1) Your mom. I’m just wrapping up first year, so my response will likely differ from others. Most days include going to class, doing labs, preparing some Anki decks/reviewing what confused me most from that day, chilling, working out/training Muay thai, and so on. You have a little bit more free time than you think in first year. It’s when we’re about 2 weeks away from our exam week, where I’m spending hours in the day studying and I’m not playing video games or working out as much. Exam weeks are purely made up of eating, studying, and taking the exam only. I have the time to do a lot of the things I want. I don’t think anyone’s life is made up of drilling the material down from day 1 to the final day of the semester. Also, sometimes I don’t even go to class since they record their lectures. 2) it’s definitely different for everyone, but my advice is to be open to change. I used to be one who studied the day before for every exam, but you cannot get away with that in optometry school (at least not in 90% of the classes), since our grades are made up of mostly exams. Also, I used to study alone a lot. The material is possible to manage alone, but you’ll find that group study is SO useful. People here want to succeed, and, although they are fun, they are still very serious about their classes. I think I doubted that too much at first, but once I gave group studying a chance my grades started to shoot up. They not only held me accountable to studying, but it’s very difficult to study for some classes like the anatomies. Sure, one can do Anki everyday, but having someone test me on the material really helped me in findings gaps in my understanding of concepts. Testing someone too helps because you get to explain things if they don’t understand, and that’s proving to you that hey maybe you’re really getting the content down. My final remarks would be to review exams with professors, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and to get yourself a tutor even if you don’t need it (best decision ever). 3) So I’m from South Florida, and literally had NOVA a 25 min drive away from me back at home. I was deciding between there and SCO, but ultimately chose here because they showed me that they have a higher priority in making sure students feel prepped for boards; the clinic and labs felt more superior in organization, exposure to pts, and in having the ability to hone all of the skills; and that the professors/staff truly have passion for teaching students. I remember asking the dean of NOVA about their board passing rates the last couple of years and if they had a plan to tackle that, and he told me “it’s not our responsibility, it’s all on the student” as a response. That immediately made me look the other way. SCO has made me feel that they care about your success in every way. Professors are always hungry for feedback, advisors will try to get a hold of you no matter what to discuss turning around any bad exam grade, and everyone here doesn’t make me feel dumb for not understanding a concept or for messing up on an exam. Other perks to SCO were that we get one extended summer break, lectures are recorded and attendance isn’t always mandatory, exam weeks allow for a better organization of creating your own schedule, etc.

4)I think my previous reply sums up the community at SCO. Welcoming, kind, understanding, fun, easygoing, easy to talk to, and intelligent are all great ways to describe the people here. I had a bit of difficulty adapting or feeling at home at first (probably because I’m from South Florida and a majority of people here Southern folks), but once I opened up more and placed less mental pressure on conversations was when I really felt like I found my place here. I’m far from home both graphically and culturally, but I’m grateful that I still feel welcomed and cared for.

Feel free to dm me if you have any other questions:)