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Technology is an integral part of practicing medicine today, and optometry is no exception. Diagnostic technologies in particular have advanced rapidly. As the latest instruments make their way into clinical practice, they also become part of optometric education. The schools and colleges of optometry are committed to ensuring their students graduate with a full understanding of state-of-the-art technology. Many of the diagnostic technologies that optometry students are using today are game-changers for patient care.

► Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is one example. Today’s widely used OCT instruments allow the capture of cross-sectional images of ocular tissue structure with resolution as high as 3 microns.

OCT imaging of bullous keratopathy with a bandage contact lens

That’s a really close look when you consider that a micron is one-millionth of a meter. One inch contains about 25,000 microns, and the eye of a needle contains about 1,200 microns.

OCT has replaced more invasive diagnostic tests as the primary way of monitoring the progression of many retinal conditions and diseases and their response to treatment. OCT also provides high-resolution visualization of anterior segment structures such as the cornea and angle, and measures the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of glaucoma and other diseases of the optic nerve. Anterior segment

Anterior segment OCT of a scleral contact lens on the eye

OCT is also used to custom design specialty contact lenses and evaluate proper fit. Originally adopted by specialists, “OCT has become an essential component of primary eye care,” says Thomas A. Wong, OD, Director of New Technologies at SUNY State College of Optometry.

Thomas A. Wong, OD, Director of New Technologies at SUNY State College of Optometry, and fourth-year student Elizabeth Usupov with a refractive power/corneal analyzer that is part of SUNY Optometry’s “Digital Eyecare Practice of Tomorrow.”

Most recently, new software algorithms have allowed OCT instruments to perform angiography as well. OCT angiography enables a three-dimensional view of separate layers of retinal blood vessels, including deeper layers not clearly seen with other forms of angiography — without the need to inject dye into the patient’s arm. Its speed and non-invasiveness could revolutionize how and by whom angiography is utilized.

Normal retina as viewed with widefield imaging

► Traditional fundus photography, while essential for documenting retinal findings from a comprehensive exam, can only capture images of the posterior pole, i.e., about 45 degrees of the back of the eye. Widefield retinal imaging, however, uses scanning lasers to produce images representing up to 200 degrees. Therefore, it enables detection of pathology in the peripheral retina that would not be detected with traditional retinal photography or slit lamp exam. A growing body of research shows that many retinal disease processes manifest first in the periphery.

Fundus photography of proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Some widefield retinal imaging devices also have fundus autofluorescence (FAF) capability. FAF is another exciting new technology, which non-invasively detects certain byproducts of retinal metabolism that are believed to indicate high risk for disease development. The byproducts, called fluorophores, illuminate, i.e., fluoresce, when exposed to a particular wavelength of light.

Fundus photography of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy

► Dry eye, one of the most common ocular conditions, has been difficult to diagnose and manage due to multiple causes and signs and symptoms that vary among patients and overlap with other forms of ocular surface disease. Things got a lot more definitive, however, with the introduction of tear osmolarity testing. Elevated tear osmolarity is a hallmark of dry eye disease and can be used as a metric for diagnosing and determining the severity of dry eye. Tear osmolarity can now be tested in-office quickly and easily, giving doctors an objective and reliable way to diagnose dry eye and monitor treatment. It’s possible, too, for a patient to have ocular surface damage from dry eye but no symptoms, another reason objective testing is such a huge and important paradigm shift.

Fundus autoflourescense of a normal eye with multiple water droplet artifacts

Other dry eye-related innovations are imaging of the tear film and the meibomian glands using interferometry/topography devices. The new diagnostic tools that utilize these strategies enable objective analysis of the tear film that protects the ocular surface. They measure the actual thickness of the lipid layer of the tear film and provide a much better view of the meibomian glands than can be achieved with the naked eye. Armed with this information, optometrists can better distinguish between two main types of dry eye (aqueous deficient, i.e., reduced tear production, and evaporative, which is gland- and lipid layer-related) and prescribe the appropriate treatment. “For too long we have not had a truly systematic, scientific approach to many common conditions like dry eye. Patients have often been treated in a random fashion. These technologies are leading us to more personalized therapies, which is a growing trend in medicine,” Dr. Wong notes.

Meibomian gland imaging

Spectral microscopy analysis, count and health of corneal endothelial cells

► Specular microscopy is an imaging technology for evaluating the corneal endothelium, which is responsible for nourishing and keeping the cornea transparent. Humans are born with a fixed number of corneal endothelial cells, so preserving their numbers and health is crucial for sight. Specular microscopy can not only count the number of endothelial cells but also reveal their size, shape and density, all of which can be negatively affected by disease as well as contact lens overwear. This technology enables earlier and more accurate diagnosis of these problems because such detailed and objective information isn’t obtainable by clinical exam alone.

