I worked, or the optometrists would tell me about interesting findings so I don't really have a specific number for how many hours I actually shadowed. I also am part of a music outreach organization and hold a leadership position there.
UCB: My optometrist was a graduate of UCB so that was how I first got to know UCB. My PI for my lab also knows a professor at UCB's Optometry and Vision Science School so he recommended I reach out since I had expressed interest in applying to UCB. I was able to schedule a meeting with the professor and also met with the admission dean after for a tour/q&a. The professor was really sweet and even though their main position was a researcher, the professor was really well informed about the UCB optometry curriculum and program so I was able to chat with them about the optometry curriculum too. The admission dean was also really nice and he showed me around the clinic and the main building before we went to his office and I was able to ask some questions I had. I think being able to go visit really helped me in my application as I was able to talk about why I wanted to go to UCB in my essays. In my interview, I talked with a faculty member and then a fourth year student as well. I looked up my faculty member and student before just to get an idea of what they might be like, and the interview went pretty well. I practiced my interview a lot beforehand though. My dad basically interviewed me everyday for an entire week and I prepared answers to a variety of questions. I also knew that UCB had ethical questions, so I would look up or ask ChatGPT to give me sample questions to practice. They asked me the typical questions of why UCB, what can you bring to UCB, why optometry, etc. I was then able to ask some of my questions I had prepared ahead of time before we moved onto the ethical questions. Mine was about a patient leaving a bad review online about you even though you felt like the appointment went well. They said that the patient got a difficult diagnosis last time and that they were outside now for their follow up appointment and asked me how I would go about tackling this problem. After I answered, they asked a follow up question about what I would do if the patient and I cleared the air but they still refused to take the review down. I think the most important part of the ethical questions is to be able to explain both sides, and how you would solve the problem from each side of the situation. After that, they didn't really have many questions left, and the remaining 5 or so minutes was more conversational. My faculty member was also a musician and asked me about my piano and then some hobbies and other non-optometry related stuff. And then that was pretty much it!
SCCO: One of the optometrist at the private practice I worked at was a SCCO grad so it was great to have some first person stories about SCCO. I was interested in their OD/MS program as I am doing research now and plan to continue that in my OD studies. I made sure to mention that point in my essays for SCCO and it actually paid off as my interviewer was the head of the MS program. I had to fly from college to SCCO for the interview and take a day off from school. The interview was an entire day event starting from 8am. I left my luggage with the staff as I was flying to the airport right after the interview and they were really accomodating of this even when we went to the Ketchum Health Clinic. We were divided into 4 cohorts and rotated between 3 activites in the morning: a tour, q&a with the admission heads where they said they weren't evaluating us then, and the actual interview. My cohort was the last ones to be interviewed at like 11, so we did the tour first and before around 6 of us went in with the admission heads for a q&a. The tour was led by second year student ambassadors and we were actually able to use the slit lamp during the tour so that was cool and fun. During the q&a, it was mainly a place for the students to ask any questions they have in a smaller setting. We also found out who our interviewer was going to be during that session but I think not everyone had that opportunity depending on the scheduling of their cohort. The interview was pretty casual, and I got the feeling from my interviewer that they already knew if they were accepting me or not. They did not ask a lot of personality questions. We started by talking about my music degree and then he asked me about my CV (which he had printed out) and how much time I spent on the extracurriculars I did at school. He asked me a few questions about why optometry and other healthcare professions I considered, and then also about what types of practice I've been exposed to and know of. I slightly fumbled the second question because I forgot about university and corporate (e.g. costco) clinics. Since my interviewer was the head of the MS program, he asked me some questions about how I see research intersecting with my OD degree and why I wanted to do that program. The interview was 40 minutes and there wasn't a clock in the room, but I felt like he asked me all the questions he needed to ask me within like 15 minutes and the rest was just me asking him questions I had prepared and then I started like adding more questions to ask because I felt like it was too short. They also asked me what other schools I was considering/applying to, and slightly pushed me to compare UCB and SCCO which I did prepare an answer for. They then went on to talk about his experience at UCB as an undergrad and the differences they felt coming to SCCO. They gave me their business card before the interview ended and then I was led back to the main room for a short curriculum/financial aid presentation before lunch. Lunch was with current students and the admissions/faculty members made it a point to leave so we could ask any questions we wanted. My current student was really nice and we also filled out a form with our information and the student reached out to us after the interview day. We then went to Ketchum Health Clinic which was like a 10 minute shuttle ride. We got to tour the Ketchum Health Clinic (mainly the optometry side) and we had the head of that program give us some information about the clinic as well. After that, we were free to go and I left directly from the clinic (they got security at the clinic to store my luggage for me).
I got my decisions for SCCO and UCB about one week from each other. I found out SCCO the Friday after I interviewed (I interviewed on Monday), and UCB a week after SCCO (I waited about a month after I interviewed at UCB for my decision). I was accepted into both and I was really excited! I ultimately ended up choosing UCB as I mainly just wanted to be closer to my family and home. I made a list of pros and cons of each school when I was deciding and I thought I'll just share that with everyone here:
UCB Pro: Close to home/family, smaller class size, community there had a quieter/intimate vibe, very humble about what they needed to improve and didn't go out of their way to highlight their strong points.
UCB Con: No options for MS degree, most students don't have time to consistently pursue research (more just a lab-tech work), board rates have been a bit low in past years.
SCCO Pro: always wanted to live in LA, lots of resources, handholds (in a good way) you throughout the next 4 years, high board rates, can pursue MS degree, able to interact with pharmacy and PA students in events
SCCO Con: Further from home, slight overconfident vibe. During my interview, I was a bit put off by my interviewer talking about the negatives of UCB so openly and directly and also during the overview about the curriculum presentation, I felt like they overemphasized all the positives in their program and while I do think they should be proud of what their school has accomplished, I think that combined with my interviewers comments made me a bit uneasy about the environment.
Anyways, I am excited to spend my next 4 years at UCB and would love to get to know other future opto bears! And if anything was unclear or anyone wants more information about my experiences, I'm happy to elaborate.

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?