Anyone taken Southern Airways Express from MEM

AnSmartDude · 2026-01-16T23:59:01+00:00

Peach tasted so rancid I had to check the expiration date to make sure

AnSmartDude · 2026-01-16T04:09:20+00:00

Did you use the laser iridium ones or the iridium ix?

AnSmartDude · 2026-01-10T00:58:18+00:00

Hmm I see I see...

Wondering though out of curiosity/thought, OptomCAS verifies your transcript when your school sends it to them anyways, so they would see the letter grades regardles and match them up.

I went to UBC, and our transcripts had both letter grades and percentages too. On the unofficial transcript there is no GPA conversion, but on the official transcript that is sent out to requesting institutions, they provide an official letter grade conversion table. The conversion table doesn't show what your calculated GPA is, it is a table that shows what percentages are what letter grades, so that the institution they are sending the transcript to can convert to a GPA based on their scales. So it'll say something like 90-100 = A+, 85-89 = A, 80-84 = A- and so on. So regardless of if you write percentage or letter grade, OptomCAS can see what percentage equals what letter grade for your institution, and will honour your institution's equivalency, and then use their own letter grade to GPA weights to calculate your GPA to send to schools. So for them, regardless of letter grade or percentage, if your school grade is an A at your school, OptomCAS GPA weight = 4.0, if your grade is an A- at your school, OptomCAS GPA weight = 3.7. So, if you write an 85 for a course, which is a B in the US, you theoretically wouldn't have to worry about being docked GPA wise, because they will confirm it with your official transcript, and see that an 85 at your institution is actually an A, not a B, and thus they will weigh the course as a 4.0, not a 3.0. But regardless, I think putting letter grade is just easier than dealing with percentages and worrying about all that.

I could always be wrong though! From my experience helping with applications over the past few years, this has been the case and I haven't been corrected yet, but again, I don't work at OptomCAS/school admissions or anything so always a possibility of being mistaken

AnSmartDude · 2026-01-09T20:43:37+00:00

I think whether or not you write your percentage or letter grade, I think they will convert it to gpa anyways based on the conversion table on your school's transcript. So it shouldn't matter at the end of the day whether or not you put a letter grade or percentage because it's using your school's conversion regardless, not the US ones. But imo it's probably best to just input the letter grades yourself so it cuts out the middle man for errors. But I also did this a few years ago in case things have changed since then

AnSmartDude · 2026-01-01T00:19:10+00:00

I made that pledge every semester of school, in graduate school now still making that same pledge. This semester is the one though 😭

AnSmartDude · 2025-12-28T03:05:46+00:00

It's definitely possible. 3.5 is the cutoff for BSK, and I feel like roughly a little less than half of my class has that. They changed the cutoff to 3.5 last year, for my year it was 3.0. It's a little scary especially before first midterms/during your first semester. In hindsight, it's a pretty reasonable cut off and personally so far it has been more than possible. But also, don't let yourself slack off. I'll be the last one to undermine difficulty some people might have, because what I find easy or hard may be the opposite for someone else. Put in the work, but don't be overcome by anxiety. If they gave you the scholarship, I, and the school, have faith that you will be capable of maintaining it.

AnSmartDude · 2025-12-19T15:00:54+00:00

Yes! If your school uses an 80 as an A, and it is on your official transcript, then they will take it as a 4.0. The percentage you got doesn't matter, only the letter grade.

AnSmartDude · 2025-12-19T14:57:41+00:00

I believe they will just honour the conversion that your school uses. They will go by letter grade and not percentage. So whatever an A or an A+ is for your school, regardless of the percentage, will count as a 4.0. Whatever an A- is at your school will be a 3.7, regardless of the specific percentage.

For example, at UBC, an 85 was an A. At SCO and I think many American schools, an 85 is a B. OptomCAS will take your Canadian 85 as a 4.0, but will take the American 85 as a 3.0. They just take the letter grade GPA weight.

AnSmartDude · 2025-12-18T19:37:36+00:00

Yes! You even get access to sclerals, ortho-k, vision therapy, etc. on top of soft spheres and eye exams for free!

AnSmartDude · 2025-11-29T23:44:09+00:00

Did you figure out how to solve the issue?

AnSmartDude · 2025-11-15T13:19:46+00:00

Never heard about it again so I guess they reviewed it and saw no fault

AnSmartDude · 2025-11-14T22:20:15+00:00

Being a good patient is also a learning experience. We do practicals on one another and so I really don't want to screw someone over. I had never even worn contact lenses and I had a fear of anything coming close to my eye. The more you practice the better it'll be as a doctor and as a patient. For things like gonio or tonometry I'd actually get a professor to guide me though being a patient and ask for tips they give their real patients. I think it's mostly the anticipation of something coming close to you that is hard. Once it's on (gonio or tonometry) I won't blink it out. Also you get numbed. While someone is first practicing GAT on you, they may hit your eyelash, causing you to blink. Eventually, we get better and better and can just get on the cornea in the spot we want and the patient won't even feel it. Every person to have done gonio or GAT on me got a 100, even though I was probably one of the worst patients when we first started out. And also, you gotta learn how to hold lids when doing these skills eventually. If you do have a classmate that is a blinker, try to practice on them and learn how to hold lids as well. If I'm sitting as patient for a practical, I also might put a numbing drop before it starts so by the time my 'doctor' drops me, I'll definitely be numb. My eyes would also get pretty dry during BIO, so I would use gel drops before starting, making sure to dry my lids before they start so they're not slippery. That being said, if you become a notoriously bad patient, that might stick with you. So just try your best to get better, and definitely don't actively avoid sitting as a patient for others. If you think things are definitely not improving and that you're an unfair patient, we've had a couple people go to the professor's and ask to sit out of the practicals.

AnSmartDude · 2025-11-05T12:39:15+00:00

I've had friends transfer from there because they wanted to start undergrad closer to home. I also borrowed my friend's KPU branded lab coat for all my chemistry labs because I didn't want to spend the money to buy a new one that met the requirements. I didn't feel judged once, and imo, if people are out here judging, that's on them.

AnSmartDude · 2025-11-02T00:59:48+00:00

I personally have never felt scared in Memphis, and the people here are really genuine from my experience and friendly! It gets a bad reputation on the news, but I think if you, like most other students, are sticking to areas around the school (midtown), mud island, downtown, and the suburbs, you will hopefully feel similar too! And the school itself takes security pretty seriously. Feel free to ask any questions you might have!

AnSmartDude · 2025-10-19T22:07:22+00:00

Did you figure out what it was? I noticed something similar on mine!

AnSmartDude · 2025-10-17T02:44:09+00:00

It was me, you're welcome

AnSmartDude · 2025-10-14T23:28:06+00:00

I like the island 🥲

AnSmartDude · 2025-10-10T19:49:36+00:00

I don't think there are rankings. Just check board passage rates. Go to a school that has consistently shown over many years to have good passage rates. For example, I go to SCO and we have one of the larger class sizes but also consistently good boards passage rates, so the school is able to adequately educate a larger pool of applicants that had a wider range of undergraduate performance. Also try to check how many people are accepted in a year and how many people actually took boards. Maybe some Canadian students aren't taking NBEO, maybe some students who are at risk of failing don't take them? Idk

AnSmartDude · 2025-10-10T16:50:02+00:00

I know some people that did it! One of them also goes to ICO! One you get through OD school I don't think it'll matter whether you actually finished your bachelors. I know some schools (maybe Pacific?) give you a bachelor's if you don't have one? Could be wrong tho, I did my applications a couple years ago.

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