► Even optometry’s oldest undertaking, refraction, is evolving with advances in technology. Today, refractions can be performed with automated digital equipment, rather than manually, and therefore can be instantly optimized with diagnostic imaging tools and wavefront aberrometry. (Wavefront aberrometry was first developed by astronomers attempting to improve their view of objects in outer space.) With these state-of-the-art refractions, information about how key structures along the optical pathway are affecting vision can be obtained. A wealth of objective data is utilized, which greatly improves accuracy and efficiency compared with standard refractions. The days of seemingly endless “which is better, number one or number two?” may be numbered. The new refractions also help determine the best possible prescription for a patient’s needs, which, for example, may be different for the office, playing sports or driving at night. Digital refractions based on this added data are helping primary care optometrists to provide the best possible vision for patients. They’re also paving the way to the goal of thefuture: the ability to make glasses and contact lenses to ultra-precise specifications that match the precision of the refraction and provide patients with true “high-definition vision.”

Multiple data sets from the optical pathway captured by one instrument to be used as part of a digital refraction

In a nutshell, “The technologies available to our interns assist them tremendously in understanding how the eye functions and what structural changes occur in the presence of a disease state,” says Robert L. Gordon, OD, FAAO, DPNAP, Clinical Director and Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs at the Western University of Health Sciences College of Optometry. “They provide a window for looking at the various layers of the eye’s structure that lie beneath the surface tissues seen by direct observation.” And a window to their future as optometrists, too. Lorie Lippiatt, OD, President of Salem Eyecare Center in Ohio, a practice that makes it a point to stay on the cutting edge, puts it all in a broad context, saying “Technology vastly increases our diagnostic capabilities, allows us to take care of our patients in a streamlined fashion, and advances optometry in the medical community because we can obtain and communicate meaningful findings to a patient’s other healthcare providers.”

Lorie Lippiatt, OD, uses a digital refraction system at her Ohio practice

We are well in the New Year and I wish you a wonderful 2016.

As I reflect back on 2015, there is much I would like to share.

I began my tenure as ASCO’s Executive Director this summer after long-standing Executive Director Marty Wall retired. The welcome I received has been so overwhelmingly positive and supportive – I greatly appreciate everyone making me feel at home so quickly. So far, the work has been challenging and extremely fulfilling.

Around the same time as I joined ASCO, Dr. David Heath, President of the SUNY College of Optometry, was elected ASCO President. Together, Dr. Heath and I are off to a good start. Of particular note, ASCO is embarking on a comprehensive strategic planning process to develop a five-year, organization-wide plan that will drive priority initiatives, annual work plans and budgets for the Association. The process will be as inclusive as possible and will include input from ASCO committees, special interest groups, staff and other stakeholders. Our goal is to have a finalized plan before spring 2017.

Highlights of 2015 include:

• The University of Pikeville, Kentucky College of Optometry became ASCO’s 22^nd
• A special category of membership was developed for developing schools.
• Our first Online Clinical Educators Forum was held by ASCO’s Clinical Affairs Committee.
• ASCO held its first joint ASCO-American Academy of Optometry workshop “Charting Your Career in Academic Optometry.”
• ASCO received very generous support from a growing set of Corporate Contributors as well as sponsors for individual programs. We welcomed National Vision, Optos, Optovue, Safilo, and Vital Source Technology as new Corporate Contributors.
• We experienced a 5% increase in the number of optometry school applicants in the application cycle for 2014-2015 as compared to the previous cycle.

Some interesting stats from the Profile of the Entering Class (2014-2015 academic year) are:

• At the schools and colleges of optometry in the 50 states and Puerto Rico, there were a total of 6,805 optometry students enrolled during the 2014-2015 academic year
• 66.1% of the student body was female and 33.9% was male.
• The student body was 55.7% White, 29.1% Asian, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 3.1% African American, 0.6% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 0.4% Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, and 5.9% Other.
• The average GPA of the 2015 entering class was 3.43; and first year tuition and fees range from $17,556 to $55,184.

