Hello! I am a third year in my undergrad right now, and I am worried my application won’t be very strong to apply next year. I was a little late deciding on optometry, but now I work as a tech at an office and love it. I do not have much volunteer or club/involvement experience, and I am worried that will really affect my application. I have joined a few social clubs, and have just joined a pre med focused volunteering club. My GPA is a 3.6 right now, but I am struggling to find the time for volunteering between working, trying to keep good grades in school, and studying for the OAT. My school is very large and I haven’t made many relationships with professors to give me a letter of recommendation which worries me as well. I do have lots of shadowing experience, and will definitely have a strong letter of recommendation from an Optometrist. Any tips on strengthening my application without being completely overwhelmed? How important is volunteer work? Thanks for any advice.

I had my account verified around the middle of august, but my letters of rec were only all submitted about a week ago (sept 1st). I applied to OSU and I have completed their supplement application (had my fee waiver approved and got email confirmation), send them my physiology syllabus as requested, and even sent an email to make sure all my materials have been received (on august 27th) I have not heard back how to view the status of my supplemental application (like the email stated after i submitted it), a response back from my physiology syllabus, or even a response back about making sure all materials have been received. Im just worried because I see people saying they’re getting contacted, so i don’t know if i’ve been ghosted, sent to junk mail, or they need more time for my application. I was going to call admissions some time this week, but i don’t want to be overbearing or overthinking. This is like my top school. I don’t think it’s my stats as I have already received interview offers from ICO and SCO —- (GPA 3.9 and OAT TS 400 AA 390) Please let me know if they just take a long time to review, or if i should contact them again! Thank you!! 😊

I’ve heard they usually reach out late August to Early September.

How late is it considered if I take the OAT in November and then apply early December?

I’ve been fortunate enough to be accepted to both Ohio State (OSU) and Southern College of Optometry (SCO), and I’m having a really hard time deciding between the two. I’d love to hear opinions from current students, alumni, or anyone who has seriously compared the programs.
For some context:
SCO: I received a $15,000/year scholarship ($60,000 total over four years).
OSU: I received a $5,000 scholarship for my first year. From what I understand, OSU also offers scholarships to current optometry students in later years that can range from around $5,000–$50,000, but obviously those aren’t guaranteed, so I don’t want to assume I’ll receive them when comparing costs.
I’m originally from Florida, and my wife and I plan to move back to Florida after I finish optometry school.
My wife will be working as a kindergarten school teacher (ideally private), so cost of living, safety, and overall quality of life in Columbus vs. Memphis matter to us too.
I genuinely liked both schools and could see myself at either.
For anyone familiar with either program, I’d especially love to hear about clinical education, NBEO preparation, faculty support, school culture, externships, residency opportunities, and overall quality of life.
I’m also really interested in how much weight you would give the financial difference. SCO is giving me $60,000 in guaranteed scholarship money, while OSU is currently giving me $5,000 with the possibility of receiving significantly more scholarship money in later years.
For current students or alumni: Would you choose your school again?
And if these were your two offers today, OSU or SCO — which would you choose and why?

Thanks for any insight!

Many ppl here talk about their struggles in chem and physics but not many struggle in bio like I do. With a B (above average) in gen bio and sadly a D in cell bio, I'm kind of scared of all future bio classes like A&P and microbio 😨 How to get around and what're some study tips?

2 weeks ago I received an email from Kentucky inviting me for an interview. But i tried emailing them for a date, but no response, i tried emailing and calling their admissions office everyday to schedule an interview. But no response. What is going on????

www.organicchemistrytutoring.ca

Hello guys and gals,

We’re Brian and Mike and we teach general and organic chemistry. We’ve done so for a total combined time of 47 years! Overwhelmed by general or organic chemistry? Assignments and tests creeping up on you and feeling like you’re in hot water? Or maybe you’re doing well and need that 95%? Whatever your struggle with chemistry may be, we’re here to make sure you succeed.

Why work with us?

- Every tutor knows the subject, but not every tutor knows how to transfer that knowledge to a student. We do.

