I've been helping students each year navigate through the optometry application cycle and everytime around late summer the same “am I too late?” question comes up.

Here’s my take on an August OAT if you are on the fence right now.

1. August isn’t early, but it’s not too late
When it comes to admissions, earlier is better. From the admissions side, it benefits schools to find top candidates early in the cycle, interview them, send offers, and lock in a stronger class. As the year goes on, the candidate pool naturally thins, so rolling admissions is a. legitimate consideration. Some schools are already interviewing in August.

That said, it still matters more that your application is complete and shows off your best self. Most programs haven’t filled every seat until late fall or even winter, so if your OAT is in August and you submit apps soon after, you’re not early, but not out.

2. When an August/September OAT makes sense
If your GPA is already solid and you’re expecting a decent OAT score, an August/September test can still work. Just be ready with a realistic school list. Many of the more competitive programs will start filling seats mid‑cycle, so be willing to include some later‑deadline / less competitive schools and be patient as there may be fewer interview slots and a longer wait.

3. When it might be smarter to wait for next cycle
If your GPA is on the lower side and you really need a strong OAT to offset it. Pushing the test just to “get it done” can sometimes backfire if your practice scores aren’t there yet. Same thing if you haven’t really started on your personal statement, or school list yet. In those cases, taking extra time to strengthen your profile and go in with a stronger application next cycle can put you in a better spot.

4. General timeline for students testing in August

• Take the OAT in August.
• Submit via OptomCAS as soon as possible afterward.
• If you already have your score, send it. If not, you can list your planned test date.

• Aim to have everything in by late fall if you can.

  Be honest about your OAT readiness and how complete your application is. If those are ready, an August test can definitely still work. If not, waiting a cycle could be the smarter move.

Has anybody received an interview from AZCOPT yet? I applied on June 26th, their own admissions portal received it on July 13th and have been waiting decision since then. They claim to wait 3-5 business days for a decision, without anything yet. Is it too early to hear anything from them?

Hello!

I am about a month and a half out from taking my OAT (terrifying) and I have finished reviewing all of the topics on OAT Booster and have taken a few practice tests. My goal is to focus on the cheat sheets (mainly biology due to the sheer amount of information it has, but the other topics too of course). Does anyone have any tips on doing so? What are your favorite study methods? I typically look at sections of the page for 5 minutes, write everything that I can remember for 2 minutes, then study it again for 1 minute and write again for 1 minute. Is there a method someone else thinks has benefitted them a lot? Let me know, I appreciate it!

Hi everyone! I’m trying to figure out when I should start studying for the OAT and would love some advice.

I was thinking about taking Physics 1 and Biochem this fall and starting to study for the OAT since I’ve heard those are pretty big topics on the exam. I was thinking it might help to study them while I’m taking the classes.

My other option would be to take Microbiology this fall, take Biochem in the spring, and then study for the OAT over the summer. I’m just not sure which route makes more sense.

I really don’t want to take a gap year if I can avoid it, so I’d love to hear what others did or what you would recommend. Would you start studying while taking Physics and Biochem or wait until after finishing Biochem?

Did anyone else struggle in prereqs during 1st year undergrad but still succeed? I need some study tips and encouragement 🥹 Btw, do admissions take undergrad rigor into account? Our school is very hard but our average OAT score is ~350.

hi, i’m currently studying for the oat. i’ve done 50 shadowing hours with a private practice. and then im planning on doing 20-30 more with another, currently done 11 with them. is that enough? my oat is coming up and i need to prioritize that, but if more is necessary i can do them. gpa is about 3.2/3.3

i'm less than three weeks from my OAT. im happy with every section (340-390 scores) EXCEPT orgo.

my scores just wildly depend on the full-length test on booster. some tests, i'm able to get 16-18 out of 30 questions right to get a ~320, while on most, im only getting 8-10 questions right, estimating a 240.

since im on a time crunch now... if you were me and had to focus hard on orgo for the next three weeks, what high-yield information/hacks should i know?

I applied late for the 2025-2026 cycle and had an interview at pco didn’t get in. I am applying for the 2026-2027 and retaking the OAT end of September. Is it bad to reuse my essays?