• The Joint Project on Further Developing a Robust, Diverse, and Highly Qualified National Applicant Pool continued promoting the profession in the following ways: virtual fairs, email campaigns, direct mail campaigns, search engine optimization, increased social media presence, videos, blogs,podcasts, publications (True Stories booklet and the revised Optometry Career Guide) and the completely revamped Inspiring Future ODs Program.
• ORMatch experienced a 3% increase in applicants in 2015 compared to the previous match cycle. Seventy-three percent of the residency applicants were matched and 86% of the available positions were filled. There were 210 residency sites with 411 available positions participating.
• The new platform for the Residency Directory opened in December.
• The Annual Faculty Data Report, containing 15 tables of data on faculty demographics, was released in March.
• The Annual Student Data Report, containing 43 tables of data on student enrollment, graduation figures and financial aid, came out in April.
• Dr. Glenn Hammack, Founding President, NuPhysicia LLC, received the first Dr. Lester Caplan honorary award lecture during the ASCO Clinic Directors SIG meeting in October.
• Plans were finalized for our inaugural Summit on Interprofessional Education and Practice, scheduled for early February.
• ASCO held a special joint board meeting with the National Board of Examiners in Optometry to discuss collaborative strategies for addressing current and future issues.
• The ASCO Public Health Educators SIG began working on the “Essential Public Health and Environmental Optometry Curriculum Content for Schools and Colleges of Optometry” document, which is modeled after our “Attributes of Students Graduating from Schools and Colleges of Optometry” document.
• James Sheedy, who was instrumental in forming the ASCO Ophthalmic Optics Educators SIG in 1996, was honored for his contributions in ophthalmic optics and delivered the Joe Bruneni Honorary Award Lecture entitled “Blue Light-Good or Bad?” in memory of Dr. Daryl Meister.
• The 6^th Summer Institute for Faculty Development was held in July, supported by Alcon, Vistakon, Essilor, National Board of Optometry, Luxottica, Allergan, and the Partnership Endowment. 100% of this year’s program participants rated the sessions favorably. A few testimonials are:

“This was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. I feel very fortunate to have been able to attend this training and will recommend to all my colleagues!”

“Very beneficial and wonderful institute! These sessions and lectures have been incredibly valuable as I develop my career. The speakers were very helpful and knowledgeable with their material. Thank you to everyone who coordinated and prepared this conference!”

“Excellent program provide[d] rejuvenation and passion for what I do.”

• The 3rd Future Faculty Program, supported by a generous contribution from Walmart, was also held in July, and 100% of this year’s program participants rated the sessions favorably as well.
• The ASCO Curriculum Guidelines for Culturally Competent Eye and Vision Care Workshop Grant Program held five cultural competency diversity workshops in 2015. Generously funded by Walmart, the program provides funds to schools and colleges of optometry for on-site Cultural Competency Curriculum Guidelines Implementation Workshops. The workshops demonstrate how to use ASCO’s guidelines to incorporate topics and experiences in cultural competency into the optometric curriculum. Workshops were held at: Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University (Jan); Southern College of Optometry (Feb); Midwestern University – Arizona College of Optometry (March); University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Optometry (March); and University of California – Berkeley School of Optometry (May).
• ASCO’s Journal, Optometric Education, was redesigned and emerged as a more technologically advanced and user-friendly publication with its Summer 2015 issue in July.

The journal appears online in a new format, equipped with new digital capabilities that make its content more easily searchable via Google Scholar and other search engines. All content is available as a web page, eliminating the need to open or download a PDF file. The redesign simplifies the finding and sharing of information for students and practitioners and improves the reading experience on all devices, including smartphones and tablets.

The updates also give ASCO corporate contributors and other supporters a new way to direct readers to their websites via a simple click-through. In addition, the new format and capabilities open opportunities for future discussions and forums online.

• Two additional podcasts were added to our podcast series in 2015: Optometry and Interprofessional Education and ASCO and New Beginnings.
• ASCO’s Awards Program was supported by International Vision Expo and Oculus.
• ASCO held almost 40 various meetings for committees, SIGs and other groups.
• Dr. Michelle Hoff, UCB, was our first non-corporate contributor with a very generous private contribution to the ASCO Ophthalmic Optics Educators SIG.
• We made infrastructure investments in new web-based applications and technology dealing with ASCO’s membership database, on-going operational surveys, centralized application system, centralized admission exam, residency match service, website and social media landing pages, etc.
• We presented Resolutions reflecting the Board’s appreciation to Dr. Roger Boltz (upon his departure from the Board ), Dr. Jennifer Coyle (for having served two terms as ASCO President), Dr. Earl Smith (for his induction into the National Optometry Hall of Fame), and Marty Wall (for his 24 years of service as ASCO’s Executive Director).
• ASCO Board members and staff represented optometric education at important industry meetings with the AAO, ABO, ACOE, AOA, ARBO, COPE, FASHP, NAEVR/AEVR, NAAHP, NBEO, IOM/NAM Global Forum, etc.

I am very encouraged by the work that we have completed and look ahead with optimism at the work that is to be done.

