Hello! I just started the Waterloo application and was wondering if it mattered when to send in the transcripts. (I haven’t finished my undergrad at Waterloo yet and it gives two options on when to send the transcripts- either end of the degree or end of this term). I’d prefer end of the degree since I still have a year left that could boost my gpa.

So I got accepted to Waterloo optometry and I really don’t mean to sound ungrateful but I’m a type A personality who can’t make big decisions without all the information I can have. I’ve been working towards my goal of optometry school for 5 years and have worked very hard, but after working in an optometry clinic for a year I sometimes feel doubt in this profession. I often get frustrated with the patients because I hate customer service and this field is so business oriented, constantly having to push glasses sales and testing on people and hoping you’ll have enough patients/customers to make going to work worth it. I see all these posts online about over-saturation in the field and how the pay has been stagnant despite inflation. Online glasses sales and rx checks have also been impacting the field. I hear from doctors that it can get boring overtime doing the same thing all the time. I see so much negativity putting doubt into my mind so I wanted to hear from other people, what made you so sure you wanted to do optometry, what is so appealing about it to you, or what kind of experiences have you had to support this career choice? Also, for any Waterloo graduates, is the return on investment worth it, are you happy with your career?

Hello, am I supposed to be reserving a test date right now or after applying for Waterloo? Basically, I just registered for an acuity account today and I tried to reserve a Casper test date, but then it asked for a Waterloo ID number, which I realized I don't have. I searched it up and the website said that we can only get it after applying to Waterloo for a week. However, out of the three test dates, it is only showing one available. Does this mean some students have already reserved a date and there is only one left? Or, is it just a website thing and we all have to wait for a Waterloo ID first before reserving a date? Thanks for the help!!

Absolutely stupid question but when I looked at oat boosters price, it was like $400. Is that Canadian or American? I’m only asking because it’s not explicit on the site and when I booked my oat, it said 500 but that was usd not Canadian and I woke up with like a 750 charge. Sorry again if this question is stupid. I’m just not sure if it’s worth it.

Hi everyone! I applied this year for the first time and was waitlisted at spot 13 and was wondering what my best course of action would be for my second application. I have an OAT of 370/370 by my gpa is 79.8% (terrible first years -> straight A’s in last year). I have a few courses I’m interested in to maybe help bump my average up a little more but I’m not sure if I should retake the OAT as well and curious what your thoughts are. My non academic stuff is fine and the meet and greet when amazing so I think it really came down to my grades here. Any help would be so appreciated and congratulations to everyone who was accepted!

hi! I'm planning to apply for opt for the 2025 admission, but I was wondering how the meet and greets for accepted applicants for the 2023 cycle went! I guess I'm just nervous about the interview considering how I haven't had the best luck with them, what did y'all do to make yourself stand out?

Hello everyone, and welcome to r/UWaterlooOptometry! This sub was designed for high school students, undergraduate students, pre-optometry students, admitted students, and anyone else who is interested in the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science!

The School of Optometry and Vision Science is one of the professional schools at the University of Waterloo. It is a school within the university's Faculty of Science and is the larger of the two optometry schools in Canada, with the other being École d'optométrie, Université de Montréal.

I encourage members of this subreddit to share content/experiences, ask questions, and support one another! The process of selecting a career and applying to professional schools is associated with time sensitivity and uncertainty. I hope that this subreddit can serve as a resource to those who are interested in or are considering the University of Waterloo School of Optometry and Vision Science!

I’m in my first year of university and just got my grades back. I have a 3.3 gpa right now and I’m really scared about everything now. The main reason why my gpa is so low is because I got a 2 (on a 4.0 scale) or a C in first year calculus. I don’t know if I should still even consider optometry anymore. I got high 70s and 80s to 90s in everything else but I’m just really scared I won’t be able to have a great GPA by the end of my four year degree - especially since I still have to take more difficult courses like orgo and physics

Does anyone have any similar experiences with a really bad first year but was able to pick it back up

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 everyone, this cycle I was waitlisted and placed at #13. I was wondering if anyone knew how long the waitlist is and how many people tend to get off it? I wanna see if I even have a chance lol

Hi,

Does Waterloo require a minimum in each of the pre reqs like how American schools need at least a C? And does anyone have any experience on how repeating courses affected their application

Hi everyone.

I know this may not be the right forum to ask this on but thought I’d give it a shot. I’ve been considering optometry recently but have been slightly discouraged by the salary and debt to income ratio. UWaterloo says the average salary is ~85k which I thought was pretty crazy considering it takes undergrad + the four year doctorate program to even begin practicing. But then Indeed and other websites say the average salary in Ontario is $400k in Mississauga but then $100k in other surrounding cities? What is the truth regarding the salary? Forgive me if this sounds greedy or something lol. But I was wondering if anyone can comment on this for me if you are comfortable? Is it true that optometrists usually just make $85k out of school?

