Student Experience / Health & Wellness

Why I took a gap year and what I did to remain a competitive applicant for optometry school

By Kirsten Ellis 03.24.22

Taking a gap year was the best decision I’ve made during my application process. Instead of rushing to fit a certain timeline, I decided to take a mental break from school and spend more time expanding my patient care experience. This extra time before optometry school helped me become a better prepared and more confident applicant when completing my applications.

Before graduating college, I knew I wanted to spend my gap year before optometry school exploring different practice modalities. The idea of working in an OD/MD group practice has always intrigued me and I was lucky enough to find a job opportunity working as a medical scribe for an ophthalmology/optometry practice located in my hometown. I’ve had prior experience working in patient care, but this job expanded my knowledge of the optometry profession completely beyond an annual eye exam. I was exposed to a range of specialties in optometry such as pediatrics, low vision, ocular disease management and myopia control. The doctors of optometry and ophthalmologists worked closely as a team to handle many post- operative appointments for cataract and pterygium surgery follow-ups. This was a side of optometry I didn’t even know existed! As time progressed, I became more comfortable interacting with patients coming from different age groups and cultures. I even got to assist with in-clinic procedures, such as punctal plug insertions, laser peripheral iridotomies and medical Botox® appointments! This would not have been possible for me if I didn’t decide to take a break from academics.

Prior to this year, I was certain optometry was the right profession for me. After taking a gap year to explore my specific interests, I have a clearer vision of what kind of optometrist I strive to be. Completing applications, finishing prerequisites and taking the OAT exam is an understandably stressful timeline to meet. Optometry school will have many challenges, both mentally and physically, so ensuring that you’re in the right mental state to prepare for its challenges is crucial. A gap year can be a wonderful opportunity to further your experience, maturity and character development, and I recommend it for every pre- optometry student!

Health & Wellness

Staying healthy (and sane) in optometry school

By Kirsten Ellis 03.24.22

Optometry school can have a huge impact on both physical and mental health. For most of us, this is the most daunting academic task we have ever taken on and our past experiences may not have prepared us for the intensity of courses, exams and labs. Personally, the beginning of my optometric career was quite overwhelming, and I found myself wondering if I had gotten in over my head.  However, I was able to eventually figure out a system that worked well for me. Once I completed my first semester, I haven’t looked back. As I approach the halfway point of my schooling, I would like to share a few strategies and tips that have helped me stay active and in a good mental state, most effectively use my day, and minimize the inevitable stress that comes with such a rigorous program.

Setting a schedule:

Whether it’s waking up early, or 30 minutes before lecture, create a consistent schedule making sure to include times for meals, study breaks and a decent bedtime. As someone who likes a detailed schedule, I like to plan my week on Sunday evenings of how I will budget my time outside of lecture. I also make time for something that interests me, such as going to the gym or watching an episode or two on Netflix before bed.  Including scheduled breaks and hobbies helps me relax between studying and come back focused and ready to press on.

Eating healthy:

As future health care practitioners, we all know the importance of having a well-balanced diet to help us function to the best of our ability. Eating healthy, or even remembering to eat at all, can be especially difficult with the seemingly never-ending cycle of midterms and proficiencies. I suggest meal prepping the night before a busy day, or even a few days in advance when possible. I am always less inclined to order fast food when I have a fridge full of leftovers. This can also turn in to a group meal prep/study session to maximize time. Eating healthy also goes hand in hand with drinking water, so I always bring a reusable water bottle with me to campus.

Staying active:

Perhaps one of the biggest changes in optometry school is the amount of time spent in front of a screen studying. Between classes and studying, you should expect to spend at least 10 to 12 hours a day doing schoolwork. The intense workload can make it difficult to do much else. That being said, finding time for physical activity will be beneficial for physical and mental health. Some of my classmates and I get together a few weekends of every semester to play basketball at a local gym to de-stress after a tough week of exams. Even small things, such as going on a walk between classes or reviewing notes on a treadmill, can be great for breaking up the monotony of constant studying.

Develop a support system:

Mental health is just as important as physical health and getting to know your classmates better will help you realize everyone is dealing with their own stress and anxiety. Having someone to talk to and provide reassurance and a new perspective when dealing with a difficult class, or just life in general, is just as important. This has been especially true for me during the COVID-19 pandemic, when I was taking classes remotely. Without the friends I made at school, I would have had no one to help me review material for exams, or vent about a difficult course or professor. I would have had no one who understood the hardships we face on a daily basis as students in such a challenging field. Having a network of like-minded people to talk to was crucial for my mental health and allowed me to get to where I am today.

Getting situated into optometry school can be very challenging and finding out what works for you is crucial for good academic performance. The sacrifices and hard work you endure now will pay off exponentially in the future. By following these tips now, you can get the most out of your day and set yourself up for success in optometry school.

