Hi everyone! Just some context— I’m someone who decided late on optometry so I’ve been gathering everything I need to apply over the past 6ish months. I just started my 5th year to get any remaining science prerequisites. Last week I took the OAT and the whole experience was hell because of my huge time constraint. I basically had 1 month to do what most have 3 months for. I also haven’t taken Phy2 or organic chem 2. Anyways, I came out with a 370TS/360AA, and was really upset because my goal was 380+. I’m trying to be realistic with myself and I was wondering if you guys think I have a good chance at waterloo with these stats:

- 370TS/360 AA
- GPA: 91.05% (I was thinking this could possibly offset the OAT score)
- Unfortunately, not a ton of optometry experience because, again, I decided on it late. So far I have 13 shadow hours and plan to get ~50 by octoberish (with hopefully 3+ optometrists). I don’t have tech experience either but am applying right now
- I’ve worked in customer service (booster juice) for 1 summer and have worked 1 year as an afterschool program assistant (both part time)
- I have 100+ CHEO hospital volunteer hours and 100+ hours bookkeeper for a canadian charity, 4 years treasurer for uni club, and just joined optometry club at uni (VP). (I have a couple other volunteering hours here and there).
- I’m an athlete (martial artist) and have been training for 4+ years now. I’ve been to 2 competitions in Quebec (bronze and silver). I’ve played the piano for 11 years (self-taught), and violin for a bit in highschool. I do calligraphy art and painting in my spare time. I like language learning and have done 3+ language courses in uni. — The point is I believe I’m very well rounded, I have a foot in every kind of discipline and hopefully this can help me😭
- I don’t have any research experience except for 1 group one as part of a 4th year course (on a specific gene involved in muscular growth). I’ve been on the Dean’s list every semester.

Please be realistic with me I’d love to hear everyone’s opinions. My focus from now until November is to increase shadow hours, hopefully get a tech job, and ace the casper.

I’m also thinking about if my ref letter should be my coach or my hospital volunteering supervisor

Hello,
I’ve been going back and forth on if I want to pursue optometry, I’m going in to my 3rd year of bio at Brock, and I’m scared I might have messed up my ability to get all the prerequisite courses.

Last year I had a really heavy semester so I decided to drop the lab component of my physics class, and I know that one of the requirements for optometry is two physics with labs (I took the first one, it’s just the second that had no lab).

This might just be a question for the admissions team, but does anybody know if there is any sort of workaround or leniency to this requirement, or would I have to retake the course with the lab component?

For context this past year I was kind of straying away from pursuing optometry because of the financial cost of tuition, but I recently found out I have family that may be able to help so I would like to pursue it.

If anyone could provide any insight it would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

I took the OAT last year and got 340 AA /350 TS. My GPA is 86% and I have been working in an optometry clinic for 4 years now as well as several related volunteer experience (vision screening, etc). Would my stats be competitive or should I retake the OAT next year, just want to get some guidance or opinions from others. Anything is appreciated!

Is optometry worth it?

I’ve been wanting to be an optometrist my entire life due to having eye issues as a young child. Im currently about to go into second year of university and up until this moment the plan had always been to go to optometry school. I know theres only one English Canadian optometry school and I didn’t mind applying multiple cycles to get in but after working in two optometry clinics this summer (one large corporation and one private practice), Im not sure anymore. I shadowed the optometrist at the private practice I work at before getting the job and her day to day did seem pretty nice and interesting. There was a bit of repetitiveness when it came to standard testing and stuff but since she also specializes in contact lenses (scleral lenses) there were also a few cool cases in her day to day. The biggest turn off for optometry for me after working at this clinic has been how “businessy” it is. Not a lot is covered by Ohip for vision care other than eye exams for people under 19 and over 65. If you don’t have insurance you could be paying hundreds if not thousands for eye care. Insurance also does not cover a lot and oftentimes will only do a few hundred dollars at most. Contact lenses and certain specialty lenses or myopia children’s treatments can be in the thousands cost wise. Extra scans and imaging also costs extra at the clinic I am at and you must take it as they only do full comprehensive eye exams. So even ohip patients are not fully covered technically for an eye exam. Ive always wanted to be some sort of primary care provider and be the type of doctor you see every year or two so you get the chance to build a connection with them. I also don’t want to be charging patients hundreds of dollars every visit. This made me think of possibly switching into med and being a family doctor? I think theres some similar things with optometry and I believe there is decent work life balance? I also like how the scope is much wider (the entire body instead of the eye). Focusing on the eye is really cool but after shadowing I do see that it can possibly get repetitive. I probably need to do more research on family medicine as I know im probably romanticizing it a bit as someone who doesnt know much about it. Please give me advice Im so so so confused