A very special thank you to all of our Corporate Contributors and sponsors. Your generosity has allowed ASCO to continue our vital programs that support optometric education.

Wishing you all a very bright 2016!

Sincerely,

Dawn Mancuso, MAM, CAE, FASAE
ASCO Executive Director

The curriculum for any student entering optometry school today will in some way include interprofessional education (IPE). IPE is a hot topic throughout medicine and an area of much activity in optometry. The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) is a leader in working to ensure optometry students are prepared to participate in interprofessional care (IPC) when they graduate. The Association’s “Attributes of Students Graduating from Schools and Colleges of Optometry” calls for recipients of the Doctor of Optometry degree to have the ability to appropriately use all resources, including ancillary personnel, intra- and interprofessional collaboration, co-management and referral, in ensuring the best quality of patient care and to be committed to working as an integral member of the larger interprofessional healthcare team to improve patient care outcomes.

Carole Timpone, OD, Distinguished University Professor and Associate Dean of Clinical Programs at Pacific University College of Optometry (PUCO), and Jennifer Coyle, OD, MS, PUCO Professor and Dean, and Chair of ASCO’s Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Committee, explain the importance of IPE and IPC: “The demographics and needs of patients have changed dramatically. Chronic disease, which has a major impact on quality of life, has replaced acute illnesses as the leading burden to the healthcare system, including cause of death. Addressing these new needs and achieving the best outcomes requires a more comprehensive and ongoing approach to care with a focus on prevention. This is best delivered by a team of providers.”

Optometry Plays a Key Role

Optometry schools and the future optometrists they’re training have a distinct responsibility in building interprofessionalism. “Eye health and vision are significantly impacted by chronic diseases,” says Dr. Timpone. “The Doctor of Optometry is an integral member of the healthcare team in all aspects of care, from initial diagnosis and treatment to ongoing management, with the goal of ultimately improving or maintaining quality of life.” Melissa A. Vitek, OD, FAAO, Director of International and Continuing Education at Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry (Salus/PCO) and member of ASCO’s Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Committee, elaborates, “Due to the fact that vision is so critical for even a basic level of functioning, an optometrist’s office is the point of entry into the healthcare system for many patients. To fully meet the needs of patients, optometrists need to be positioned to communicate effectively and efficiently with members of several different healthcare professions.”

Every school and college of optometry that’s a member of ASCO is currently engaged in some form of IPE. According to Dr. Timpone, the experiences range from sharing core courses with students from other health professions to integrated clinics that provide true team-based care. Many programs include interactive interprofessional case conferences, some beginning as early as the first year. For example, PUCO currently offers an elective course in interprofessional care for third-year students that blends face-to-face and online instruction with a clinical practicum. To complement IPE coursework, the University runs the Interprofessional Diabetes Clinic (IDC), which helps low-income, under-insured individuals manage their diabetes by bringing together healthcare providers from across the professions to provide care. Students, staff and faculty from PUCO, with other Pacific University health professions, including occupational and physical therapy, mental health, dental health science, physician assistants and pharmacy work in the IDC one Saturday each month. In addition, says Dr. Timpone, “We are developing an ‘IP Concentration’ recognition for students who have pursued IPE and IPC beyond the basic curriculum.”

Salus/PCO has a long history of interdisciplinary thinking, beginning in the 1970s in the field of low vision rehabilitation. Today, more than 300 students from the optometry, physician assistant, occupational therapy and speech language pathology programs are enrolled in the “Evidence-Based Practice: An Interprofessional Team-Based Approach” course, which is a requirement for first-year students. Salus/PCO students also participate in several interprofessional practice initiatives, which include a collaboration with a nursing school. Two interprofessional pilot programs, one involving the Veterans Administration and another involving clinical problem-solving via patient cases, are ongoing projects.

At Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University (SCCOMBKU), first-year students take Professional Ethics and Population and Public Health courses with physician assistant (PA) students. In their third year, they participate with PA students in interprofessional case conferencing in each of three quarters, notes Raymond H. Chu, OD, MS, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. During the first session, the students get to know one another and address common misconceptions about their respective professions. In subsequent sessions, they tackle cases involving issues such as smoking cessation, diabetes and cultural competence. “The overarching objective with the IPE curriculum is to develop the primer in which students and eventually professionals have the comfort and ability to communicate with one another in an effort to support wellness and coordination of care,” Dr. Chu says.