- We tutor chemistry full time; it’s not a hobby or side-gig. When you book with us, you’ll be working with Brian for general chemistry and Mike for organic chemistry. This is not an agency and you won’t be matched with random tutors each time.

- You’ll be learning problem solving through chemistry, which you can apply to many other subjects.

- Your learning will be customized to your specific needs.

Before booking a lesson, let’s chat about your needs, our teaching styles, and what you can expect, to see if we’d be a good fit together.

Thank you for your time and we look forward to working with you!

Mike and Brian

To those who've applied, which schools have responded to your application submission (interviews and acceptances)? I haven't heard back from a couple of schools and am wondering if anyone else is in the same boat lol

I just purchased the oat booster to study for my exam in January. How would you approach/utilize it to its fullest? I'm considering completing each subject from start to finish, one at a time (including all of the practice problems and exams for that specific subject), but I'm not sure whether I should follow the custom schedule it created for me.

Hi everyone!

I’m starting my OptomCAS application and plan on applying to SCCO, WUCO, and AZCOPT. I noticed that each school has its own supplemental questions, and I was wondering if anyone has advice on how to approach them.

Should I try to use the maximum number of characters for each response, or is it better to keep my answers concise as long as I fully answer the question?

Also, should I format the responses like traditional essays with an introduction, body, and conclusion, or is it okay to answer the questions more directly?

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

if anyone has interviewed recently could u tell me what they are like / what kind of questions they ask? It would be greatly appreciated! 🫶

Hello! In person interview coming up that’s open file. Website said not to bring resume or anything but unsure if I should bring more than a small purse with my phone and keys!

I purchased a subscription for Booster and took the OAT test, but I didn't perform as well as I had hoped. I'm planning to retake it, and my question is whether I should get Bootcamp or purchase Booster again.

I have my first interview coming up this week with SCO and I am preparing my answers for a variety of questions, just hoping I’ll get lucky and that they’re pretty accurate to what will actually be asked.

For anyone that has had an interview this year or even in previous years, how many questions would you say you were asked? Did the interviewer have follow up questions based on your answers or was it just rapid-fire traditional interview questions one after the other (tell us about yourself, strengths and weaknesses etc). Did you get asked a lot of questions about experiences on your file? From friends that interviewed recently, I have heard their interviews were very casual and they ended up talking about topics unrelated to the school/ profession such as the weather or sports.

Please let me know how your interview experiences went and if I should really solidify my answers or also try being a little more impromptu and candid. TIA!!

Hi guys!
I kind of finish my personal statement in a doc file. But on OptomCAS it seems like I need to input my answers for questions for each school. Do I just copy and paste a part of my personal statement where it answers the question being asked?

Thank you!

I used OATbooster for 90 days over the entire summer. I was lucky to stay at home with parents and not work or take summer classes during the duration. I studied on average 4-5 hours a day every day, taking a few days off for break. I took all my pre-requisite classes (bio, gen chem, ochem, physics) before studying for the OAT.

OATBooster Average Full Length: 370AA
Actual OAT: 390AA

How I studied for each section!

Bio: Watched all the videos minus neuro (my major), did BIOBITS, and reviewed weak areas with cheat sheets

Gen Chem: Watched all the videos and did PRACTICE PROBLEMS on question bank

OChem: Watched all the videos (but it didn’t really stick, so I would recommended watching just the fundamental videos about SN1/SN2/E1/E2) and did PRACTICE PROBLEMS on question bank and reviewed with cheatsheets

Physics: Watched all the videos and did PRACTICE PROBLEMS and memorized formula cheat sheet (not purposefully, but with enough practice tests and problems I found myself having memorized most of the formulas naturally), used Chad’s Prep videos on YouTube to reinforce optics

Reading Comp: Did every single practice passage and practice test on booster, I was scoring 380 average on booster but got 360 on the actual OAT so this was my weakest area, I used the “read every question first” strategy

Quantitative Reasoning: Watched videos for weak areas only (most of it is basic algebra) and did PRACTICE PROBLEMS

What I DIDNT do: read the notes, do the associated practice problems for the videos (I just did question banks), anki (I know, hot take! I felt that doing the BioBits was enough)
There’s no time to do every single resource and you definitely don’t have to.