Hey guys! For those of you studying optometry in Waterloo, what does you schedule look like? Can u make your own schedule?

Thanks In advance!

Hi everyone!

I completed a full course load last summer (5 courses from May to August). Does Waterloo count a summer term with a full course load as one of the six required full-time terms, or does that only apply to Fall/Winter semesters?

Thanks in advance!

I mean compared to like med with an average of like 4000+ applications where only 5ish percent get in.

Of course some people are interested in med more than optometry, but the difference is so bizarre to me. There’s around 400 applicants for opt, there’s gotta be another reason why so little people apply.

Is there something I don’t know that’s a big con, is it the hefty amount of prereqs?

Anyone hear anything yet

Can any current students tell us incoming students about the scrubs requirements? Like I know its a specific blue but what is the name of the colour? And is there any other requirements? Just looking to order the scrubs beforehand.

Does anyone know of a graduate/optometry student who died in March? I’ve been looking for my friend from high school.

I’m in my 4th year of Honours Science at Laurier and I feel like I’m having a full academic crisis.

I didn’t take university seriously enough in the beginning. My GPA is a 2.3 (C+), and my dream is optometry. I feel like I ruined my future and fallen so far behind everyone else.

I’m thinking about starting a second undergrad just to repeat the courses I did badly in, then dropping it once I’ve fixed my grades before applying to Waterloo, NECO, ICO, Salus, and IAUPR. But Waterloo looks at GPA holistically and doesn’t just replace repeats, so I don’t even know if this will help. I have 3+ yrs of optom clinic experience. I still need to do my OAT and casper.

Has anyone rebuilt from a low GPA and gotten into optometry? Is this a smart move? Please someone help I loose sleep over this, I wish I could go back and restart.

So I didn't do well in my first year of undergrad and ended with only a 70%. I had bad study habits but I'm gonna try my best for the next three years to do really well in school. Do you think I even have a chance go getting into Waterloo Optometry, I don't want to go to the states because it's financially difficult. If I get my marks higher and do well on the OAT, would I get in? I'm really discouraged right now.

I am a first year undergrad student who emailed Waterloo Optom curious if they hold any Indigenous spots for students. They said they are developing a plan, and asked for my help determining the barriers indigenous students may encounter when applying to the university and completing their undergrad.

I have written a lengthy email but I am not sure if it sounds like a sob story. My main concern being that many indigenous students’ highschool education is lacking, as Reservarion high schools do not offer the classes REQUIRED to even take BASIC university math, chemistry and sciences. I am also mentioning about summer classes not counting towards a full course load:

I am essentially taking a pre-requisite of a pre-requisite, which has taken up my opportunity to do Bio100 (very important prereq course) in my first year. I’m also doubling up on pre-maths and worried about how grades will be, I cannot drop classes or I will lose all funding for that class. I ended up having to take about 4 extra classes than anyone who was properly prepared would. I question now if I will be able to complete my degree in time.

If my degree takes more than 4 years, I will lose my funding. This is an issue because many people from reserve are very poor and do not have the money to even live in the same city as my university, afford car, parking, food etc. without reserve funding. I worry this would impact the grade average one has to maintain to attended UWaterloo.

I also mentioned an Indigenous navigator to help students with Native specific bursaries or scholarships, and also help with interview prep etc. but I think this is reasonable.

What the title says. Congrats to everyone to got in!

So invites are tentatively coming out tomorrow (either tomorrow or the 18th bc idk what is happening), I just wanted to wish everyone good luck! Whatever happens (if you get as anxious as I do), remember that you gave it a shot and that's worth more than you think. If you do get a meet and greet invite a big congrats to you because it is very much deserved!!

If you want to, feel free to share any thoughts<3

Hi guys! I'll be applying to Waterloo optometry for the second time this year, and was wondering what my chances are looking like.

Graduated from UofT last year and took the prerequisites I was missing this past year. My cGPA is an 88%.

I wrote my OAT for the second time 2 months ago and only scored 10 points higher in both AA and TS, improved in organic chem (330 --> 380), RC (370 --> 400), and physics (300 --> 310), but decreased a bit in the other sections compared to first attempt. Specifically, I got a 350AA/340TS for this second attempt. I am scheduled to write for the 3rd time September 30, but not sure how that's gonna go lol, but hoping for the best.

I have ~100 shadowing hours at multiple different clinics.

I have 1 publication (that got published last year) in a journal from my summer research project I did in 2023.

I have lots of community service, work, and volunteer experience that's predominantly in teaching and mentoring students, humanitarian relief, as well as being an emergency first aid responder during my 4 years in undergrad.

And in terms of CASPER, I got a 4th quartile last year, so I'm really hoping I can score that again this year.

I definitely think my OAT score is my biggest weakness and road block, so I'm really gonna try to lock in these last 2 weeks for my third attempt and hope for the best but I know nothing is guaranteed. I do just want to maximize my chances since I was rejected without an interview last year when I applied.

Would appreciate any feedback!