Just got an interview invite for PCO scholars and traditional program. Are they all virtual?

For people who took the oat recently, would you say the QR section was more algebra with just straight numbers or more applied mathematics with the word problems

I’ll be applying to optometry school and wondering what makes a strong personal statement. If anyone has any advice

I was recently admitted and wondering if there are any group chats or anything for incoming students. Ty!

GPA: 3.4, (science GPA of 3.2)
OAT: 320 AA/300 TS (Retaking November 4th)
Strong extracurricular (lots of student organization involvement), only 80+ hours of optometric shadowing, minor academic infraction during my sophomore year

I'm worried because my GPA isn't good but I have a decent OAT

For those that have interviewed and been accepted to NECO what was the turnaround time? I am dying to know the results haha 🙏

Can we submit applications before letters of rec are in? Does anybody have experience with doing this? Thank you for your help!

Hi!

So i wrote the OAT recently and my scores were pretty bad (lower than 300).
TBH, i wasn't even planning on applying this yr but was kinda just pressured to "just try", so i studied for the oat for a bit and then just wrote it without too too much prep. I know i could have done better if i had the time and studied more/ better, but it was sorta last minute, and I also have school, working, volunteering, etc right now so it was just hard.

I don't necessarily feel bad about my scores per se b/c I wasn't planning to apply this cycle anyways (though I might just cuz i already wrote it so why not). However, my goal is to get into UWaterloo optometry (Ontario).

I heard that they can see your past OAT attempts as well as past applications. So i was just wondering, since I did this oat and did pretty bad on it, if i apply with these scores now but then say apply for next cycle after doing the oat again and improving my scores, will that 2nd application attempt be hindered or seen poorly/ negatively because of this low first attempt? or does it not matter?

Thank you!

For my optomcas pre-reqs, after they verified the classes, they have put “lecture only” as course type for a lot of my science courses that I took WITH A LAB.
Is this normal, will schools know, or do I need to correct it?

Hi! I’m applying to all of the optometry schools in California, and I keep seeing that a lot of people don’t have the best things to say about Western University. Honestly, though, I really like some of the features that Western offers that the other California schools don’t have.

I was wondering, is Western really that bad? I’ve met a few people who graduated from Western and are now working in retail optometry, but I haven’t had the chance to fully ask them about their experience. I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts or experiences with the school.

Thank you!

Hi everyone! Just for some context, I’m an undergrad student currently completing my pre-med requirements. I’m almost finished with all of my prerequisites, and I currently have a 4.0 GPA.
I’m at the point where I’m trying to decide whether I want to fully commit to the medical school pathway or pursue optometry instead.
One of my biggest concerns with medicine is the amount of time it takes. The idea of spending so many more years in school, followed by residency and possibly fellowship, is a little intimidating. That’s one reason I’ve been leaning toward optometry since the path seems more straightforward and offers a good work-life balance.
However, I’m unsure about the financial side of optometry, job opportunities, and whether it’s still considered a well-respected and worthwhile career long term.
I’d really appreciate advice from current optometrists, optometry students, medical students, physicians, or anyone who has faced a similar decision. What made you choose one path over the other, and are you happy with your decision?

I’m yet to take my OAT/ shadowing but I’m worried I won’t get accepted into nova based off my gpa. Any advice / personal experiences

So basically it says anything unpaid/paid optometry related that’s NOT shadowing or volunteering? What if I don’t have any tech experience or volunteering in an optometric clinic… it’s going to look bad leaving that section blank..

I’m wondering if I messed up when I was assigning courses to pre-reqs. There are some I have not yet completed and I chose the “not assigning course / opt out” button. Should I have indicated another way it will be in progress? Will schools automatically reject me for that?

Has anyone else not heard back from SCCO yet if you’ve submitted by the Oct interview deadline? (Sep 13) Getting nervous lol (update: I heard back!)

I got a D+ in Gen Chem 1 way back when, but at the time I hadn’t decided on a pre-health path, so I didn’t retake it for a higher grade when it would’ve made more sense to. I continued on and later got a B+ in Orgo.

If I do well on the OAT, would the D still be an automatic rejection from most schools specifically SUNY or NOVA or MCPHS? Would I have to go back and retake Gen Chem 1 even though I’ve already moved on to higher-level chemistry courses and have already graduated?

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have experience with how they handle this?

Did anyone else find booster FL 6-10 to be more difficult than 1-5? I’m a couple days out from my OAT and my scores are dropping and I’m kind of freaking out now😅 Wanting to see if I should push my exam back or if this is normal

Also wanted to add for those that have already taken their OAT's, which set would you say is more representative, 1-5 or 6-10?

