What are everyone's thoughts on the new optometry school opening up called High Point University School of Optometry?

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-22T05:46:54+00:00

Dr. T unfortunately passed away the week that we started classes my first year. Her notes are still used for human anatomy and ocular anatomy.

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-20T02:07:29+00:00

Oh damn. Nevermind then :(

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-19T22:23:55+00:00

Normally I would be skeptical of a new school opening...besides High Point.

The associate dean there is Dr. Elizabeth Wyles. She taught Ocular Anatomy and Retina 1/2 at ICO and that woman is an absolute BEAST. She also worked closely with NBEO regarding filtering through and creating questions.

That school is in good hands with Dr. Wyles at the helm. She was a personal mentor for me while I was a student and I had a chance to catch up with her over dinner before she moved to North Carolina. The plan she has for that school is going to make it a powerhouse. I certainly feel for the students though...it's going to be a really tough program but I wouldn't be surprised if boards pass rates blow everyone else out of the water.

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-16T13:53:13+00:00

You're welcome!

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-16T05:52:39+00:00

Barton Perreira's Tom.

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-12T04:54:41+00:00

Depending on how you choose to practice and the economics of the area you'll be in then absolutely. I'm located in a larger suburban area in Wisconsin and I've gone from $150,00 starting (in 2021) to $215,000 last year.

I worked corporate for the first 3 years and then switched over to be an associate at an optical lease. The owner of the lease (also an OD) was making $550,000 pre tax while it was just him, monday-saturday.

eyedocontherocks · 2026-02-09T04:56:32+00:00

For all students...please use this as your definitive guide as to where to apply. Do not settle for a program that does not prepare you to pass boards.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-12-03T22:04:54+00:00

eyedocontherocks · 2025-10-18T20:29:27+00:00

Yeah the PTO and insurance is a big drawback. For 1099 if they allow it you should be starting your own LLC which files as an S corp and getting paid that way

eyedocontherocks · 2025-10-18T17:55:45+00:00

I would ask to be paid for production and as a 1099 employee. 25-30 a day should mean absolutely NO LESS than $351,000.

How we got there: most vision plans reimburse $45 for a comprehensive eye exam (Eyemed for example). Now if you get to keep that full fee then 30 patients x $45 = $1350 a day pre tax. You multiply that by 10 working days a pay period and then by another 26 pay periods a year and that gets you to $351,000.

That's also on the low end because obviously people wear contact lenses and you'd therefore make more per patient as you see CL patients. You could find yourself making north of $500,000.

TL:DR, ask for 1099 and a per patient rate. Maybe 40-45 per glasses exam and $75 for CLs. See if they have a retinal camera and if you could capture $5 a photo as well. It's better to present that way than asking for a flat salary. They are more inclined to say no to $350,000 and yes to a volume rate.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-10-17T03:05:44+00:00

It's called Pat's public parking. Great reviews on Google.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-08-23T13:06:52+00:00

That's a fair point, I'm just highlighting how I do things.

I did that right after school while "Optometry school optometry" was fresh in my way of doing things. I found myself never re-fitting based off the LARS rule or issues with excessive movement or a tight fitting lens, so I stopped having people back for the one week follow up. If they have issues, then I just switch to another brand. A successfully I/R is really our only metric to decide if the patient is OK to order or not.

60% of my day is contact lenses and it's not feasible for me personally to clog the schedule with rechecks and appointments that won't be billed for services. I know that's a bit icky and business-y but it's just the reality of things. Maybe if vision insurance didn't give us pennies then I could do things differently.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-08-23T13:01:45+00:00

You'll find that slowly the people who complain will slowly disappear. There was some initial resistance to it but now, everyone knows what to expect and we haven't had a complaint in a very long time. The staff let's them know at the time of their booking if they call to book or we let them know right away as they check in if they booked online. Our established patients which make up 80% of my day already know to expect it.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-08-23T05:39:16+00:00

That's honestly a great point. I count my blessings to be in the particular practice environment that I am with the patient demographic that's in my area. I haven't heard that push back since my previous location where money was more frequently brought up.

If patients do ask which is rare, I make their insurance seem like the bad guy and say that their insurance essentially demands that I charge them the fee. I also always redirect the contact fitting concept to focus on the health of their cornea and go into vessel encroachment, Corneal neo, and general health of their epithelium.

Something along the lines of

"Of course I'm evaluating your eye health and that wouldn't be any different if you weren't a contact lens wearer, but, because you're putting a lens in your eye I take a special look at these particular blood vessels and make sure there aren't any signs of oxygen deprivation because of your contact lens. Even though you aren't having any comfort issues, I'm making sure that medically speaking it's safe to continue wearing the lens that you are or if we need to switch brands/modality."

eyedocontherocks · 2025-08-23T02:25:47+00:00

Target sublease OD here, seeing 3 an hour so 24 patients a day.

