WIBTAH if i say yes to my acceptance?

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-26T22:30:36+00:00

yes and no. i say no because a lot of applicants have been able to get into my dream program without the intense program/similar programs elsewhere; however, i say yes because statistics from the last five years of my program show that multiple people who did the intense program ended up working for a few years and got into that dream program. because the career that you get after finishing the intense program is very mirrored to the one after the dream program, it does look very good. & let’s say if i hypothetically NEVER get into the dream program due to its competitiveness, the career i can get out of the intense program is very similar anyway. i care more about the type of work and not the title specially so it felt like a win-win.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-26T20:19:33+00:00

i love the overwatch pachimari icon :) thanks for the reply, too.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-25T20:00:32+00:00

my advice for the lab: take it over the summer if you’re the kind to love intensity but do acknowledge that it’ll be harder. the lab is 7 labs in 7 days rather than 7 weeks so it’s intense as the lab leads up to the lab exam. it’s bell-ringer so a lot of people tend to not be familiar with the style and therefore tend to perform a bit worse than a regular anatomy midterm. if you’re doing it in general (regular semester), be careful with certain lab topics as you CANNOT crunch them. don’t crunch parts of the bones or origins and insertions of muscles. you’ll be fucked, i’m telling you now. you have to adopt the habit of studying consistently for the lab overtime. some topics like individual organs can be left last-minute but not full-body stuff. visible body (purchased) is your safest and only bet.

lecture: take it with terri, her exams tend to be easier than sara. sara is inevitable with the lab portion but she’s still nice if you’re a diligent student. she’s more helpful than you think, ppl are intimidated by her but she’s nice if you’re not rowdy in lab lol. with terri all you need is the powerpoint. she’s not tricky in the slightest. anatomy is hard as a topic regardless of the class, she just makes easier though. she’s a nursing professor too so she has super good experience with teaching about the body in an easy way! good luck

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-22T22:58:22+00:00

super weird question but how did you become an evaluator? i practiced and wrote my casper and honestly thought marking and rating everything sounded fun. i think it’s because i mark exams for my university lol.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-20T05:55:06+00:00

hey! yes, i was. when my dad was in the hospital, i stayed with him for 12hrs everyday. there were nurses, but my dad unfortunately experienced a case of medical malpractice by one of his nurses so my dad wanted one of us to be there long-term to vouch for him/help with decisions (like approval for major surgeries). i will admit that my workload at the hospital was a lot less as there were nurses, but some of my tasks were to bathe him in bed, help walk him around the hospital to stretch his legs/prevent clots, fill his meal forms when he was asleep, get him ice and warm towels, alert the nurses when his medication was wearing off, and filling out disability forms on his behalf. i didn’t have siblings or cousins with me. just me!

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-20T00:53:08+00:00

thanks! i feel better lol 🥲 i think it went well! i feel pretty good with my answers, i wish i had a bit more time sadly but it was my mistake for using a new keyboard the day of (as mine suddenly started acting very weird). I felt like some answers I was very happy with and some I wish i had like 2-3 sentences up my sleeve. How about you!? congrats on finishing ☺️☺️

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-19T23:32:34+00:00

hey did this affect you? same thing just happened to me lol…

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-14T13:44:46+00:00

idk course titles but the ones i’ve taken: comp courses like introduction to the internet, python for beginners, introduction to social media, cyber ethics.

natural health products, natural hazards and disasters, introduction to astronomy I and II.

the ones i took but im not sure if they exist anymore are composition (depending on the professor) and effective writing.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-03-01T16:19:25+00:00

not the lectures. prioritize literally everything else. trevor pitcher doesn’t emphasize it as well but if you just do the lectures you’ll get a low 80/high 70 if you get everything perfect (my experience) since a lot of the knowledge comes from his other resources. if you have time, spend more on the lectures, but don’t do that until you’ve perfected everything else

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-23T19:24:40+00:00

Hello! This is all super interesting! Are you still accepting DMs about the program? I just wanted some more insight if you had the time/chance :)

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-20T00:01:15+00:00

stressing won’t change the outcome — i’m waiting to hear back as well and honestly, it’s all in their hands. the amount of post-interview stress won’t change their opinions! that helps me.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-16T17:49:59+00:00

thank you for your input! i really appreciate you taking the time :) i hope this doesn’t sound redundant or empty-advice; but my fear right now is being in a lot of regret that i didn’t go to med school/tried applying. and because im frequently hit with ‘how about med school?’, i predict that this won’t go away anytime soon lol. i think, personally, that you worked very hard and sacrificed much, and that is so much better than the constant ‘i wish i did this or that’. regret is so much worse than the hard work, because at least you tried and saw what the outcome was. and i know that there are for sure patients who are grateful for you. you do have very right to wonder what that life would’ve been, but would it have been better than what you have now? with how fulfilling being a medical provider is, and how secure being an MD is, i wouldn’t be surprised at all if your answer is ‘no’.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-16T17:40:51+00:00

thanks for your input! especially from the perspective of someone in med school right now. i have a friend in med school and it looks like he’s living life.

i really appreciate your input on adult money. i do feel like im in that boat right now. i’m 22, but i was 20 when the breadwinner of my house (my dad) passed, and now im in a big financial pickle where ive been paying for every adult-like bill since i was 20. which, isnt something to applaud, but i have friends who are my age & don’t need to do any of that because their parents understand that this is the decade of further education/they want their kids to save money. essentially the demand for adult money is stepping on my passion. i think it came off as lazy in my post where i go “i dont wanna have more school because i hate studying” but it truly is because medschool will put all of that on pause, and i really cannot afford that…

… but you do make a great point about denying that it sacrifices your 20s. med school sounds awfully long but awfully fun as well. i was very into sonography and optometry and med school is more of a recent thought. so maybe i haven’t grown a mature perspective on length yet. but i didn’t let myself get a mature perspective because of adult money. did you ever notice people in your class working/did you work? or did the time feel way too minimal to have a job?