Dr. Timpone points out that evidence of the benefits of IPE and IPC is beginning to appear in the professional literature. Studies are showing that IPE provided during the training of the healthcare workforce enables effective collaboration among professionals once they’re practicing and that the competencies they develop translate into improved health and patient care outcomes. Ongoing work in the area of IPE includes further development of curricula and assessment of effectiveness. The upcoming ASCO Interprofessional Education and Collaborative Practice Summit (Feb. 5-6, 2016, in Fullerton, Calif.) will assist in charting a course for the future.

Listen to Optometry and IPE podcast here.

What Optometry Students and Residents are Saying about Interprofessional Education and Care

Warren Morton, a first-year student at SCCOMBKU and President of the Class of 2019, says “It’s easy to see how important concepts from IPE can be in the real world when ultimately the patients have the most to gain from a more complete healthcare team.” Warren says it’s been interesting to see via the IPE curriculum how valuable PAs are for the country’s healthcare system and how OD and PA students approach ideas differently. He also says he’s realized that “failure to recognize the importance of working with other professions will leave our own profession at a disadvantage.” Because of her exposure to IPC at PUCO, Alexandra Bavasi, OD, now a Pediatric Optometry/Vision Therapy/Vision Rehabilitation resident at PUCO, feels as if she can provide more guidance to patients regarding choices affecting their overall health. She says she can see how IPC is especially important in traumatic/acquired brain injury and in pediatric cases involving developmental/learning concerns. “However, she says, “any patient with a systemic disease with multiple manifestations would benefit from IPC.” Dr. Bavasi plans to foster IPC as a practicing optometrist in a variety of ways, including providing in-service education to other healthcare professionals/specialties in her community so they are better educated about the specialized services optometrists deliver. The same goes for Sheila Morrison, OD, a fellow PUCO graduate and resident, in Cornea and Contact Lenses. Discussing her view of IPE and IPC, she says, “Right out of residency I’d like to participate as a provider in an interprofessional clinic in my community, with the intent to promote the model and potentially develop as an educator for students in the future. I believe there are varying levels of involvement, all of which are positive. Simply respecting other professions and being informed about what they do is positive, as is being an active member of an institution providing interprofessional care or education. In either case, I value IPC and will carry it forward with my career.”

When it comes to being a great career choice, optometry always makes the list. Literally. A variety of outlets, including the Washington Post, Kiplinger and CNNMoney, routinely rank optometry with other vocations they deem, for example, “top industries for women entrepreneurs” or “best careers.” A big reason optometry gets noticed in this way is the satisfying work/life balance it can provide relative to other professions.

Stephen Anderson, OD, can vouch for this. A 2014 graduate of the Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University (SCCOMBKU), Dr. Anderson now works with First Eye Care, a group practice in Plano, Texas. Like most optometrists, he works regular hours and rarely is called in after hours for emergencies. His personal office schedule ranges from 2.5 to 8.5 hours five days a week, for a total of 28.5 hours; Tuesdays and Sundays are his days off. He and his wife, Stephanie, have two young kids, Parker and Lyla.

As an undergraduate, Dr. Anderson shadowed many different professionals in health care and made a point to ask them about their work/life balance. “The more I interacted with non-optometrists, the more I knew which direction I should go,” he says. “I’m quite fortunate to work for a private practice that also values a positive work/life balance. Knowing that was an important part of my decision to join them. I really enjoy working, but I REALLY enjoy playing. Having the freedom to spend time with my family and doing the things I love is critical.”

Dr. Anderson enjoys running, cycling, rock climbing, woodworking, church service, playing with his kids, and spending as much time with his wife as possible. “My schedule is pretty set,” he adds. “When I’m at work, I’m at work. When I’m at home, I’m at home.”

Laura Dowd, OD, FAAO, a 2009 graduate of New England College of Optometry who’s now a staff optometrist and optometry student program coordinator in the VA Maine health system, also appreciates that her career allows her to have dedicated time for family — she has a 2-year-old daughter, Iris, and another baby on the way — as well as the flexibility to take care of the responsibilities of managing a family and home, do a lot of reading and spend time outdoors. “Optometry allows you to practice in several different settings, such as private practice,hospital-based, education and research, and the options carry varying levels of flexibility,” she explains. “Being able to choose the type of setting that best matches your career and personal goals is one of the many benefits of practicing optometry. As your life path changes, you can change your mode of practice along with it.”

Dr. Dowd currently works four 10-hour days, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday. “My VA work/life balance works for me at this stage in my career,” she says. Also, because she’s not required to work weekends, she works two Saturdays a month at a private practice. “This opportunity not only supplements my income, but also allows me to see children and stay current with contact lenses and insurance policies,” she notes.