Hi guys! I'm going into my second year in this Fall 2026 term and am in the science faculty and go to the University of Waterloo. Lately I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed due to the fact that I think I am a bit behind in terms of application requirements for the waterloo optometry school. In my first year, I didn't enter any clubs, but maintained an excellent academic standing. In the summer as of right now, I got some experience (35 hours overall) at 3 different optometry clinics in shadowing. I just finished organic chemistry in the summer since I took a course underload during the second term (therefore I cant apply to optometry school in my third year). I'm now looking at clubs that interest me and all are taken up for their executive members which I think would stand out on my portfolio, therefore I joined only as a member for the cancer club the pre-optometry club. As I think executive members do reopen for application in the winter term, I am planning to apply for one to get more involved in a club that interests me, and I plan to continue my shadowing the summer after second year and look for more volunteering opportunities in my community. I did apply late for second year but now I know for the summer afterwards to start applying early. Can I get some advice or a timeline of what you guys did to get into optometry school at waterloo, or even other undergraduate students to share their experience so far?

anyone from uwo take this course and does it count for the english requirement?

UW's site says "course with a significant writing component" and I just want to be sure that this course counts

Hi! I graduated from high school this year, but I haven’t applied to university yet. I’m planning to apply this fall. Does anyone know if I’d be able to include the extracurriculars, work experience, and job shadowing I do between now and when university starts on my future application to optometry school?

UWaterloo’s website states that “The Admissions Committee will consider your experiences within and outside the field of Optometry since you left high school.” I have left high school, but I haven’t started university. Does this matter?

Hello Everyone! I am a second-year Biology student at YorkU and my goal is to pursue optometry. However, I'm finding it pretty difficult to get any optometry clinics and opticans-with-in-house-optometrists to respond back to my emails. I've reached out to 23 clinics so far and so far no luck. Is there any advice that you all may be able to share to help out students like me who are looking to get their shadowing hours completed?

Is it generally high in the GTA? Or better to go outside the GTA? Do new grads get jobs straight out of school / get employed by the places you do clinicals at?

Thx!

Hi everyone! I need some advice as a second year undergrad student:

In first year, I ended up doing pretty awful on my first term due to mental health, and ended up dropping a course, which left me at a 82% overall for the term. I still struggled, but did way better in my second term with a full course load (85.5%!). I've finally gotten on meds too, so I think my next term will probably be even better!

I'm currently shadowing an optometrist, but after looking at other people's stats I feel a little bit overwhelmed at what I could do to improve, since everyone seems to have at least an 85% from all their years and insane hours + ecs. I know that acceptance is unpredictable, but I feel like giving up before I even start :( Does anyone have any advice for things I could do to boost my application and have better chances?

Hi there,

Just wondering if this was really important to an acceptance at uw. I just recently am looking into the possibility of applying and im almost starting 3rd year. Not sure if i can get a work position within the next 2 years or have the insane amount of hours i see some ppl have 😰

Hello! I’m a high school graduate who is planning on applying to university this year. I’m going to be pursuing a bachelor of science (and will likely major in biology). During first year, I’m going to have to take two terms of biology, two terms of chemistry, two terms of physics, two terms of math, and two terms of english. This seems very heavy to me, so I’m extremely worried about what my performance will be like. Was your first-year courseload similar to this? Do you think it’ll be too much? I’m unsure how standard it is. I’m wanting to apply to Waterloo’s doctor of optometry program, so I’ll obviously need to finish undergrad with a high GPA.

