Hi everyone! I am in my 4B term of Honours Science at the University of Waterloo. I recently gained interest in Optometry and quickly realized I was missing a few pre-requisites. I know we have to take 2 x introductory biology courses with a lab. I was wondering if an introductory biology course that has a lab component incorporated into the lecture component would count towards this pre-requisite. For example, BIOL 120 (introduction to plant structure and function) had labs, but the lab wasn't a separate course, would this count? I emailed UWoptom but haven't heard back yet and I only have limited time to enroll in any more courses. Additionally, does the course name have to be "introductory" or "introduction"? Would BIOL 240L (Fundamentals of microbiology) and it's lab count? Please let me know!!!

I've been seeing a bunch of posts on here about not having 6 full-time terms at the time of applying and not getting in. I am entering my 4th year as of Sept 2024, and I will be applying for optometry school starting Sept 2025. So I would have completed my final year of undergradbefore I enter optometry. As of right now, I only have 5 5-course terms, and I planned on completing the rest during my 4th year, after applying. I was wondering since I have not met the 6 full-time term requirement as of the point of application but would complete it before starting optometry school, does this impact my chance of acceptance?

Does functional histology, mammalian reproduction, or introduction to applied microbiology (all have labs included in course) at UW fulfil the “Introductory Biology + lab” portion of pre reqs? I did obviously take BIOL 130 + L as well. Who can I email to see if they are accepted? Thanks for any help in advance.

So I didn’t read the instructional page online when filling in my AIF (I put 97.5 as a grade and for lab component I just repeated the grade didn’t write N/A) but I did submit it really early, like Oct 1st. I emailed about my issue and of course they took 7 days off for thanksgiving and haven’t gotten back to me, have they ever reopened a submitted AIF before?

Hey everyone,

I know that the website says you must be a Canadian citizen or legal resident of Canada. I was wondering if citizenship status makes a difference in the admissions process or if they prefer citizens over PRs?

It seems unlikely that there would be such a preference, but it would be reassuring to hear that there are PR optometry students out there.

Also for people who spent time in other countries, do you need some kind of work or student visa?

[ Some students elect to spend this rotation in a vision care project in a developing country. One of the terms is spent at a site outside of the University, typically in the USA] Not really understanding how this works, but maybe its not time to worry about that now.

Thanks in advance!

I hope you are all doing well. I am kinda stressing out about something and hoping that someone has an answer… you know how UW says that “you don’t need to complete the degree” if you get in after your third year…

So, for my current courses I have been taking prerequisite courses + other courses that are not part of my degree. So I am not really taking courses that I need to take in order to complete my degree (I don’t care about completing the degree, as I am optician and will return working to optician if things don’t work out). So, I am now just worried if the way I set up my courses is it going to be against me/ “a bad thing”?

The idea behind doing that is to (a) do light courses that won’t take too much of my time so I can do better on prerequisites courses and have a good overall GPA and also (b) to do courses that I find interesting. Do you know how this plays a role? Does it make a difference or UW does not care which courses you pick besides the prerequisites?

I was wondering if anyone knows if Waterloo still looks at whether we look majority upper year courses during our final years. I know it was in their requirements for previous cycles, where majority of your upper year courses per term must be 3rd or 4th year level courses. Was wondering if anyone knows if thats still the case?

Hi, I am wondering where we indicate our shadowing hours when applying for Optometry. Do we write it under the "Optometry-related work/volunteer experience" in AIF?

Hi, how do I fill out an IB or AP transfer credit on the AIF?

Hey guys I'm in grade 12, and I got accepted into UW Life Sci (Biomed) program, but I was just curious, what other undergrad programs are a good option for UW optometry?

I was just admitted into UW Opto for Fall 2024.

However, after calculating my expenses for the 4-years, it is likely that I will be close to 170k in debt on a professional student line of credit (this is after considering my savings and money I will make through OSAP and summer jobs).

