Today we heard from a panel of current OSU Optometry students. Here are the minutes:
Students speaking:
- Rochelle
- Hanna
- Kinsley
- Abby
- Liz
- Madison
- Jaime
- Rami
- Working as a tech is beneficial but not completely necessary. You’ll do fine if you don’t work at a practice. Do shadow though
- Most beneficial things from working in a practice
- Patient interaction
- Will lead to good letters of recommendation
- How did they know they wanted to do opt without working as a tech
- LOTS of shadowing in different offices
- Good work/life balance
- Not as much schooling as med school
- Optometry isn’t just “one or two” and prescribing glasses and contacts. “Can never really get bored”
- Versatile
- Workload in undergrad vs opt school
- A LOT
- Will take some time to get used to
- Not going to have as much free time
- May have to change the way that you study
- But it’s worth it and you can do it
- A lot more material
- What did you do in undergrad that prepped you for opt
- Well-rounded application
- Leadership/club positions
- Hobbies and interests
- Being involved
- How did you get letters of Rec
- Someone who knows you
- Maybe a prof. of a smaller class size?
- Pick someone that you shadowed a couple times or a prof that you had in class a couple times
- How did you write personal statement
- Prob not stressed as much, but still make it good
- Don’t let it overwhelm you
- Start off with a story/values
- Try to show that you researched the profession (more for the interview but still)
- Brag about yourself without sounding cheesy
- Studying tips
- Find what works best for you
- One person may be able to re-read slides while another re-writes everything
- Don’t let other’s ways of studying influence you
- Don’t put a time on it – you’re just going to overwork or stress yourself out
- Know when to take breaks
- You’re learning to remember and apply not learning to memorize and pass a test
- “6 hours of classes. If you try to do 1 hr per class, you’re at 12 hrs for the day, so just keep in mind it’s about efficiency” -Jaime
- Every class has different requirements
- Learn to recognize when you’re not being efficient
- Engage with your learning
- Application/why OSU
- Apply where you want to go
- Offers in-state tuition after 1st year
- Get to see all specialties
- You’re going to be well prepared
- Learning to interact with patients in the first year by doing pretesting
- The alumni always talk about how great OSU is and they still talk to classmates and professors
- It’s a family
- Apply places you can see yourself living for the next 4 years