“Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward.” – Maxwell Maltz

I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. If you had asked  me two years ago if I would be sitting here writing about my first year in optometry school, my mind would have been blown! And yet I’m here and I do not regret my decision one bit!

I’m from a small city in central Connecticut called Meriden, halfway between New York City and Boston. I grew up there my whole life, and after graduating high school I enrolled at the University of Connecticut (Go Huskies!!). While I enjoyed my time in Connecticut and being between two of the most famous cities in the world with boundless opportunity and culture, I always desired to “see the rest of the world.” I was not that I did not like New England or the East Coast, I just wanted to know what else was out there and further my development as a person. The chance finally came when I applied to optometry school.

I applied to ten different optometry schools and I interviewed at five of them. All the schools had excellent programs but they were not a perfect fit for me. Ohio State was my last interview.  Throughout the interview day, I did not feel as though I was listening to a sales pitch but rather just information about Ohio State. I was sold on the school’s merits and it made my big decision easier. If you want to read more about interviewing experience, visit optomertystudents.com and search for my article “An Evening with EYE and a Look at Ohio State Optometry.”

Five months later, I am driving my car away from home to Columbus, My life felt like a blank slate which was exciting. I had no real clue what optometry school was going to be like or who my classmates are going to or what kind of city Columbus was or really anything! But that’s half the fun of it. I first met my roommates the day I moved in .  I feel so incredibly lucky to have found these guys as roommates, especially after only meeting them through Facebook. We hit it off right away and I know I’ll be friends with these guys for a very long time. Once I got to orientation, I meet more of my classmates. We did this game of bingo where each of the square was a different fact about our classmates. We had to go up to different people and ask them questions to get to know them better. The game helped to break the ice and start the conversation with our new classmates. Everyone came from all corners of the country and all different walks of life. It included an EMT from New Jersey, a recent college graduate from California, a person who had lived in eight different countries, and many different others. Completely crazy!

Our first semester professors also came and introduced themselves. They are all accomplished and interesting individuals which includes the AOA Educator of Year, an optometrist with incredible business savy, and a professor who rubbed shoulders with THE Watson and Crick! They all said that optometry school will be hard work and to make sure you understand the material and not just eyeball it (pun intended). So far it has been a lot of studying but no busy work and no exams as of yet.  In addition, all of our professors are approachable and emphasized that if we needed any help with classes or something else to come to them.

We ended the day with a discussion of residency requirements. One advantage of being an out-of-state student is that you can become a resident of Ohio and qualify for a discount on tuition. There are many different requirements including changing voter registration, driver’s licenses, car registration, and a certain maximum number of days a student can leave Ohio.

One other highlight of orientation week was the Welcome Dinner. It was a lovely evening where we were formally introduced to the college and to some well respected alumni. Each table consisted of a few first year students, some upperclassmen, and two professors. It was nice to see our professors in a more relaxed atmosphere and to learn some great advice for optometry school. The most poignant piece of advice came from the Student Council President. She told us to remember that we all deserved to be there and that for every seat in the class we occupied a few others had to be turned. She told us to remember to work hard but to also play hard as well and try to find that perfect balance for us. Hopefully I can strike that balance sooner rather than later. In addition to great pieces of advice the professors introduced us individually sometimes in a rather humorous manner.

So to answer my earlier question, I choose Ohio State for the amazing program, amazing city, the chance to see another part of the world and finally for the memorable people. I am glad to call Ohio State and Columbus my new home and my fellow classmates and professors my family for the next four years.