Category Advice Column

As a first-time Optometry’s Meeting® attendee last year, I had no idea what to expect. I had just finished up my first year of optometry school and was a little nervous about going, because I wasn’t totally sure what was in store for me. Here are the top five things to know before you attend Optometry’s Meeting this summer.

1. Business cards

Go ahead and order those business cards that come complimentary with your AOSA/AOA membership. There are going to be opportunities to chat with doctors, residency programs and state affiliates, and you may want their contact info. Having your own business card makes it so easy to trade that information. It also may make you more memorable. On that same note, do not be afraid to network with the doctors! From my experience, they are always excited to meet students and are willing to help in any way that they can.

2. Dress for success

There is technically not a dress code for Optometry’s Meeting; however, I would recommend dressing business casual. You’ll see doctors in the full spectrum of jeans and a nice button-down to those in suits. My advice is to be somewhere in the middle. I would avoid jeans, but you don’t need to run out and buy a suit. There is potential for you to be meeting big names in optometry, whether that is a member of the AOA Board of Trustees or one of the major industry reps. Regardless, you want to be treated like a professional, so why not dress like a professional? Oh, and to my friends who wear heels, just know that there’s a decent amount of walking (at least there was for me), so maybe throw some flats and band-aids in your bag!

3. Be on the lookout for student-oriented classes

There are a ton of great CE classes, but honestly, some of the titles were WAY over my first-year head. No need to fear, though; there are several AOA+ Pop-Up Sessions and student-recommended courses being offered. These courses are notated with the AOSA logo.  Some of them include talking about how to pay off student loans and how to market yourself. I learned so much from these classes and they were enjoyable to sit through. You can also follow the AOA+ Leadership Society track, which will ensure you take in all the best parts of Optometry’s Meeting for students.

4. Network with students from other schools

A little insight about me: I like being comfortable, and it takes an internal pep talk to go and meet new people. If it went my way while I was at Optometry’s Meeting, I would have only interacted with the students from my school. Don’t do this—don’t be like me! Yes, it is important to network with doctors, but it also is important to network with your fellow students! These are your future colleagues, and you’re going to be working alongside them for the next 40 years. Start making those connections early! I did talk myself out of my comfort zone, and I now have several contacts and friends from various schools. Let me tell you, it is so nice having those connections. Plus, it gives you another thing to look forward to going to these meetings: catching up with long-distance optometry friends.

5. It is what you make of it

I had a fantastic Optometry’s Meeting experience. I met new friends, was able to chat with doctors, learned a ton and had so much fun at the evening events for students. But I had to get out of my comfort zone and have those conversations and go to those classes. No one is going to force you to do any of this. You could very easily do a fraction of the available opportunities and you may say, “Eh, Optometry’s Meeting was alright.” Or, you can take advantage of all the event has to offer and walk away from the weekend excited about your profession because you were surrounded by others with that same excitement and learned so much. And if you’re a planner like me, you can download the Optometry’s Meeting app and get a head start on planning your schedule to ensure you don’t miss an event. Just search ‘Optometry’s Meeting’ in the app store.

*Bonus tip: you’re going to be so tired by Sunday, but the good kind of tired.

As many of you may already know from your previous experiences as undergraduate students, there are many moments throughout our academic journey where we may begin to feel burnout and exhaustion. This feeling is completely normal, especially during graduate school. Do not worry! I am here to help share some fun activities that have helped myself and other students prevent burnout. 

Activity No. 1: TAKE BREAKS! 

I know many of you have already heard this saying from peers, parents, faculty and now from me, but it is so important to take breaks! The phrase “take a break” can be applied in many different ways. Some examples include: 

• Taking a 15-minute break after every lecture 
• Taking a day off to give your brain a rest 
• Taking the afternoon off after a long day of lectures and labs 

• Take a break every 2 hours 

The bullet points listed above are only a few examples of the many different ways one can take breaks. I know taking time off from school can make one feel guilty at times, but it is crucial. Taking a break from schoolwork has definitely helped me and other peers prevent burnout. I use this time to keep my mind off school, even if it is only for 15 minutes. On days that I felt that I needed more time to study, my breaks were smaller. I would take a break maybe every 3 hours. During my breaks I would watch a movie, call a friend or scroll through social media. On the other hand, on days that were very heavy on lectures and labs, I would come home and take the afternoon off. These are just some examples that have helped me that may help you, too. However, this may not work for everyone. I recommend that you take breaks as needed. Many of you will need more breaks a day or a week and some of you may not need as much, and that is okay. 