Student Experience

The Fear of Finding Something

By Kirsten Ellis 03.24.22

It’s spring semester of your second year of optometry school; you’ve finally made it to the most exciting and important step in your optometric journey: clinic. On your first day, you gather all of your things— your lens set, retinoscopy handles, prism set, BIO and your trusty tonometer tip—and head into the University Eye Center. You find your room and clean your machines. Your classmate opens the EHR and, by the luck of the draw, you have a patient. A 30-year-old, white female walks into your room, sits in your exam chair and is ready for the fun to begin. Upon a gross anterior segment examination, you find a resounding case of corneal neovascularization—and you panic. The fear sets in. You’ve only had two weeks of ant seg classes. Are you supposed to know what’s causing this? Does she abuse her contact lenses? Does she have limbal stem cell deficiency? Or could she have a severe case of Fuchs endothelial cell dystrophy? Your head is filling with possibilities. Your hands are sweaty; you’re visibly shaking— what do you do next?

I’ve found that this is a common fear among second years and newbie student clinicians, but with a little less of the drama. We practice on young, healthy, relatively normal eyes in all of our labs. Except for the few cases of strabismus or corneal scarring, most of my classmates are only battling varying amounts of ametropia and astigmatism. I so desperately want to learn how to be a good clinician, how to identify diseases and oddities on my first day in clinic, but the only way to succeed in achieving this is by seeing abnormalities in person. Pictures can only be so helpful. The eyes in them aren’t blinking or photophobic or constantly moving to find something to fixate on. It’s scary to find something even slightly different than normal on a real, paying patient. As much as I was hoping to see something cool in clinic my first day, I also found myself hoping that I didn’t see anything at all. What if I misdiagnose them? What if I find something vision-threatening and they need emergency treatment? What if I see something so bizarre that I can’t even begin to explain it to my scribe? The fear can be all-consuming, but it’s comforting to know that everyone has been there, even the most well-renowned doctors saw corneal arcus for the first time and started shaking. The most important thing to remember is that we’re not alone in the clinic. We have so many resources and minds to help us make the correct diagnosis and treatment plan for our patients. And when in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask for help— that’s literally what all the precepting doctors are getting paid to do. In the end, the fear will make us all incredibly knowledgeable and competent doctors of optometry someday very, very soon.

Student Success & Residency

Advice for Optometry School Hopefuls

By Kirsten Ellis 03.24.22

What is the key to getting into optometry school? Networking! Not what you thought I’d say, right? When applying to schools, I was in frequent communication with my top choice program’s admissions teams. I would pick up the phone, ask for informational interviews and use them as an opportunity not only to learn more about the program, but to build rapport with the admissions teams and help them put a face to my name. Doing this made me feel comfortable on interview day because I already knew some of the people that were there, as well as navigate the application process with better guidance to have the best chances of acceptance.

Another thing that I found useful was utilizing email communication. During the

COVID-19 pandemic, when it was difficult to shadow in person in hospitals or clinics, I still made it a priority to network. I would get in touch with local practices and schedule informational interviews with doctors of optometry to learn more about the care that they specialize in.

Eventually, when it was safe to do so, I was able to go in and shadow when other applicants may have still been having a difficult time. This also broke down geographic barriers and allowed me to connect with optometrists all over the country whose specialties I took interest in. Highlighting these experiences in my application showed that I was a resourceful and outside thinker, and these were qualities that often stood out on interview day.

While it is important to network with the schools themselves, I also found it beneficial to network with other optometry students. Just before my AZCOPT interview, I received an email from the program with the breakdown of how the virtual interview day would go. Included in this email were the names of the three student panel members and their emails in case us interviewees wanted to reach out to them beforehand. Being quick to seize this opportunity, I looked up the student panel members on LinkedIn to see if I had anything in common with them, and I found out that one of them actually went to the same undergraduate institution as I did. I emailed her to introduce myself and on interview day, I had the advantage of already being connected to a student panel member.

Being quick to create and seize opportunities gave me greater advantages as an applicant; however, these skills have carried over into my career as a whole. I am still connected with the student panel member and she is currently in my top choice residency program which has further benefited me by allowing me to ask questions, get in touch with the right people and set myself up for the best chance of being matched with them in the future. About a month after receiving the news of my acceptance, I toured AZCOPT and there was a first-year student ambassador who stayed with me for the entirety of the tour. I made sure to stay in touch with her all throughout the summer. She helped me in my decision-making process, and when I began school, she became my anatomy and physiology tutor. Furthermore, at the start of school, the assistant dean sent out an “AZCOPT Survival Guide” and provided the email of the student who had written it. Again, I was quick to take the opportunity to connect with her, and now she too has become a close friend of mine as well as an amazing resource. These skills advanced my application and educational experiences, setting me up for success and excellence.

 

Overall, my advice for optometry school hopefuls would be to make your own opportunities instead of waiting for them to come to you! A quick phone call, a short meeting and staying connected goes a long way and you never know when those connections will come in handy.