Brian Park, OD, a 2014 graduate of SCCOMBKU, is single and hasn’t started his own family yet, but the opportunity for a good work/life balance played a role in his decision to become an optometrist. “I believe it offers a good balance because it gives an individual the opportunity to pursue many different paths,” he says. “It also offers very stable hours of work. There are very rarely ‘on-call’ situations or emergencies to deal with. This allows ODs to have and raise a family.”

Dr. Park currently works six days a week in three different settings: as an associate optometrist in two private practices in Sacramento, Calif., and as an independent optometrist with JC Penney/US Vision. He also is a member of the board of directors of the Sacramento Valley Optometric Society. “As a recent graduate of optometry school, I do work a lot and I don’t have as much free time as I would like, but I know I’ll have more free time in the future,” he says. “I can take time off if I request it in advance. With my current jobs I have great flexibility in my schedule because my bosses and I have very similar thoughts about the profession and work/life balance. I enjoy a bunch of hobbies — golf, tennis, road cycling, photography — and having a stable work environment does allow me to enjoy them. I’m also lucky to have great friends, family and colleagues who have similar hobbies and interests, which makes the balance of work/life easier.”

Dr. Park would like to open his own practice at some point in the future, but for now is taking advantage of a key opportunity his current positions provide, which is to see patients while learning more about the business side of optometry.

Benjamin M. Arthur, OD, MS, is another good example of how optometrists can choose their own paths from a variety of options. Although his life philosophy and faith dictate that balance in human endeavors is important, he doesn’t believe any career automatically provides it. Rather, he says, “I think work/life balance depends on an individual and his or her goals as they relate to professional and personal life.” And, as it turns out, Dr. Arthur’s goals recently changed. After he graduated from State University of New York College of Optometry in 2013, he worked in a couple of different practice settings. But about six months ago, he opened his own practice in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn: Perspective Family Eye Care. He spends eight hours a day four days a week working there and two days a week working at another private practice in Brooklyn.

“I wanted to have a family and saw optometry as a good profession that would allow me to do that,” he says. “However, as time has passed, goals, objectives and circumstances have changed. When I was deciding to go to school, I didn’t have the student loans I have now, and so though a good work/life balance played a significant role in the decision-making back then, it is certainly prioritized a little differently now.” Dr. Arthur says he worked fewer days when he worked for others, but enjoys working the hours he does now and still has a balanced life. He explains, “I invest a lot of time on community and building strong connections with people. I spend time with friends and family by way of both planned and spontaneous activities. I like to volunteer, though I don’t get to do it as often as I would like. I engage in physical exercise as often as possible to stay fit. I try to rest and enjoy nature and also enjoy culturally diverse activities and the arts.” Dr. Arthur also says he strives to “use the calendar effectively so work and play are all scheduled and adhered to as much as possible.”

Rachelle Lin, OD, MS, FAAO, too, says, there are times when she’s extremely busy working, but it’s perfectly fine with her because “there is just so much that I want to do in optometry.” Dr. Lin graduated in 2013 from SCCOMBKU and is now a member of the college’s faculty as an assistant professor. Her teaching areas include low vision rehabilitation and acquired brain injury. She works on campus Monday through Friday, and her hours vary slightly depending on her clinic and didactic teaching schedule.

As she sees it, “I feel that optometry offers the opportunity for a good work/life balance. However, I don’t feel that is the principle question to ask when picking a career. I believe the more important question to ask is whether or not you are passionate about optometry and about building it into the career you will love.” Dr. Lin says she’s had an interest in teaching for many years, so finding a job where she could be both an optometrist and a teacher was ideal. She also says she’s always been the type of person to juggle a large number of varied activities in order to do everything she’s wanted to do. That’s true today as well, as she takes care of her work on campus, her roles in optometry off campus, which include serving as secretary-treasurer of the California Optometric Association’s Low Vision Rehabilitation Section, and her personal activities, such as learning about different cultures through art, language, music or food. “I also make time to travel, even if it’s for short weekend trips,” she says, “and I feel extremely fortunate to be working in a field that I am passionate about.”

In this month’s Eye on Optometry blog post, we address campus visits. If you’re considering applying to optometry school, visiting the campuses of the schools and colleges of optometry you think you’d like to attend is a crucial part of the process. There are plenty of opportunities to do so!

Most if not all of the schools and colleges of optometry have at least one open house, and often more, each year. They’re usually handled by the Admissions Office, Student Affairs Office or similar department, are announced on the schools’ websites, and require an RSVP/reservation. However, most of the schools and colleges of optometry also welcome visitors at any time, allowing them to call and schedule a visit and tour at their convenience. “We love to have future applicants, current applicants and their families and friends visit us anytime,” says Lyle Tate, Admissions Program Manager for the University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO). “Our Office of Optometry Relations can arrange for an advisor visit and tour whenever it’s most convenient for our guests.” And it’s never too early to visit, he says. “We welcome high school students and undergrads alike.”