Activity No. 2: Exercise 

Implementing exercise into our schedule is a great way to help de-stress from schoolwork. If you are like me and do not enjoy going to the gym, but would rather sit on a couch and snack, do not worry, this activity can still apply to you! Whenever I felt overwhelmed with school, I would take my dog on a 30-minute walk around my block. Going for a walk would help me take my mind off school and spend some time with my dog. I really enjoyed this exercise because during those 30 minutes, I would forget about all the assignments that I had to complete, all the exams I had to study for, and I would just focus on me. After my walks/ runs with my dog, I felt more energized, focused, and motivated while doing my schoolwork. However, walking is not the only way one can de-stress. Listed below are different ways one can use exercise to relieve stress from school. 

• Lifting weights 

• Running 
• Going to the gym 
• Yoga 
• Playing a sport 
• Home workout videos via Youtube 

Activity No. 3: Spending time with friends and family 

This activity is by far my favorite! Throughout your academic journey as a graduate student, there will be moments where you may feel that you have no social life or cannot spend time with friends or family because you have to study. However, I am here to tell you that it is very possible to have a social life and excel in graduate school. It is so important to spend time with the people you care about. During my first year at SCCO, I would take one day off a week and spend time with my family and friends. Some of the activities I would plan would be going to Disneyland, a nice dinner, watching a movie, cooking dinner or going to the beach. Spending quality time with friends helped me prevent burnout because I would use this time to enjoy life. I would distract myself and focus on the things I enjoyed doing outside of schoolwork. Hanging out with family helped me recharge my spirit and give my brain a break. If spending a whole day with friends and family seems too much for you, you can always start by taking half a day off. This activity is very flexible, but highly recommended. 

There are many other activities that can be done to help prevent burnout. One of the most important key factors to prevent burnout is spending time and energy on you. Whether that be exercise, hanging with friends or watching a movie, it is important to take time for yourself.

Do not feel guilty if you are not doing schoolwork every hour of the day. Enjoy life, enjoy school and have lots of fun! 

 

Before optometry school, I was intimidated by the idea of becoming a doctor. Not only because I doubted myself initially, but also because I feel I found my passion for optometry relatively late. You always hear stories about people wanting to be doctors their entire life, but that was not my situation. It felt like everyone had all the answers going in and here I was, faking it ’til I made it.  

Two years and several leadership positions later, I found that sometimes no plan is a plan. When you have so much to learn about being successful, sometimes it’s easier to retire your expectations rather than do the work to unlearn them and build from there. Once you recognize how productive it is to always be learning, you’ll find there are very few things you can’t adapt to.  

This isn’t meant to sound scary, but balancing your life in optometry school is not something anyone can prepare you for. Professional school is transformative, and I believe the key to finding that balance is to identify your strengths and learning how to use them to your advantage. In my case, I knew I had strong communication skills and a deep passion for community service, not just future patients. Since then, the Student Government Association and many other committees have played a large role in my experience at NOVA Southeastern University. 

Through my years of involvement, the skills I once lacked confidence in naturally began to develop. I became more organized, improved in networking, gained insight on how to be successful, and learned many invaluable life lessons. The point is, looking at me now, you would’ve never known how hard it was to manage during my first two years of studying optometry. So, to my fellow student doctors and student doctors-to-be, here are some things I wish I knew going into it and things I remind myself of daily: 

 1. Tailor your method of studying to the course 

 You can’t study for optics the way you study for disease. You can’t study for disease the way you study for clinic. No matter your what your GPA was coming into school, do not limit yourself to the student you were before just because you got good grades and expect that to work in graduate school. Be ready to adopt different modes of learning or in some cases, multiple modes for one course. Personally, optics didn’t stick unless I did practice problems three or four times over. In disease courses, it was all about using flashcards and diagrams. For pharmacology, I needed to compartmentalize and study tables and make charts. Other classes, simply reading the power points and listening to the lecture was enough. 

