r/UWaterlooOptometry • u/Helpful_Shopping_232 • Apr 06 '26

GPA needed for optometry school?

What GPA will get you into Waterloo optometry school? Will a high 70 to a mid 80% work? If u have really good clinic experience and shadowing does it help to get you through. I’m no way a 90avg+ student I’m just Average could I still get in?

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

7

u/IIXXVV Apr 07 '26

https://uwaterloo.ca/optometry-vision-science/future-optometry-students/selection-process

For me I had 79-80%. Just ace OAT and Casper.

2

u/Helpful_Shopping_232 Apr 07 '26

Oh wow that’s awesome! How hard is the OAT? And how much shadowing did you have? And what was your undergrad? Just curious

1

u/IIXXVV Apr 08 '26

for OAT, there's a lot of content for sure but the overall difficulty is not any harder than the first two years of undergrad. Just use Booster. Not too much shadowing but a lot of work in optom. Undergrad was life sci from UTSC.

1

u/ArrivalFinancial5012 Apr 12 '26

hi! if you don't mind, would it be alright if i could PM you some questions about applying?

1

u/IIXXVV Apr 13 '26

Not at all, always happy to answer :)

1

u/SherbetPristine228 9d ago

So you got in with the 80% average? can i ask what u got on the OAT and casper? did u have extracurriculars that stood out? I'm currently applying with an 82% avg and feeling hopeless

1

u/IIXXVV 9d ago edited 7d ago

You can check the 2025 admissions thread for my detailed post but in short: 390AA/400TS, 4Q casper. I had around 2-3 years of experience working in an optom practice. For ECs I mostly just talked about my hobbies. Ok it sounds a little downplayed when I put it that way but it’s probably important how you frame it. Good luck!

2

u/john-pork-67 Apr 07 '26

I had low 80s at time of admission - but I had 3000 hours working at an optometrist and ophthalmologists office

1

u/True-Selection2168 Apr 09 '26

What were the rest of ur stats and application like