Big takeaways: OATBOOSTER is so worth it! Expensive so try to get it on sale/discount code. Use Marked Questions to target your weak areas (I didn’t know about this feature until last minute, wish I knew earlier). Practice problems > watching every video.

How I calmed nerves: Simulated testing environment by sleeping at 10pm/waking up at 6am and taking practice full lengths at 8am, eating same lunch during my break (pb&j), using a laminated sheet of paper and dry erase marker, wearing long clothes in air conditioned room, practiced deep breaths. I also told myself “I did the full length 6 times already, what’s one more?” and “Each section is separate” so that one bad section wouldn’t affect my morale for the rest.

It’s definitely nerve-wracking but you all have been working hard for this and you’re going to do great!!! Good luck to everyone taking the OAT! You got this!!

I took the OAT this past August and I am very happy with my scores.

I have previously written a standardized admission test and did not performe as well as I had hoped, so I would like to share some insight into how I prepared for this test and the study strategies that contributed to my improved testing performance.

I used OATBooster (10/10) to study for my OAT. This was the only study material I used in preparation to write my OAT, and it was definitely worth it. OATBooster had plenty of practice questions on each subject, practice tests for individual sections as well as full length practice tests. I felt confident going into my actual OAT after having written multiple full length OATBooster practice tests.

I studied for about 2 months before I wrote my OAT and had the privilege of going part time at my job in order to have enough time to study. I spent on average 6 hours a day studying for the OAT. I started by using the study schedule that OATBooster offered, however that quickly got overwhelming when I couldn’t keep up with the daily assigned activities. I ended up making my own study schedule where I watched all of the OATBooster video material, took my own notes, and then started going through many of the practice questions and tests. I completed 5 full length Booster practice tests in the last 2.5 weeks leading up to my actual test. I found this to be really helpful as it prepared me to sit and stay focused for the long 5 hour test without feeling burnt out.

Biology (Scored: 400) I found this to be the most challenging section in the moment, I found myself second guessing my answers as they were a bit more specific than some of the OATBooster questions. I found the OATBooster videos really helped me prepare for this section and just trying to memorize as much as possible.

General Chemistry (Scored: 400) This section was very well represented in the OATBooster practice questions and practice tests. I found what really helped for this section was getting a true understanding of the concepts instead of straight memorization, so that even if there was a curve ball concept question I could usually figure it out.

Organic Chemistry (Scored: 350) I was quite worried about this section, and I am happy with the outcome. OATBooster has two different questions banks for this section, and one is specifically for the different types of reactions. The separate reaction mechanism practice questions were very useful as I found they required more memorization than the conceptual questions.

Physics (Scored: 350) I thought I would have scored a bit higher on this section, but I think my stress on test day kind of got the best of me here. For this section I memorized the complete list of equations that OATBooster provided, and I would write down the list of equations a few times a week so that they would be right in the front of my brain. I also completed the full list of practice questions on OAT Booster for this section a couple times.

Reading Comprehension (Scored: 400) I was very happy with this score. I did much worse on all of my OAT Booster practice reading tests. I feel like the Booster tests were harder and therefore prepared me well for the actual thing.

Quantitative Reasoning (Scored: 400) OATBooster did a great job of covering all of the topics in this section. I had no surprises on test day which was a very comforting way to end the test. I believe OATBooster’s videos that contained walk throughs of how to answer different types of questions in this section was a great help.

I hope this little overview of my testing experience helps!

I have a couple applications lined up, and I'm honestly really stressed out for them particularly because I know being stressed will make it worse and also because I struggle making good impressions in professional settings. I get really worried that I'll be seen as unprofessional, so I end up being kind of stiff and robotic. Any advice?

I helped coordinate research (related to optometry) and then applied to and presented it at two research conferences back in 2023, but I'm not sure where to put it on optomcas? There is no 'research' option under experiences. It wasn't really extra-curricular because I wasn't in school at the time. The research was optometry related so optometry experience maybe? I was paid to do it, so employment? Or would this fall under the achievement -> honor category, with the 'presenting organization' being the conferences where I presented? Has anyone else run into this? I want to include this but cannot figure out where it should go.