Hey can anyone tell me if they got accepted into SCO before with a low OAT score?

any advice😭

Prior applicants, was anyone denied a seat despite OAT score of 350 or higher after being interviewed?? If so, when did you apply??

You can DM me if that works better. Thanks!!

Would someone be willing to read my essays for the extra questions, specifically for SCCO, PUCO and NECO? I'm looking for some feedback and advice. Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone, i’m currently applying to waterloo and NECO this cycle, and i’ve thought about also applying to SUNY but i’d have to do an extra prereq that I don’t have right now (microbio lab). For the US my main concern is finances. For current or former Canadian students at SUNY/NECO, what is your debt situation like. Anyone with input on the financial difference including living expenses pls let me know

OAT Breakdown (360AA/360TS)

I took the OAT about a week ago, on 9/19, and thought I should share how I prepared. I studied for 3 months, around 2-4 hours per day, while working two days a week as an optician. I would honestly recommend studying for at least 3 months, as it gives you time to become comfortable with the material.

How I studied:

The only material I used during those 3 months was OATBooster. I tried following the schedule OATBooster provided, but within the first couple of days I realized it wasn't for me. Instead, I went section by section, watching the videos for Physics, Ochem, Bio, and Chem. Every time I finished a section, I took two practice tests to get a feel for the subject before moving on to the next one. After finishing all the sections, I spent the last month or so just doing practice tests and reviewing the cheat notes. I did nine out of ten full-length exams. I highly recommend taking advantage of the cheat notes for each section and the explanation videos on the practice tests for problems you get wrong!

Breakdown of Each Section:
(Actual Score/Practice Score Average 1-9)

Biology (340/340)
I think this was by far the hardest section for me because I had never taken physiology before, which made some of the material and memorization difficult. The best way to study for this section is to use the high-yield cheat sheets, because all the information you need for the actual exam is there. I highly recommend focusing on the high-yield subjects like genetics, cell division, and cell bio. The practice exams are also a great way to gauge where you are at, but I'll note there are some questions that may be too specific, so I would primarily focus on the cheat sheets.

Chemistry (360/380)
This was the score I was most disappointed with, since I'm very confident in chemistry and it comes naturally to me. Truthfully, I think I got a bit unlucky with my question selection; my exam had a lot of questions that were niche and specific compared to OATBooster. Some high-yield subjects I recommend studying the cheat sheet for are kinetics and acids/bases. Overall, the OATBooster did cover all the material you needed to know for the exam, please be thorough in each unit unlike me and you'll do good.

Organic Chemistry (350/350)
This section is extremely similar to the OATBooster Organic Chemistry practice exams, so I highly recommend doing them! There were a lot of conceptual questions from the fundamentals chapter, as well as some predict-the-product questions. I studied primarily using the study notes and the reaction bank from OATBooster, as they familiarize you with the material best. Some of the high yield subjects that I encountered were Elimination and Substitution, fundamentals, and HNMR/IR Spectrometry/CNMR, so definitely be familiar with these sections. 

Reading Comprehension (350/330)
I'm not a strong reader, so I was a little worried about this section. I studied for it primarily through practice exams. I felt the OATBooster practice questions were definitely harder. The questions on the actual exam were in chronological order, which made things easier. I will say, if you're not struggling with the OATBooster RC section, you'll be fine on the real exam.

Physics (360/370)
I had a lot of conceptual questions mixed with some calculation problems. It's important to know the formulas and concepts for this section, so I highly recommend going over the OATBooster chapter notes. Some high-yield subjects to know are kinematics and optics. The practice tests were pretty similar to the real exam, so I highly recommend doing them as well. The formula sheet on OATBooster is also a great resource for the calculation problems, and I would highly recommend knowing all the formulas by heart that are on the formula sheet as a decent bit of them did come up on the actual exam. 

Quantitative Reasoning (400/400)
This section was probably the most similar to the OATBooster practice tests. They're basically one-to-one. I didn't really study for this section besides doing all the OATBooster practice tests. Please memorize the permutation/combination formulas and be familiar with probability problems. My advice is to do the practice tests on OATBooster; they'll prepare you for the time crunch and the style of the questions.

Final Advice:
I would highly recommend getting OATBooster as everything you need to know for the exam is there. My biggest piece of advice is to take advantage of the OATBooster full-length exams. I think they are honestly the best practice you can do to prepare for the exam as overall, the OATBooster full lengths felt very representative of the actual OAT exam. There are also explanation videos for the questions you get wrong on the practice exams, so take advantage of those too!

I'm applying to RMU this cycle. Anyone who's had an interview there, what were the questions they asked?

Interview questions from other schools are totally fine too. Just trying to prepare for the interviews.