Biochemistry honours: useful or not?

[kl1103]

Hi everyone, I'm currently starting my fourth semester in biochemistry honours at Concordia University. It's basically a bachelor, but it has a minimum B+ requirement (3.3 on 4.3 scale) and research project.

 

Basically, I'm debating whether or not I should even bother with the research project if I am applying to an optometry school. Also, just how "transferable" is an optometry degree from one province to another?

 

Thanks for the advice,

 

Kevin

[bunoftruth]

As far as I know, you will need to have at least 3+ years of a BSc. Technically speaking, if the research project typically happens in the 4th year of your BSc, and you get into the optometry program after your 3rd year, then no, you won't need to worry about it. Depending on the nature of your research project, however, it could be something you'll want to talk about during the interview.

 

As far as transferability goes, I think you'll need to pass both national and provincial/territorial licensing exams in order to practice in that province/territory.

 

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[nescertificate]

The courses in the Biochemistry program provide good preparation for undertaking summer research projects, independent studies BCEM 507, 528 or 530 research projects, and graduate research in a wide range of Biochemistry research labs.

Certificate IV in Training and Assessment

[bunoftruth]

In all honesty I'm not sure if studying biochemistry is the best preparation for optometry. While the difficulty of the program may train you to develop good study habits and skills, you'll find it hard to apply any of the concepts you learn in that program to optometry. Since GPA is one of the factors the admissions committee will be considering, I would choose something that I know would give me a higher GPA, or something that actually relates to optometry.

[kl1103]

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate it. Essentially as I understand it, the research is given no consideration unless it's something related to optometry.

 

I see your point about the relevance of biochemistry... Then what would be a good program/course to prepare for optometry? I looked at the Waterloo website and noticed that I've already taken a lot of the prerequisites for optometry in CEGEP, but there's still a few I haven't gotten like Psych and Stats.

[bunoftruth]

I'm the best person to ask regarding this matter because I'm not in optometry, but since all you really want at this point is to get into optometry, you'd want courses that you know you're interested in and that will give you higher grades. I think it's important -- if it's possible -- that you shadow an optometrist to see what it's like before deciding if it's a career you want to pursue. Then, you will find out what they do on a day to day basis and maybe even ask them what related courses you can take.

 

Some courses you may want to consider are anatomy of the eye (or just gross anatomy), biology, physiology, physics (light optics) stuff like that? Required courses are 'required' for a reason, they all have SOME relevance to the profession, so aside from these required courses, I would just choose courses that you can ace in.