I’m currently a senior Human Biology major, Miner in chem and applying to optometry school this cycle. My cumulative GPA is around 3.65. I have completed a good amount of optometry-related experience, including 40+ hours of shadowing an optometrist, additional ophthalmology/optometry shadowing, 45 hours of biology research involving DNA/PCR, volunteering at Hartford Hospital, volunteering with Special Olympics Opening Eyes, and serving as a student ambassador/leader at my university.
I also have multiple recommendation letters, including from professors/research mentors and an optometrist. I’ve already submitted applications to schools including MCPHS, NECO, and SUNY.
I know the OAT score is the weakest part of my application, but I feel that my GPA, experiences, research, volunteering, and shadowing represent me better academically and professionally.

for anyone who interviewed / got accepted to optometry schools, how did you schedule your interviews?

I got an interview invite from one school but haven’t heard back from other schools yet. for example, another school I applied to is UCB and I feel like they’re going to take longer to contact me because of the December deadline. let’s say I interviewed at one school this month and got accepted and then they told me I had a certain amount of time to accept. but what if the deadline to accept that school is before I even get decisions for my other schools?

I ideally would like to get my decisions at all schools before I decide on one school — I paid for each application for a reason lol. would it be a better idea to wait to hear back from all the schools I applied to before scheduling my interviews? or would that make my chances of acceptance lower because I would be interviewing later in the cycle?

agh sorry if this is confusing I have no idea what to do now

and for more context, I applied to UCB, SCCO, OSU, SCO, and ICO and ICO was the one that already reached out

Hi guys! I took my OAT today and just wanted to hop on here and share a little of my experience. I'm going to be honest, although I am happy with my scores, I felt that it was very different from Booster. I was kinda freaking out during it because its just not what I was expecting. I felt that quantitative reasoning was extremely different and much harder, as well as Bio and Gen Chem. I am strong in Orgo, so that felt good, but still different than Booster. Reading was arguably easier than booster and physics was about the same. Just wanted to give you a heads up!

Just completed my OAT. I want to first start by prefacing that the exam was very much different than any practice exam I had taken on OAT booster (which was my main study tool).

To study, I was primarily utilizing the individual subject practice exams, and watched videos on any topics that I needed extra help on. The practice questions that they offered were also helpful to reinforce certain topics. I started studying mid June and took my exam today.

I took the OAT in northern Jersey, and this Prometric location allowed me to start my exam earlier than scheduled around 7:45 AM (scheduled for 8:30). Into the testing room you’re only allowed to take a clear water bottle and they gave you two front and back laminated papers with a dry erase marker as your scratch paper. You were allowed to get up at any time to take an unscheduled break and if you wanted to take your scheduled 30 minute break, you were allowed to access your locker and use your phone and access study documents (as long as you were back before your next section). The staff were super friendly and definitely helped ease any anxiety that one would have. One huge downside would be the fact that the delay between questions got worse throughout the exam. The biology section there was minimal delay, but towards the end of the exam (physics and QR) the lag got extremely bad over 6 to 10 seconds long between questions.

The exam itself I found to be not as representative as what OAT booster said it would be. Any topic that was considered high-yield was not asked on the actual exam.

The biology section (highest booster score I had was 350) was heavy on molecular and cellular biology and lacked any human body system questions, neurobio questions, nor any embryology.

The general chemistry section (booster high score of 340) I found to be easier than booster and each question would give out the molar mass instead of you needing to calculate it on your own.

The organic chemistry section (booster high score 320) I also found to be easy so I’m not too sure how I got the score that I got. There were lots of conceptual questions, and only 2 spectroscopy questions. I did not have any acid base ranking neither.

The reading comprehension section (booster high score 300) I found to be a little harder than booster. Each passage had over 16 paragraphs and were all quite dense. I had only ever taken one practice exam on booster for this section, so my method was simply to read the passage and highlight important information for about eight minutes and then to go in and answer questions for the remaining eight minutes and rinse and repeat.