In addition to open houses and individual visits, “Many schools offer intensive summer programs to help prepare students for the admissions process and the rigor of the professional program,” notes Kristine Benne, MA, Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry (RSO).

Can’t I Learn Everything about Optometry School Online?

Ideally, you’ll make it a point to visit at least your top one or two school choices in person. According to Tate, “There’s really a world of difference between what you can learn online and what you can experience in person at any school or college of optometry. A visit is an opportunity to get a feeling of the culture of a program.

The majority of students attending the University of Houston College of Optometry live off campus, but some live at Calhoun Lofts, an on-campus residence facility that is in part dedicated to graduate and professional school students. The lofts are located just a couple of blocks from the UHCO building. (Photo courtesy of University of Houston)

For example, what that means at UHCO is, among other things, inclusiveness, collaboration in both classroom and clinical environments, a supportive family atmosphere, exposure to a diverse patient population and a commitment to providing students the best access to top-notch technology.”

Kurt Thiede, Executive Director of Enrollment Management at New England College of Optometry (NECO), agrees. “A visit gives prospective students a sense of the character and tone of a campus and provides a very tangible idea of what the day-to-day experience at a particular school will be like,” he says. “Even with the many ways students can now acquire information, to date no one has created a virtual experience that matches the on-site physical visit. ‘Feeling’ the place is a very important part of candidates’ final decisions on what school to attend, and ultimately their satisfaction with their education within a particular campus community.”

Students and faculty at the University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry’s Bowden Eye Care and Health Center review optical coherence tomography results.

Students and faculty at the University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry’s Bowden Eye Care and Health Center review optical coherence tomography results.Along the same lines, Benne encourages students to observe the overall culture of the campus when they visit. She recommends paying attention to how staff, students and faculty interact as well as whether the school’s stated mission and message are expressed in the day-to-day interactions and activities on campus. During a visit, she says, “The prospective student can best determine if there is congruence between the recruitment message and the school environment and whether he or she feels welcomed and comfortable.

Who to Talk to, What to See During Your Visit to a School or College of Optometry

University of Houston College of Optometry students during the annual Student Texas Optometric Association softball fundraiser. (Photo by David Gee, UHCO Office of Optometry Relations)

Scheduled on-campus open houses typically include a tour and presentations on many important topics, such as what the program has to offer, the admissions process, the Optometry Admission Test, financial aid, student organizations and career options. Often, a Q&A session with a panel of current students is part of the day. But whatever type of visit you’re taking advantage of, interacting with and asking questions of current students is highly recommended. Explains UHCO’s Tate, “Even though we as student affairs personnel provide great information, there’s no topping a sit-down visit with current students to learn what it’s really like, how they transitioned to the professional school world, how they recommend preparing for optometry school, and so much more. They’re truly an applicant’s best resource many times.”

Other people who are helpful to meet with during a campus visit whenever possible are academic and financial aid advisors, administrators, and didactic and clinical faculty members. It’s also a good idea to find out whether you can walk through clinics, observe classes, get any hands-on experiences, such as in skills labs, visit other key buildings, such as libraries, and see housing options and social spots on or near campus.

Questions to Ask

The questions you ask during your visit to a school or college of optometry may depend somewhat on how close you are to applying to optometry school. For example, a high school student may want to ask different questions than someone who is closer to applying, or someone who already has a family. Regardless of your specific current situation, here are some good ones:

• what are the current academic prerequisites?
• what are the strongly recommended courses? (According to RSO’s Benne, “Although not required, many times taking the recommended courses can truly help a student succeed in the professional program.”)
• what emphasis is placed on shadowing experience; does the school have a minimum number of hours? (Benne notes that “Regardless of a minimum number of hours, all prospective students should begin shadowing a doctor of optometry early in their higher education careers if they have not done so before. This helps develop their passion and interest in the profession and looks good on the application.”)
• what do I need to know about the key parts of the application process, such as deadlines, the personal statement and letters of evaluation? (See also OptomCAS.)
• what are the attributes of a candidate who will be strongly considered for admission?
• if you’ve been invited to campus for an admissions interview: what is the general agenda on interview day, is the interview open- or closed-file, how many faculty/admissions committee
  members do I interview with, what is the process once the interview is over, how quickly will I be notified of the admissions decision, how long do I have to make my decision, how do I reserve my space in the class?
• what will my first semester be like?
• what is the balance of classroom/lab and clinic time during the doctor of optometry program?
• at what point in the program will I start working with patients?
• how diverse is the patient population seen in your clinic(s)?
• what type of support is available for helping me to succeed academically and otherwise?
• are there study/prep opportunities as I prepare for Boards?
• do you offer practice management courses?
• what is your externship/fourth-year rotations process like?
• what faculty mentorship and/or research opportunities does the school offer?
• what student organizations and clubs can I join?
• are there service or mission trip opportunities?
• what financial aid/support is available to me?
• what are the options for living arrangements; do most students live on or off campus?
• what is the ‘personality’ of the surrounding city or town?
• where do students hang out and otherwise socialize?
• what residency programs is the school affiliated with?
• what types of programs and or communication does the school provide to help me find a job leading up to and after graduation?

