10/18/2022

Location: Fry 33

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club 

Duration: 1 Hour

Southern College of Optometry got to speak with the club. 

• The campus itself is very small.
• The clinic and the building are right next to each other. 
• All the students will know each other like a small highschool 
• Blind interview 

Entering Class Profile (2021)

• Average GPA: 3.66
• Average OAT: 338
• Class size: ~136

Factors to Consider:

• They do clinical research 
• 98% of the students who have entered SCO have graduated 
• They are a private institution
• They start clinic in their third year 
• 2nd years can do some school vision screening and will shadow third and fourth years  

Memphis

• Big music town 
• Smaller city than Columbus 
• They do not have on campus living. Most of their students live on Mud Island 

Application Requirement: 

• OptomCAS June 30 2022- March 1, 2023
• Essay
• Letter of rec.
  • OD
  • Pre-professional advisor or science professor
• Official Transcript 
• *prefer if you have 30-40 hours of shadowing 

Application Tips:

• Gain Diverse Optometric exposure
• Apply Early
• Be professional 
  • Dress professionally 
  • Respond to emails/phone calls 
  • When plans change, notify each school 
• Ask questions 
• Be yourself 

Board Passage Rate: 

• Check online, they defected when asked in person. 
  • Also was not present during the presentation. 

10/12/2022

Location: Zoom

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club 

Duration: 1 Hour

The club got to meet with ISO and got to hear about their program.

PDF of Presentation:

file:///Users/haleyschroeder/Downloads/2023%20ICO%20Club%20Presentation.pdf

10/05/2022

Location: Zoom

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://vimeo.com/757603943__;!!KGKeukY!3jKTRM2LuOjkqYfLn0Cq31j0AaMU3P_mKOEhHfHddO_nTUtXkPTD5GlI1EVar0-U6Pnv0qqR520wS0vwZ8im$

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club

Duration: 1 Hour

Pre-Optometry Club Members will hear from New England College of Optometry (NECO). They heard a ton about the social and professional life in Boston. They also talked about what is living like in Boston, how to find a roommate, and how to find the right apartment.  What makes NECO Special:

• Real world clinical experience 
• You get the clinical experience starting your first year  (Starting the first few weeks of your first year) 
• Have an MS/OD Progam
• Have an PhD/OD Program 
• Check website for tuition pricing  
• Board Passage Rate: 76%, 90%, 76% (Part 1, 2, 3) 
  • There is a decline on the board passage rate. 
• https://www.neco.edu/admissions/class-profile-statistics/ 

9/28/2022

Location: Zoom

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club

Duration: 1 Hour

Pre-Optometry Club Members will heard from NOVA Southeastern University’s College of Optometry. They heard how their program is structured and what it is like living in their college.

Zoom Recording:

https://nova.zoom.us/rec/share/EaFiVrDa8U3MZOSiH_bWRliglzFbZ4ZZd–i95GaArFehmpWIjGlLzOy2VNPVrVR.DjCCD3VkhNBZnqCO

Fry Hall 33

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club 

Duration: 1 Hour

Guest Speaker: Optometry Students

Students who got into optometry school talked about their experiences, interviews and how they prepared for the OAT.

9/20/2022

Location: Fry Hall 33

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club 

Duration: 2 Hour

Guest Speaker: Nik Jones

Nik has worked with admissions at IUSO. Associate Director of Recruitment  

City:

• Showed off the city 
• Feels like a Big 10 school 
• IU is beautiful 
• Not a far drive to get out of the city and to explore

Building:

• Holds everything except for the clinic 
• There is housing right behind the building which makes it a 5-10 min walk.
• There is also campus parking as well housing farther down 

Specialize: 

• Best in pediatrics 
• Work with sports vision 
• Can work with forming lens for cameras
• Vision processing 

Networking:

• There are tons of alumni everywhere and IU can get you anywhere 
• They are capable with getting you at a ton of different facilities (VA, private, etc…)

Degrees:

• OD
• MS (master of vision science)
• Ph.D
• They also partner with the Kelley School of Business to get you better acquainted with the business side of optometry. (Extra cost). (get a certificate) 
  • The credits transfer to Kelly School of Business and can be used to get an MBA
• They also have an Early Admission program where you can go to their school after your third year.

Admissions: 

• • Average GPA: 3.75

• APPLY EARLY 

• Letters of Rec (3)
• Personal Statement 
• Look at Science and Math GPA 
• Want: Grit, Determination, Collaboration, and Compassion 
• Upward grade trend 
• Competitive level of schools 
• Class load each semester 
• Shadowing experiences (20-30 hours) 
• Want an Extracurricular Involvement 
• For the class of 2025:
  • 763 Application Received 
  • 85 Enrolled

Cost:

• Vary depending on where you live 
• They do have scholarships 
• Do they have an MS/OS Full-Tuition Scholarship: opportunity for 2 students to receive full tuition for 4 years
  • Are required to take the GRE 
• They also have 4 DEI scholarship programs…  

9/14/2022

Location: Zoom

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club 

Duration: 1 Hour

Guest Speaker: Ardi Samonte and Dr. Mika Moy from Berkeley

The meeting is centered around Berkeley’s Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science. Ardi Samonte is part of the admissions team. 