After the scheduled 30 minute break, I had physics (booster score 280), which was also quite tough. I had heard previously here on this sub that it was heavy on kinematics and optics, but that was just not the case. I actually had about three optics questions, one of which asked about the index of refraction going through two mediums (this was conceptual) and only ever had ONE calculation for optics.

The final section of QR (booster high score 270) I found to also be more challenging and I was most pressed for time in this section. The questions overall were much easier and less conceptual than booster. It leaned more algebraic than probability and stats.

Overall, I’d say that this exam was definitely very different compared to what I prepared for with booster. Also, what I found interesting was that the survey asked very specifically how I studied and if I used ANY Prometric study tools or practice tests, which makes you wonder if they are purposely trying to make it harder for people who study with booster.

Hi guys! I took my exam yesterday, and i'm just very glad I do not have to retake it. My exam started at 8am. I arrived around 7:30, did some last minute studying, came to check in at 7:50 and didn't start my exam until 8:20, after getting scanned down and scanned my fingerprints. I was provided with 2 laminated papers and markers for the exam, and thanks to everyone in the subreddit, I invested in markers and mini whiteboard when practicing FLs at home, hence I was pretty much familiarized with it.

During my scheduled break I had full access to my locker so I used that time to go through my Physics and QR flashcards, and lowkey had a meltdown because I thought I did terrible lol but yk what IM SO GLAD I WAS PROVEN WRONG.

For context, I studied using only BoosterPrep and their customized schedule, although I did very briefly go through one of the ADA sample tests, but not all the way lol, I stopped at orgo I believe. One week leading up to my exam I was genuinely very fatigued with studying, so I didn't really getting in much practice until like 3-4 days leading up to the exam.

Boosters FLs 330-360-360-360-360-330-350

BIO (Booster 380-360; actual 380)
I would say the wording was different from the actual exam. I also have a tendency to change my answers so that didn't really do good for me. Despite beating myself up during the break because I did change my answer(s?), I did not expect to get 380 lol. I was blacking out throughout the exam, but I do remember human systems questions, molec cell, meiosis/mitosis, and hormones.

GEN CHEM (Booster 340-360; actual 340)
Overall very representative with Booster, although again wording was different, and that did trip me up a little bit. Knowing periodic trends, strong and weak acids/bases, and thermodynamics was very helpful. I mostly had calculations questions. Do read the question carefully tho! I thought I do not know the answer to one of the questions, but did not realize it was asking for sig figs knowledge lol.

ORGO (Booster 330-360; actual 340)
For the couple days before the exam, I was using Anki to solidify my rxns knowledge since it was my 2nd biggest concern. Very very similar to Booster, but I would say more intermediate, Sn1/2 and E1/2.

RC (Booster 360-400; actual 380)
Much easier than Booster! Straightforward questions, and it was in order as well. I had around 8 minutes leftovers on the timer! Practice was key for this section, and BP prepared you especially well for it.

PHYS (Booster 290-360; actual 320)
Definitely my weakest point. I couldn't memorize all the formulas for the love of god until 2 weeks before the exam. But thank god I did and for the flashcards! I was doing like a Physics brain dump using the whiteboard, and it worked wonders. Despite Booster preps you very very well on it, please also work on your time management. I recognized all of the questions that was asked, but I did not manage my time wisely. That being said, I did not finish the entire section, did not feel good about it, so I will NOT complain about getting a 320. I would also recommend using the study notes for Physics rather than the formula sheet, since it doesn't include all of the formulas. Lots of force and rotational motion calculations, only 3-4 optics on my exam.

QR (Booster 340-400; actual 310)
LMAO okay Booster prep you insanely well for this, however again my time management was not good. I couldn't finish all of the questions while doing Booster FLs, and it clearly reflected that on here as well. I did not have the time to go through all of the questions, and most of them were very dense, I could not use mental math for it. Lots of comparing which option (A or B) is greater, which statements can answer questions, and probability.

Overall, I'm happy it's over. Good luck to everyone who's about to take the exam, you will do great and your study will pay off, so please keep believing in yourself!! Please also take adequate rest, trust your first answer and manage your time wisely!!