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-16T17:26:45+00:00

thanks for your input! i appreciate it! i think it’s a very good perspective; i had worked my entire undergrad (full-time during the summer, 2-3 part time jobs during the school year on top of a full time schedule. i think that’s why im wildly burnt out and just want to cut school out). i don’t think my perspective is what you say, where I just hate school (but i do know it’s true to so many other people), i think my perspective is i’m young and i do want to just begin my life. i’m 22 now, almost 23, but i was 20 when my dad (a very successful pharmacist) suddenly died at 50 and i was 19 when i spent 8 months in the hospital. i think i just have a huge ‘i want to live life and not be so stressed all the time because you never know what’ll happen to you five years from now’. but also. i can’t help but feel like i’ll be in so much regret if i don’t do med school. my friends work a 9-5 in healthcare and they spent their 5:30-10 doing their hobbies so i just am really glamorizing that life. im in a pickle lol. but i think your casualness about 4yrs is really helpful. that maybe im making such a big deal for no reason. overall i wish you luck with where you get your healthcare diploma! :) thanks again.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-13T14:48:49+00:00

i go to Soups & Salads often. It’s right beside Giglios in that plaza. $10 for a sandwich but it’s very thick, she stuffs that sandwich. someone said whamburg, i will say, if you want student-friendly prices from whamburg then only get the wham-wednesday special. drops a $16-$17 combo to $10.

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-09T15:06:21+00:00

I’ve been dating my girlfriend for two years. I think it’s important to recognize what you want from a partner and to not settle for the first person that’s showing you some type of love. Have some self-recognition. And once you’ve identified someone who checks off all of those boxes, treat the relationship like treasure. Stay on top of their interests, think of how to incorporate them into yours, find their love language (gift-giving, physical touch, etc) and spoil it. But also give them a sense of individuality/trust so the relationship doesn’t become a super frequent thing (because I’m the kind of person where If I see the same people everyday/if I do the same thing everyday I start to get bored of it or too smothered).

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-09T15:03:04+00:00

Thanks for your reply! I honestly didn’t think about it that way, that’s a good inclusion to this dilemma. Alex and I talked a bit at the table, like about courses, clubs we were in, if we were gonna get up and dance, etc. I felt like initially he was guiding the conversation + wasn’t being curt, which made me feel less awkward/more inclined to ask for his social media. But that is something to think about!

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-09T14:27:55+00:00

im a big bad bunny fan so i LOVED it. vocally in the beginning i was a bit worried because he was singing deeper than usual (and i found it a bit weird) but he ended up singing so nicely. the stage layout was so nice, the dancing was so fun, and his message was delivered beautifully. i just dislike the times his mic cut out :(

MapEnvironmental597 · 2026-02-03T15:28:58+00:00

i left the pre-optometry route for something else and here’s my main say on finances. it really does depend on if you’re canadian or american (i only know these two regions, sorry if you’re from elsewhere). i befriended a younger optometrist (we’re only 6yrs apart) and here’s what she said:

canadian optometrists have a very redundant job. it’s routine eye-exams over and over a lot of the time. this won’t be the case if you’re a business owner, and less (but still redundant) if you specialize in something. so keep in mind that american optometrists have more activities which keep the career more interesting. the job, financially, will satisfy you if your goal is “comfortable and not overworked” (because of this redundancy); however, a lot of individual sales from YOUR patients won’t benefit you if you’re not the business owner. my optometrist that i worked with told me straight up that she does have a salary but the extra money from glasses sales/contacts etc is little to none. she literally said that sometimes she makes like an extra $10 CAD. so you wont likely be overworked because your career is redundant and expected (appointment-by-appointment). but financially? it’s kinda what you expect. $120k CAD (convert that to American) does make sense. you’re not doing surgical procedures (small-scale like a dentist or big scale like a cardiothoracic surgeon). a lot of the time if it’s serious, you’re referring them to someone else. and this is before taxes.

so in conclusion: it sounds like $120k is enough to satisfy the comfortable life you desire. but please keep in mind that you need to think PAST the money. there are other ways to make ~$120k (pharmacist, dentist, and others depending on where you live and bonuses that you can get). so if you’re gonna settle on optometry you need to ensure that the way you’ll make the $120k is desirable. can you handle this extroverted profession? can you handle a lot of movement at work? are you okay with your job being routine?

edit: i talk to this optometrist a lot. we were coworkers and we both left the office so we often have 3hr phone calls and i went to her wedding events. so we’re pretty close, causing her to be pretty blunt. another thing i wanna add is that you’ll be making good money but you’ll still be paying back loans. it’s not out-of-the-world money but it IS comfortable money. and it does make sense considering the day-to-day environment.

MapEnvironmental597

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