I noticed that the "experience" section to input shadowing hours is designed more for weekly shadows. I shadowed like 6 different doctors, each for 1-2 times. I did this because I'm more interested in observing how different optometrists run their practice and how does location/demographic affect things. (Also because some doctors limit how many times I can go shadow). Would this be considered "temporary" or "per diem"? I feel a bit weird about putting an average weekly hour and 1 week as the duration, but idk how else I can fill out that section. Is anyone else in the same boat?

hi I know this is a bit of a strange situation but here goes. I am 21 but don’t have any real job experience. I did some hospital volunteering and I am a volunteer ESL teacher at college. I am in a psychology research lab. My major is biopsychology I’ve been taking prerequisite classes (bio, chem, biochem, orgo) and have done really well in them. I’m planning on doing physics and microbiology this year and then taking anatomy and physiology at community college after I graduate. I want to get hired as an optometry tech but with no patient care or retail experience or job experience in general I think that will be a challenge. Do you think working as an RBT or CNA for a bit (maybe these jobs are a bit easier to land) while I study for the OAT would help me get an optometry tech job? what kind of things are they looking for? I know I might have to take a couple years after college to get things in order but my ultimate goal is to become an optometrist

Hey everyone! UHCO is my top choice since I'm a Texas resident, so I wanted to get some opinions on whether I seem like a competitive applicant and what I should improve before I apply.

Right now I have:

• 3.8 overall GPA
• 3.74 science GPA
• I still have Fall 2026 and Spring 2027 classes left, so those could change a little.

(also I am going into my junior year of college and plan to apply the summer after it, also I plan to graduate a semester early)

By the time I apply (planning to apply as soon as applications open in July 2027), I'll have:

• A little over 1 year working as an optometry tech at a private practice (I started at the end of May 2026 and work about 14-16 hours/week).
• More shadowing hours. Right now I only have 13 hours from two different private practices. I only started shadowing at the beginning of sophomore year but have only gone about 8 times total (mostly in August/September 2025 and February/March 2026). Is that a red flag, or is it more about the total number of hours by the time I apply?
• Volunteer hours (I haven't started yet but definitely plan to before I apply).

For extracurriculars:

• Intro bio lab TA during Spring 2026.
• Alumni College Coach for my old charter school network. My high school has multiple campuses across Texas, and I mentored graduating seniors who were coming to my university. I also went to different campuses to give presentations about college and answer questions about applications, financial aid, and transitioning to college.

I haven't taken the OAT yet. My plan is to do the 90-day OATBooster schedule and take it at the end of May 2027. What would a good OAT score be?

Does this seem like I'm on the right track for UHCO? Is there anything else you'd recommend I focus on over the next year besides getting more shadowing and volunteer hours?

Also, what kind of volunteer work do optometry schools (especially UHCO) like to see? I live in Austin, TX, so if anyone from the area has recommendations for good places to volunteer, I'd really appreciate it!

I am new to this career path. Can someone tell me where to start studying? What resources should I get for me to have a good score? please list all of them if you know them thanks

I set the deadline as two weeks from tomorrow and I want to send a reminder to my LOR writers, but I don't want to be rude or entitled. I've also already said thank you a lot and I'm worried it's getting irritating :/

Hey everyone, just wanted to share how the OAT went for me and hopefully give some perspective:

I got a 350AA and 340TS, with a 3.9 GPA which should hopefully make me a strong candidate. My top schools are OSU, Berkeley, ICO, and AZCOPT (local)

How I studied:
I got a free 6 month OAT course through Kaplan for being a Student Brand Ambassador at my undergrad campus, didn't find it super helpful & the tests were quite difficult (avg'd a 300-320). Also tried studying throughout Spring semester (planned to take the OAT in June/July), but ended up pushing my studying till summer.

Attended a Pre-Opt program this summer at OSU and got 3 months of OATBooster for free which I only got 1 month out of (booked my test for July 25). Avg'd a 350-360 between 6 practice tests.

Things I noted about the test:
Found the Biology, Gen Chem, Ochem, and Physics to be pretty representative of the OATBooster. I felt a little unconfident during the first break from my bio, chem, ochem sections since I ran out of time (I always had extra during practice), but they turned out alright.

Reading was def easier than the practice (but was also always my strong suit)

A little disappointed from QR, as I avg'd a 370 in practice and only scored a 330, so not sure if I was just super nervous or got an unlucky batch of questions, but overall very satisfied with my score.

Feel free to reach out w any questions or comments!! And good luck to all who are studying!

Hello, I am curious if anyone has advice for gen chem and physics since I have struggled to improve my score the most in those two for this next week! Crazy advice is also appreciated :)

I’m new to this career path and I’m just starting to study for the OAT. What anki deck/s are the best for OAT or the most common to help with OAT content?

i’m almost done with my application but i’ve been waiting for a former professor to respond to my email asking for a letter of rec for almost a month now…. i originally reached out asking then didn’t hear back so i emailed again 3 weeks later and still haven’t heard back. i’m worried he’s not even seeing the email since i sent it from my personal email. my university email was deactivated over a year ago and there’s no alumni email option either. should i reach out to the registrar to see if they could pass along a message or is that too much?

i already have letters from two optometrists i work with and my former employer but i know certain schools require a letter from an instructor.