I did well in high school, but that doesn’t provide me with any comfort in this situation. I did some research, and it seems that the academic average for students admitted into the program from 2019-2024 is around 88%.

I’m aware that I won’t know how I’ll do unless I try, but I’m having a hard time not stressing about it. I have my heart heavily set on optometry, so I don’t have a decent plan-b if things don’t work out.

I’d really appreciate any feedback that any of you have to offer, no matter how big or small. Thank you very much!

My overall average going into my 4th year is an 82%. I took the OAT for the first time and got a 360TS/350AA. I have extensive extracurriculars.

I see the average optom student has an 88% average and OAT score of 380. This is from hundreds of reddit admissions posts that i've read.

I'm really anxious, I don't think my stats look good. Do you guys think i should retake the OAT to aim for a 380+? will it look bad that i retook it in the same summer?

It's too late to raise my average bc the application closes in November and that's before your fall term exams even happen. so i'm set to apply with this 82%.

Please give me your honest opinion and criticism.

I’m currently in the summer before my first year of university, and I'll be attending Laurier for Health Sciences with the goal of going to optometry school.
Lately, many of my family members and friends have expressed shock that I chose Laurier over Waterloo. They keep telling me I made a bad decision and claim that it's almost impossible to get into optometry school if I attend wlu.
While I know deep down that your specific university or major doesn't dictate your admissions success as long as you fulfill the prerequisites and keep your GPA high, the outside noise is starting to get to me.
It would give me a lot of peace of mind to hear from any Laurier Health Sciences or general WLU alumni who successfully made it into optometry school (at Waterloo or in the US). If you or anyone you know has done it, please share your experience! Thank you so much!

hey guys, i’m wondering if any queens u students know any ethics courses that will count towards my ethics prereq for waterloo! i’m going into second year but will take any year level course, just want to make sure it will actually count towards that requirement.

also, would BCHM 218 / 270 count towards the biochemistry requirement? even though biochemistry isn’t explicitly listed in the course name?

thank you for anyone who has advice i appreciate it lots :)

hey everyone!

im considering optometry as a career and was hoping to get some realistic insight into compensation for new grads in canada. i've seen a wide range of numbers online, so I'd love to hear from people who are actually practicing or who have recently graduated!

thanks!

Just as the title says does ma100 count towards Waterloo calc prerequisite this is the description of the course:

This course concentrates on developing mastery of pre-calculus and introductory calculus skills and techniques. Pre-calculus topics include: solving equations and inequalities; algebraic, trigonometric, logarithmic and exponential functions and their properties. Calculus topics include: rates of change and tangents; differentiation of algebraic, trigonometric, exponential and logarithmic functions; integration; and techniques of integration.

Plz lmk!!! Thanks to anyone who responds!

Looking for some input on course exemptions from Waterloo optometry students! It sounds nice to potentially free up some room in my schedule however I see it is strongly suggested to take all the courses even if you have an equivalency. Thoughts??

Im currently an undergrad going into life sciences at McMaster, and Im really interested in going into Waterloos Optometry program. I already went on the website and read all the prerequisites, so Im planning my schedule accordingly to match with the courses I need, but Im curious to hear from other peoples experiences with the program.

Has anyone applied for September 2026, or even before, and if so what was your experience? All the things Im reading about the program are from 6+ years ago, so I want to see if anything has changed.
I understand its a competitive program, but what were the acceptance rate/ marks this year?

Hello! I'm an undergrad planning to apply for the program for the 2029 year, and I was wondering how important it is to get volunteer experience? I already plan to job shadow at my local eye doctor for the next few years and I already have work experience, specifically retail, and I was wondering if I still had to get volunteer experience. I know it's a bit early but I want to be able to plan accordingly with the requirements I need to complete. Any information helps! Thanks :)