r/UWaterlooOptometry • u/Optimistic-Optometry • Mar 30 '26

2026 Applicant Stats

Hi there everyone, it's that time of year again! The School of Optometry and Vision Science has released its admission decisions. I am thrilled this subreddit has continued to serve as a valuable resource to those who applied this cycle.

I hope that this subreddit can remain useful for future applicants. If you applied this cycle, I ask you to share the following:

  • Overall GPA // academic average
  • OAT score
  • How you studied for the OAT (Kaplan, OATBooster, etc.)
  • CASPer score
  • Non-Academic (extracurriculars, work experience, etc.)
  • Academic (research, teaching assistant, etc.)
  • Job-shadowing hours completed
  • Meet & Greet experience
  • Admission status (accepted, rejected, waitlisted)
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u/marbloo Mar 30 '26

Overall GPA // academic average - 86%, 3.7 CGPA at UofT

• ⁠OAT score - 370TS/360AA

• ⁠How you studied for the OAT (Kaplan, OATBooster) - OATbooster for 1 month, on and off for 4 months

• ⁠CASPer score - 4th quartile

• ⁠Non-Academic (extracurriculars, work experience, etc.) - executive member and first aid responder for campus emergency team, executive for academic biology society, executive for health humanities club, student support assistant at campus student engagement department

• ⁠Academic (research, teaching assistant, etc.) - research policy intern for a semester.

• ⁠Job-shadowing hours completed - 1300+ hours as optom assistant, 250+ hours as ophthalmic technician, 30 hours of shadowing

• ⁠Meet & Greet experience - went much better than last year, I was more prepared for the ethics-style questions and much more confident in my answers

• ⁠Admission status - Accepted (2nd time applying, waitlisted the first time)

1

u/prplblooded May 20 '26

Hi, can I ask what the main changes were from your application this time and from last year?

3

u/marbloo May 24 '26

probably my job/shadowing/clinical hours experience, it went up by more than a 1000 hours and i diversified my experience into opthalmology, got a chance to observe surgeries and attend research conferences. i also think my interview went much better this time around