• Berkeley is a 4 year lock-step program meaning that individuals will be with that class for the 4 years and cannot skip ahead. 

Time At Berkeley:

• First year: ¾ of time is taking didactic courses and ¼ of your time is experiencing some pre-clinic experience
• Second year: ⅓ of time is taking didactic courses and ⅓ of your time is pre-clinic and team care
• Third year: ¼ Didactic courses and ¾ clinical 
• Fourth year: ⅞ Clinical, and ⅛ didactic course 

Clinics: 

• Berkeley has multiple clinics all over 

Externships:

• Externships in 13 states
• Some of private practice and some are in a hospital   

Board Pass:

• In 2022, they had a 17:1% differential than the nat. Avg.
• The program is rigorous to prepare students for boards and for their professional career 

Faculty:

• 4:1 Student to faculty ratio  
• Large research institution 
• Clinical faculty in private practice 
• Clinical research center conducts clinical trials 

Students:

• Variety of Undergraduates Degrees
• Ophthalmic imaging 
• Entrepreneurs and Career Changers 
• Some are for U.S. & Canada & other countries 

After Graduation: 

• 60% respondents completed a residency program
• 40% respondents accepted positions in a private practice or an OD/MD practice 
• 7% respondents accepted position in corporate setting 
  • Salaries ranging from 99K-149K 
    • They also do have benefits

Size:

• They are a small school on a large campus

Admissions and Financial Aid:

• Total Per Semester: $27,685.50 (non CA residents)
  • They do have scholarships 
  • Accept many Loans 
• Application consist of:
  • 3 Essays
  • 3 letters of Rec.
  • Official transcript
  • Extracurriculars
  • Supplemental Fee
  • Standardized test optional 
  • Rolling Admissions 
  • Interviews are online

Qualitative Considerations:

• Experience in and Knowledge of Optometry
• Statement of Purpose/ Personal Statement
• Letters of Recommendation
• Activities and Achievements
• Gap Year   
• Interview
• Qualities 

Student Demographics 2022-2023: 

• 322 Applicants → 218 Interview Candidates → 67 Matriculants 

Berkeley Zoom Presentation:

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://osu.zoom.us/rec/share/b3908-r8w1LeA2uGvhiiIt8e8yIwDnc98ECjspF9UayWqeVzobPNpf_b9nDI8Mbe.skRit1PQWTJLmBoQ__;!!KGKeukY!wU_g_DxVw-5ZPJ40c-aBsmpi0h1E-ig9k_P2WaycKttrGXgCyetfslCHT0P2KUPDrcJCtp7n_pvqcIz9cEA$

9/6/2022

Location: Fry Hall 33

Meeting Called By: Pre-Optometry Club 

Duration: 1 Hour

Guest Speaker: Dr Earley: Associate Dean Academic Affairs

At our meeting, we all got to meet the executive board and got to hear Dr. Earley discuss why optometry is a great career. He discussed how the field has great work-life balance, great financially, and always changing and improving. The limitations of the career is that it is legislative based, meaning that policy dictates what optometrist can and cannot do. 

He soon later talked about the admissions process at OSU and how they will look at the applicant holistically and not just based on the GPA and OAT. While there are benefits of having a high GPA/OAT score, optometry schools are going to want to make sure that their students are social and have great social skills due to the fact that the career is based on social interactions. He also mentioned how important shadowing is, that way students know what they are getting themselves into.

Location: Zoom

Meeting Called by: Pre-Optometry Club

Duration: 1 hour

Guest Speaker: Candace Johnson, OptomCas/Applications 

johnson.5380@osu.edu 

Agenda

• Candace is the director of admissions at OSU Optometry, managing the admissions process and its materials 
• OptomCAS: similar to CommonApp, all optometry schools utilize the OptomCAS for admissions. Sections include: personal information, academic history, supporting information and program materials. You can add schools from a list, with application deadlines still open, to send your application to (under the Add Program tab) 
  • Personal Information Section: mainly personal information (name, gender, pronouns, birthday), contact information, citizenship, etc. 
  • Academic History: a long section on the application, requires all enrollments in universities (transfers, etc), submit all transcripts and records for courses, manually input all courses, enter in OAT/GRE/other standardized test scores, etc
  • Supporting Information: includes letters of recommendations (optometrist, professor and a choice), experiences section is professional jobs and achievements, extracurriculars, clubs, etc., 
  • Program Materials is a custom section based on each school with questions specific to their program, possibly essay questions, additional scores or academic information, resume, observation hours, etc
• You can submit your applications and check application status on OptomCAS site
• Students can create accounts and begin working on their application whenever they chose, but can only submit when the cycle opens (July 1st)
• Timeline of application process: Schedule to take the OAT in the spring of your third year, to ease testing complications and allow time (90 days) between tests if you need to retake. Applications are submitted the summer between third and fourth year, schools will review applications. Schools will begin evaluations and inviting candidates for interviews, typically a couple weeks after receiving applications.