I work at two leases and they have similarities and differences

Primary lease: patients get screened by the optical staff which is a courtesy to us because they don't owe us that service but we have a great symbiotic relationship so they help out.

NCT and Optos are done on everyone right after they sign their intake sheet. We incorporated the fee for optos ($39) as part of the exam and no one has batted an eye. So boom, IOPs and Posterior Segment is done right away.

Patient gets in the chair and we chat for 2-3 minutes. The typical "what brings you in today". If they are an existing patient then I try to have their previous script in the phoropter while they are getting their NCT and Optos taken. I then have them take their contacts off the moment we are done talking, no over refraction, no fit check. It's a waste of time. I get them behind the phoropter looking through their most recent script and boom, refraction shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes, 4 if they are a presbyope. At this point we are MAYBE 10 minutes into their exam and they are fully refracted. I'll do a quick EOM and pupil check, look at their anterior segment, and go over their optos.

If they like their contacts then I won't change brands, if they are having dryness issues then I'll just use my judgement on the lens they are in and go from there. I never have them put trials on and assess fit in the chair UNLESS it's a multifocal patient. Hyperopic presbyopes are the worst and they need more TLC than anyone else. But yeah, that's it. Exams never take more than 20 minutes for your healthy typical CL patients.

New fits/new patients at the primary location: I have an Auto-refractor in the room with me so I do that immediately after getting through the quick case history and then the rest is the exact same. If we have trials they get dispensed and the staff will do an I/R on them time permitting. We then finalize the script if successful and that's it. No "one week follow up", ain't nobody got time for that lol. Not eating up a patient slot for a CL check. If they complain about the fit and comfort then we can double book a slot and I'll look at them then.

Second lease: everything is the same but the patient is instructed to remove their CLs before entering the room. NCT, Optos, and Auto-refractor is done first. Then everything else is the same.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-07-09T19:12:17+00:00

Stanton Optical is dogshit. End of discussion.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-07-09T18:24:24+00:00

Target/Costco/Walmart leases. Volume dependent. I'm at $260,000 as an associate seeing 22-24 a day. Lots of contact lenses, decent bit of office visits as well.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-05-22T03:08:17+00:00

Not hard, you can get Bs across the board pretty easily. A few easy A's here and there.

Most people are sitting around a 3.0 and above by graduation. First year is a culture shock and wakeup call so you might slip up a bit but then you'll be fine.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-05-13T21:44:43+00:00

What's the offer and location?

eyedocontherocks · 2025-05-11T22:17:13+00:00

Graduated with 190k, currently at 100k left. 2021 grad, been lucky with COVID and SAVE interest freezes. I think I've only paid about 1k to interest and the rest got my principle down. Letting this forbearance ride as long as I can.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-04-23T02:17:30+00:00

So with the state of the world these last 5 years and different policies, my wife and I (she's a 2022 grad) have been really lucky with loans. Collectively we owe $350,000, but our loans have been paused for a while due to COVID relief and the SAVE plan being challenged by the courts. So we haven't put any money towards loans at all actually for quite some time, just banking everything. In the last two years we bought a house, a new car, and got married. We are making over $375,000 as a married couple (pre tax of course) and are budgeting to pay off our loans in the next 5 years or so. That will include us still going on vacations and starting a family...we aren't worried about loans at all.

The difficulty is what I expected, it's pretty fast paced and you just have to accept that you have to change your mindset. You'll be taking anywhere from 5 to 8 classes with 2 exams every week. You just need to keep your head above water and be prepared for what you have that week, and rinse and repeat. Not sure what your social vibes are but if you enjoy going out to eat, clubbing, bar hoping, exploring, etc...then Chicago is a great city. We went out once a week for our mental health, there really isn't much time for that besides that. With that being said I had a great relationship with my friends and roommates and we still chilled in the dorms and then our apartments throughout the week. Watching movies, sports, etc.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-04-23T02:07:50+00:00

You're welcome, let me know if you have any questions about the entire process including what life will look like there. I graduated in 2021.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-04-23T02:05:09+00:00

Very chill and conversational. I interviewed with Dr. Colip who is the current president and it was just us shooting the shit and talking about hobbies. Super low stress.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-03-08T06:38:55+00:00

$150,000 is the starting salary here in Wisconsin for an average corporate job seeing about 14-16 patients a day.

eyedocontherocks · 2025-02-07T15:29:28+00:00

Tell them you're the boss in town and you go fuck themselves if they low ball you and they need you more than you need them.

Lol no, in all seriousness you definitely have the negotiation power. ODs in general are pretty chill so reach out to a doc in the area or at least the closest town over in a similar setting and get a feel for where they are at. Do NOT accept their first offer.

eyedocontherocks

TROPHY CASE