2. Failing is necessary 

Reject the idea that you need to be perfect. Versatility and the ability to find multiple solutions to a problem is a useful life skill, especially for a student doctor. Embrace the opportunity to learn different ways to approach a problem. Remember, your ability to perform on tests does not determine if you will be a good doctor. It takes more than straight A’s and even the best test-takers will struggle in clinic.  

3. If you don’t schedule a break, your body will schedule it for you  

When I was in undergrad, I used to study myself into these headaches that would cause me to burnout. One day, my mom said to me, “this is your body’s way of crying, saying it has had enough.” To this day, it saves me on exams. Trust me, if you cannot digest the information you are reading, it is time to take a break. If it helps, promise to make it up to yourself by getting up a little earlier to squeeze in lost time. Being rested does make a difference, it won’t matter what you read the night before if your brain is working at half its potential.   

4. Talk to your instructors, for help and for fun 

Not only do you get direct feedback on how well you’re studying, but also the faculty will remember you. It is not like undergrad where you get a teacher and never see them again; you are going to see a majority of your faculty in lab and clinic throughout your four years. Get comfortable asking them questions and get to know them as people. They could be teaching you one of those four years and working beside you right after. Additionally, for those of you who have test anxiety, learning your instructor’s thought process can be beneficial when working through exam questions. In fact, you may pick up on hints during your exams just because you spent time learning what they’re passionate about. (Bonus points if you find you’re passionate about the same things.) 

5. You are an investment  

They didn’t pick you out of a hat; you were hand-picked because you have something that makes your program want to say, “they graduated from here.” They put in all this work to impress you during tours and interviews and at some point, they needed you to pick them to make you a doctor. They wouldn’t put their name on someone who didn’t show promise and they don’t want to lose you. 

These doctors believe in you before you’ve even begun, focus on why that is.

“School is for making mistakes and learning from them, it is why you’re here.” 

These were the kind words of my checkout doctor this morning after I made—as I like to call it—a “rookie” mistake with my patient. If you’re anything like me, failing is tough. I’m naturally a competitive person and hate to lose. I mean I really hate to lose. I could be walking into a restaurant and if a stranger is also walking up to the door, I will walk faster just to beat them. Formal competition or not, I want to win. This can be a curse for me, however, because when I don’t “win,” I beat myself up and basically have a pity party for the rest of the day.   

This mindset injects itself into optometry school through exams & quizzes. I could receive an 89% on an exam and be stoked but if my classmates score a 90%, I’m bummed out. Furthermore, if I do everything right on a patient’s exam but forget to run a test or miss a step in my exam flow, I get down on myself.  

Why do I do this? Why do I beat myself up when mistakes are made? I believe I feel this way because I set my expectations for perfection. I expect to get an A on every test and expect to run every patient exam perfectly.   

Have you ever spoken with someone who seemed to know it all? You start telling them about the movie you saw over the weekend or the trip you took over the summer and they interrupt you before you can finish to tell you they’ve been to that destination 13 times, saw the movie before it was released, and they solved world peace in the process.  In their mind, they knew it all and had nothing to learn from your experience. That was their expectation and as a result, that was their outcome.  

I have begun to realize that if I expect to do perfectly on a test or exam, my ability to listen and learn from others quickly fades. In my mind I think I know it all, so why should I ask questions or listen to someone else? The truth is, I need to swallow the pill of humility more often and realize No. 1, I don’t know it all. No. 2, I am in school to ask questions, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.  

Instead of expecting perfection, I need to expect growth.

This will yield far more development in my ability as a student, clinician, and one day as a doctor.  If you are anything like me, I encourage you to recalibrate your expectations to focus on growth instead of perfect outcomes. In the words of my checkout doctor, “School is for making mistakes and learning from them, it’s why you’re here.”