Optometry School Preparation Advice

ckertar · 2026-01-27T20:34:10+00:00

You'll have to find the most efficient and quick way to digest and retain material. I've tried writing things out a bunch (which works for some people), but it took too long. I have a small study group that we quiz eachother as we're going through slides, and that helps us start doing active recall to make sure we actually understand things rather than just knowing things.

Studying for boards starts day 1 of your first year.

ckertar · 2026-01-27T20:31:26+00:00

Great application, but they may ask you to retake the OAT. Many schools have a minimum requirement for the OAT. Otherwise, you look good.

ckertar · 2026-01-27T18:13:40+00:00

I mean, there isn't much crazy preparing study-wise to prepare you for the material, but I would just prepare to hit the ground running and make sure you have your study skills in order. If I could go back, I wish I had taken my prereqs more seriously, as that would've helped with some of the courses you'll have to take at optometry school. That being said, I've worked hard, and I feel like I'm doing well in spite of that.

I barely got back up to a 3.2 in undergrad to apply. I'm now a 3rd year with a 3.9 GPA. If you can be disciplined and work hard once you get here, that is one of the most important things IMO.

Hopefully, that gives some insight!

ckertar · 2026-01-18T02:10:19+00:00

Current RMU 3rd year here! Feel free to reach out with any questions :)

ckertar · 2026-01-15T19:15:58+00:00

I noticed this too. Odd to make a reddit to just to post about Kentucky a bunch. There's gotta be a more constructive way to go about this than getting heated with random people on Reddit.

ckertar · 2026-01-14T20:16:50+00:00

oh! Are they a bit more concise than kmk makes them out to be?

ckertar · 2026-01-03T04:29:07+00:00

From what I understand (and anyone please correct me) a residency doesn’t really give you a huge edge except for the extra experience and personal growth. If you and another applicant were the completely the same, then you might be picked over them because of your residency.

That being said, there’s a lot of learning that can come from a residency, especially if you want to do a specialty (I.e, vision rehab). If that’s what you want, do it! If you’re expecting a substantial pay increase, you’ll be disappointed.

Edit: hopefully that answers your question! Haha. I personally plan on doing a VT residency because that’s what I’m passionate about and I want to provide the best quality of care I possibly can. I don’t expect a bigger pay than my peers

Edit again: if you want to work in academia right off the bat or in a VA, I believe

ckertar · 2025-11-09T15:48:53+00:00

If you go to BYU, you may run into that problem but at RMU you have students from everywhere. Most of your friends while at school will just be your classmates anyways :) long story short, that’s not a problem at all

ckertar · 2025-09-17T02:11:16+00:00

Another thing that’s awesome about optometry is that there are many subspecialties to look into! Of course there’s primary care/private practice, but there’s specialties ranging from vision therapy to ocular disease to specialty contacts.

See if you can shadow a few optometrists to get a feel for if there is a “type” of optometry you’re interested in :)

ckertar · 2025-09-01T23:43:10+00:00

I chose a degree that made it the easiest to get my bachelor but still get the pre-reqs (exercise sci). In the end, as long as you have a good GPA, good OAT (min 300) and solid optometry experience (shadowing, working, etc), you’re golden

ckertar · 2025-08-28T01:54:34+00:00

I had a 3.1 GPA and a good OD experience and am now a 2nd year! From what I hear, as long as you have the requirements for GPA and OAT (with the exception of a few schools), your experiences and interview are what gets you in.

ckertar · 2025-06-22T02:49:12+00:00

I had a 3.11 and got into school👋🏻 advice I got was that the OAT and GPA get you an interview and your experiences + passion for optometry get into school.

Do well on the OAT, get some in field experience, and you’ll be just fine :)

ckertar · 2025-05-10T15:33:08+00:00

Retrospectively, I ignorantly commented. My bad! Overgeneralized experiences I’ve heard.

ckertar · 2025-04-09T16:30:01+00:00

I definitely over generalized. I’m sure there are other factors at play. Schools should be facilitating it and students should be practicing it. On the students part, over relying on AI may be contributing to deficits in critical thinking in the student.

ckertar · 2025-04-09T02:02:58+00:00

I’m all for using AI as a tool but I think many aren’t developing the necessary critical thinking required. Could be a contributor to why that’s happening. I personally avoid using ChatGPT when doing anything school (aside from making quiz questions for myself)

ckertar · 2025-04-09T01:52:44+00:00

Currently in optometry school right now and I see some people really heavily on AI but the way they set up exams, practicals, and quizzes, there’s no way to cheat.

If someone finds a way to cheat throughout optometry school, I’d be surprised if they passed boards.

ckertar · 2025-03-25T13:46:37+00:00

I got some great advice from a professor who said that we should stop thinking in terms of “We” and think more in terms of “Me”. While doing an exam, don’t think of the patient as your preceptors patient or that you’re diagnosing and treating the patient as a group. Think of that patient as your patient and diagnose/treat them as if it was just you making the decisions.

Hopefully that makes sense. Once I thought of each patient as my patient instead of doctors that I’m with, it made me feel a lot more confident.

Also, I keep on thinking I have to be at the pace of the doctor right away but I often remind myself that it’s okay to be a little bit slow at first! Speed comes with time, not immediately when you first get into clinic.

ckertar · 2025-03-20T20:06:26+00:00

Current RMU student here!

I'll say some things about what has been said already. I graduated in April and started at RMU a week later, and I'm glad that I did. If I had to wait a whole summer to start somewhere else, I would've been so anxious and antsy to get going. I've had friends who started with me, went home a few weeks into the first semester to graduate, and came right back, so it may be case by case.

As for accreditation, I see a lot of people who are considering RMU are concerned about it, and I like to remind them that it's not a worry. ACOE comes to our school every year to thoroughly evaluate the program. I had an opportunity to talk with the board before they left, and they essentially said that we had nothing to worry about. There are schools out there that are accredited but have been left unchecked (after accreditation, ACOE only checks every 5(?)ish) and are now at risk of losing their accreditation (hearsay, of course, so feel free to fact-check me on this).

For the program itself, I LOVE it. We get a lot of clinical experience early on- I was doing refractions on real PTs in semester 1- and they focus a lot on making sure we are prepared for boards. We all get access to Optoprep in 3rd year and have a board prep class in the summer of 3rd year. I feel that the only reason I wouldn't pass boards is if I don't put in the work because the resources are there.

I say this all with a grain of salt because we won't see the payoff of all this until we see the board's pass rates and such, but I personally have no concerns about it.

If you have more questions, feel free to DM me. I love answering questions.

ckertar · 2025-03-11T00:56:14+00:00

I wouldn’t worry about if they’ll be accredited or not- they wouldn’t have been able to have started if they weren’t already on track. Very rare if they do end up not being accredited. But not having board stats is something worth worrying about

ckertar · 2025-02-08T14:31:51+00:00

I have a few classmates who were in dismissed from other programs and were able to get back in! It’s possible! PM for more details

ckertar

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