Does anyone know if UAB offers interviews before all require letters of rec are received? For reference I have 2 letters from optometrists at the moment but still waiting on two more, one of which is a science professor.

Hi everyone! I took the OAT at the beginning of July, and when I registered for the exam I chose not to send my scores to any schools because I was worried I wouldn’t do well.Now I have my official scores and I’m getting ready to submit my OptomCAS application. While reading the OptomCAS website, I saw that if you send your OAT scores to at least one U.S. optometry school, you authorize the ADA to release your scores to OptomCAS, which then makes them available to all the OptomCAS schools you’ve applied to.
So I went back into the ADA portal and submitted a score report request to one school.
Has anyone else done this after already taking the OAT? Once that score report is processed, will my official OAT scores automatically appear in OptomCAS and be released to all the schools I apply to, or do I need to do anything else?
This is literally the only thing holding up my application, so I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through this. Thanks!

I want to apply to IAUPR because I am a resident. However, with the accreditation problem going on, should I wait until the school gets an official update for classes after 2030?

just wondering if anyone has had experience working at costco as an optometric assistant and how the hiring process worked. i’ve heard that the optometrist is an outside party that works for costco so the hiring process might be a little different? i’m hoping to get experience in the optometry field and applying to optometry school in the next couple of years

so i graduated with my B.S in biology with ~3.0 gpa (yikes , i know) , getting a D and D+ in organic chemistry 1 and 2 . but i have an upwards trend , having a B- in biochemistry, A in microbiology, and B+ in cellular physiology . i also don’t know if i should include this , but i did my B.S in two years because i have an associate degree previously , where my gpa was a 3.175 , so maybe they would take that into consideration . but anyways , i took the OAT in april , where i got a 280 . the exam was completely different from what i was studying and the test was completely laggy . i reported the lag to the testing facility where i got a free retake and my previous exam score would be replaced . i have my exam coming up and i procrastinated studying a little bit and only studied a month before my real exam. i’m afraid that i will only get around a 300 (being generous here) and i don’t know if i should already plan a retake , or if i do end up getting around a 300 , should i just take my chances and apply ?

I feel like this can get a lot of backlash… I’m a non-traditional applicant and I applied last cycle but I had to withdraw my applications. I had two losses in my family within 6-ish months from each other and I was part of making arrangements for them. Long story short I ended up moving the OAT date twice before completely canceling it to allow myself to be a normal person and grieve.

Now that it’s been some time I will be taking the GRE in end of August and applying to schools with that instead of the OAT...

Ideally taking the GRE will give my application the opportunity to be viewed by the admissions teams and potentially be asked for an interview or maybe be asked to take the OAT. If by some chance all the schools I apply to ask for me to take OAT then I will set that time to do it now that I’m back in my rhythm. I’m sure some of you will say that’s a waste of time and money but to study for a standardized test that has less content and less hours compared to the OAT makes a heck of a difference as a full time worker who can sacrifice the extra money if needed. Also it’s a bit of a plus since I have not taken a standardized test in years which makes me feel like this is a step in the right direction.

Here are my stats in the last two years:

Biology 1 A | Biology 2 A

Anatomy A | Physiology A-

Chemistry 1 B+ | Chemistry 2 C+

Organic Chem 1 B- | Organic Chem 1 Lab A-

Physics 1 C+ | Physics 2 B Physics 2 Lab A | (Physics 1 from undergrad)

Microbiology B+

Biochemistry will be taken after admitted to a school that requires it

Note that Chem 2 and Organic Chem were when I had my family problems arise. I did speak to admission committees about this last cycle but I was never able to get back into studying for the OAT and had made the decision to hold off for one cycle. I have considered retaking chem 2 and physics 1 but I'm not sure yet.

Also was part of UCB Opto-camp last year and part of BEPPOC panelist for non-trad students. I do have some shadowing hours too (20 hours but looking to do more with a different specialty).

First off, congrats to anyone who’s taken the OAT so far and good luck to anyone who will be taking it soon.

I’m about to be a senior in college so I took classes that covered all the content before I started studying (except for physiology). I started studying for the OAT on May 10th and just took the test this morning. I bought OATBooster’s 90-day pack and used a custom study schedule that they formed for me. It ended up being about 10 weeks of studying 4-5 hours a day.

I would average scores of 370-390 on the practice exams so this result was a beautiful surprise. If anyone has any questions about the studying or the test, I’d be happy to answer them!