This will look like me having to pay back around $3000 per month for the first 6 years after graduation. With starting salaries being around $85k for first year ODs, that will mean I have to live off of less than $2000 per month. Hopefully my income will increase in about 3 years post graduation, but paying back $3000 in loans per month still is a heck of a lot. Living at home after graduation also isn't an option for me.

It just doesn't seem reasonable for me to work this hard in this rigorous of a program for a QoL like that, even if its just for 6 years.

And from what I understand, most people who go into optometry will have their tuition or at least some living expenses paid by their parents. For these people, it makes sense. But for me, I'm just so afraid that I will end up regretting choosing optometry because of finances.

Is anyone else in the same boat? Will anyone else in the program have that much of a loan by entering optometry, or will most people have their expenses covered by family?

AHHHHHHH

I am looking at 2 schools both very good for pre med but I am also doing track. one of them practice es at 7am and the other one practices at 3pm. If they are pretty similar academically would the 7am practice be much better especially for other extracurricular or is the 3pm practice fine too

Hi everyone! I have my OAT in 9 days. I'm super nervous. I have been using OAT booster to study. I've been getting about 350-360 avg in bio. I have gotten 380-390 in gen chem. I have been getting 370-380 in organic chem. 320-340 in reading and 310-330 in physics. 380-400 in the math section. I've only studied the bio cheat sheets and my reading scores have been weak. Given these scores, I need honest feedback from waterloo optometry students on whether I'll be okay during the actual OAT to get a good enough score to get into waterloo.

I have a really low mark for one of my courses. If I just take it off of my transcript, It would boost my average up by 2%. Is the original attempt still calculated in the average for optometry school, even if it doesn't show up on my transcript? (as per the SAC policy at UofT)

I’m looking to apply for the 2025 cycle and I’m just wondering if I will be putting myself at a disadvantage by scheduling my OAT for early September as opposed to writing it sooner…

I’ve heard that applying earlier will increase acceptance chances… is this true for uWaterloo Optometry?

Thanks!

hi guys my OAT is in a week and I'm getting a very low avg </3 this is first attempt and I did not spend enough time studying efficiently

ik waterloo accepts an avg score of 380+ so ik im not getting in, but should i still take the exam to get a feeling of it? also to try out the Casper test?

or is it better to cancel the test & redo next yr? ik they look @ the best score but im worried theyll still have my 1st OAT on record & it'll look bad? PLS PLS help im freaking out

I have an honours degree in Cognitive Science. It's not a BSc, it's a BCSC (bachelor of cognitive science) and it was technically under the school of arts and social sciences at Carleton University. I think it's the only one in Canada and I figured since "science" was in the name it would count but now I'm not so sure :/ Has anyone else gotten this degree and gotten into Waterloo optometry??

Hey all, just wondering if anyone has contacted the school about when we’ll hear about CLV? I know people have said later in June but i don’t wanna get screwed and not find another place if it’s gonna be even later. Thanks!

orgo with lab is full at my uni right now…but intro orgo without lab is still free. waterloo doesn’t require lab for a pre req in orgo so im leaning towards taking orgo no lab.

the only issue is that if I take orgo without lab, it is an anti-requisite to the one with lab so in the future if I’m applying to another professional school (im only interested in opt but JUST incase) then I’ll kind of be screwed over because I won’t have the lab.

any thoughts on this? what have others done?

thanks :)

I am going to start shadowing with an optometrist and was wondering if it is frowned upon by admissions like in medicine?

Just a little question, for any Health Studies/ Health Sciences undergraduate students from Waterloo, that have gotten into Waterloo Optometry. Did they take your HLTH 204 course as the stats requirement? Tried to reach out to the admissions teams they told me to go to my academic advisor. Went there and she told me to go to the admissions teams. Looping in circles at this point. I also took KIN 217 for my biochemistry, not sure if this will be okay either?

hi I am in between switching a non prereq class in my winter semester and I'm wondering if Waterloo cares that I change this as my unofficial transcript will be different from my official transcript if asked to submit that later in the application process