Optometry school part time Waterloo

[Jrychlik]

Hi everyone,

I am posting this because Waterloo admissions has been terrible with responses lately. I am planning far ahead of time so I can get everything right every step of the way.

I plan on going into optometry at Waterloo but I currently do not have an undergrad nor started. I do have a certificate of pre health sciences (which doesn't help much at all) and currently work alongside ophthalmologists and optometrists alike. I found that I really enjoy the field and want to pursue it but I also want to keep my job as I am learning something new everyday. Now I know that Waterloo wants their students to be full time throughout their undergrad and I emailed them a question. The email I got back had an area that seemed a little confusing but they haven't replied back in about a month now.

The email said

"You still need to take a full course load, five courses per term in your other terms. If you are taking extra course(s) in the summer, ou don't have to take a full course load."

 

Sounds to me if I take 3 courses in winter and 2 in the summer than I am okay but to me it doesn't feel right. How does it sound to ou guys?

Thanks.

[charmer08]

Hi everyone,

I am posting this because Waterloo admissions has been terrible with responses lately. I am planning far ahead of time so I can get everything right every step of the way.

I plan on going into optometry at Waterloo but I currently do not have an undergrad nor started. I do have a certificate of pre health sciences (which doesn't help much at all) and currently work alongside ophthalmologists and optometrists alike. I found that I really enjoy the field and want to pursue it but I also want to keep my job as I am learning something new everyday. Now I know that Waterloo wants their students to be full time throughout their undergrad and I emailed them a question. The email I got back had an area that seemed a little confusing but they haven't replied back in about a month now.

The email said

"You still need to take a full course load, five courses per term in your other terms. If you are taking extra course(s) in the summer, ou don't have to take a full course load."

 

Sounds to me if I take 3 courses in winter and 2 in the summer than I am okay but to me it doesn't feel right. How does it sound to ou guys?

Thanks.

 

the term refers to Fall/Winter term so you should take 5 full courses or 10 half courses during the Fall/Winter term

[Jrychlik]

Do you think there is a way I can take a mix of summer/winter and fall courses throughout my undergrad so that it would appear (poor choice of wording) as a full-time student?

Basically I want to do anything I can do to keep my job (part time is fine) working with optometrists and ophthamologists.

[charmer08]

Do you think there is a way I can take a mix of summer/winter and fall courses throughout my undergrad so that it would appear (poor choice of wording) as a full-time student?

Basically I want to do anything I can do to keep my job (part time is fine) working with optometrists and ophthamologists.

 

Full course load = 10 courses during Fall/Winter Session! Summer courses don't count.

[futureGP]

Hi everyone,

I am posting this because Waterloo admissions has been terrible with responses lately. I am planning far ahead of time so I can get everything right every step of the way.

I plan on going into optometry at Waterloo but I currently do not have an undergrad nor started. I do have a certificate of pre health sciences (which doesn't help much at all) and currently work alongside ophthalmologists and optometrists alike. I found that I really enjoy the field and want to pursue it but I also want to keep my job as I am learning something new everyday. Now I know that Waterloo wants their students to be full time throughout their undergrad and I emailed them a question. The email I got back had an area that seemed a little confusing but they haven't replied back in about a month now.

The email said

"You still need to take a full course load, five courses per term in your other terms. If you are taking extra course(s) in the summer, ou don't have to take a full course load."

 

Sounds to me if I take 3 courses in winter and 2 in the summer than I am okay but to me it doesn't feel right. How does it sound to ou guys?

Thanks.

 

So basically if we're going by what the email said,

 

if you're planning to take the summers off to work, you need to take 5 courses per semester (10 courses for 8 mths)

If you're planning to take summerschool, it seems like they're saying you can forward some courses during the school year to the summer as long as you fit 10 courses within fall/winter/summer

 

e.g. 3 in the fall, 4 in the winter, 3 in the summer

[Ricarda]

I can't really find this anywhere on the UW website, but can you take some of the prerequisite courses during the summer, or do you have to take them during the fall/winter semesters?

[Jrychlik]

Now that Im finally not using my phone to reply I can copy+paste the exact e-mail I received from Waterloo optometry admissions. Most of it seems the generic copy+reply but some of it stood out (the second paragraph, last sentence).

 

 

 

Thank you for your interest in the Doctor of Optometry program! Our apologies for the delay in responding. A minimum of three years of university science are required to apply to the Doctor of Optometry program (the earliest to apply is the summer between second and third year). The Doctor of Optometry program is then four years.

 

You can take summer courses except for the summer immediately prior to application to the School of Optometry. It doesn't matter if it's a prereq course, we will still use the course. You can take a course in the summer course in summer 2013 if you are applying for September 2014 and have it count towards your application. Unfortunately, you cannot take a summer course in summer 2014 if you are applying for September 2014 and have it count towards your application. You still need to take a full course load, five courses per term in your other terms. If you are taking extra course(s) in the summer, you don't have to take a full course load.

 

The Optometry Admission Test (OAT) is a standardized test administered by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. It is based upon having completed one year of university science and organic chemistry. The OAT must be written by all applicants. For information and/or to apply to take the OAT, please go to their website http://www.opted.org/ For applications for September 2014 admission, the OAT will need to be taken by July 31, 2013.

 

You need to job shadow with an optometrist. The Admissions Committee wants to know that applicants know what optometrists do, that optometry is really for them and expect applicants to job shadow with an optometrist. Part of the application to the School of Optometry is a reference from an optometrist, as well as a character reference.

 

The admission requirements for the School of Optometry can be completed at any university in Canada. All applicants have an equal chance for one of the 90 first year places. No university is given preference over another. The minimum overall average to be eligible to apply to the School of Optometry is 75%. In recent years, the average overall university performance of the successful candidates has been approximately mid-80's with a range of 94 to 80%. The average OAT score was 370. For September 2012 admission, there were 300 applicants for the 90 first year spaces. We don't know what the level of competition will be from one year to the next.

 

In addition to a strong academic performance, the applicant must present a strong non-academic profile. The Admission Committee reviews academic and non-academic awards, work and volunteer experience, special training, extracurricular activities and job shadowing and/or time spent working with an optometrist.

 

You will find the selection criteria on our web site

http://optometry.uwaterloo.ca/future-students/doctor-of-optometry/school-of-optometry-selection-process

 

Applications for September 2014 will be available in July 2013.

 

Hope this helps!

 

 

So to me it seems that I can do what futureGP was explaining but it just doesnt seem to be explained well, sketchy to me.

I dont want to jump into this and plan it so I will be doing part time school work and part time optometry work than when going to apply after 3 years I find out that I didnt follow the rules correctly and am not accepted due to it.

I replied to the email for a more reassuring answer... about a month ago with still no reply.

[Ricarda]

You can take a course in the summer course in summer 2013 if you are applying for September 2014 and have it count towards your application. Unfortunately, you cannot take a summer course in summer 2014 if you are applying for September 2014 and have it count towards your application.

 

By "applying for September 2014," I'm assuming they mean applying to start optometry school in September 2014, correct? I'm planning on taking more courses as well as the OAT this summer, and I want to apply during September 2013 so that I can hopefully start in 2014. Just checking that I got the right message out of that paragraph.

[MacJK]

I gave the office a call this morning. By "if you are taking extra course(s) in the summer, you don't have to take a full course load.", they meant you don't have to take a full course load in the summer. You still have to take 5 courses for each fall and winter term.

[Intotheblue12]

What happens if you have a completed degree already however you only did one year with 5 courses in both the fall/winter semesters? Can you not apply to optometry school?