Before and After Your Visit to Campus

A group of students meets at the George W. Brackenridge Library at the Rosenberg School of Optometry.

In order to maximize your campus visit opportunity, NECO’s Thiede recommends that you learn as much basic information as you can about a school or college, i.e., the “facts and figures,” before you make the trip, allowing time for more substantial questions while you’re there. And Benne offers further advice on preparing for your visit to a school or college of optometry: “All 21 schools of optometry are strong and governed by accreditation criteria, which ensures a similar standard of education. However, how each school delivers the optometric education and what the school or college focuses on can be keys to determining if the program is the right fit for you. Reflect on what you value as part of your future optometric education experience and tailor your questions to how your top-choice schools provide opportunities in those areas.”

Benne also points out that the RSO admissions or student affairs team can typically put a prospective student in contact with a current student for long-term communication and help with questions that may arise after a campus visit is over. Same for UHCO, whether it’s officially or not officially arranged, as Tate mentions, “Our students will stop in the hallways when they see a guest visiting and offer their e-mail addresses and phone numbers just in case the guest wants to follow-up with more questions.”

Try the Optometry Virtual Fair

Visiting a school or college of optometry is an invaluable experience, but it isn’t always possible, for financial and other reasons, to make the trip. If you find yourself in that situation, or if you simply want to learn all you can about as many schools as possible or narrow down your top choices, the next best thing to in-person visits is the Optometry Virtual Fair. Presented twice a year by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO), the fair is an online event during which you can live chat with admissions representatives from any or all of the 21 ASCO member schools — for free! Register here for the next fair, which is just around the corner on October 28, 2015.

More Information:

For specific information about Open Houses or to schedule an individual visit, please find a list of schools here or contact them directly.

Three ODs discuss what led them to the profession and what keeps them loving it.

Do you have an interest in science, medicine or health care but don’t quite know how to turn it into a career choice? Need some inspiration? If you consider optometry as a career, inspiration is not hard to find. Take for example Drs. David McPhillips, Valerie Kattouf and Neil Gailmard, all highly successful Doctors of Optometry who at one time or another were in the same situation as you.

You Can Take Your Pick from the ManyOpportunities in Optometry 

By the time he was in middle school, Dr. McPhillips knew he wanted to do something in health care so he worked several jobs at the local hospital, starting as an orderly and making his way through various other positions. But that wasn’t where he discovered optometry. Instead, while he was a pre-med student in college, some of his former classmates who were attending the Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) suggested he spend some time shadowing them. After doing so several times, including sitting in on classes, he was hooked. “It was so interesting,” he recalls. “The eye itself is amazing, and I saw how many opportunities optometry offers.” Since he graduated from PCO, Dr. McPhillips has seized quite a few of those opportunities and put them to use for the benefit of, literally, the world. He draws immense satisfaction not only from helping patients in his private practice in Horsham, Pa., but also from his roles as director of Eye Care Services with the Genesis Health Care Quakertown Geriatric and Rehabilitation Center and president of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) International. The day he spoke with Eye on Optometry, Dr. McPhillips had just returned from examining patients at the center, and he has personally led or participated in more than 40 medical missions with VOSH.

He talks with passion about VOSH’s purpose, which is to provide sustainable vision care worldwide for people who don’t have access or can’t afford it, and with pride about one of the organization’s newest initiatives, VOSH Corps. “Nearly a billion people around the world are functionally blind or visually impaired simply because of uncorrected refractive error, because they don’t have a pair of glasses,” he explains. “The VOSH Corps, a joint effort with the Brien Holden Vision Institute supported by Optometry Giving Sight, recruits U.S. and Canadian optometrists, including recent graduates, to teach optometry for at least one year at emerging optometry schools in the developing world. VOSH missions currently serve about 100,000 patients per year. If just one optometry school has 20 graduates, they could see enough patients each year to equate to 50 missions.”

Tailor Your Optometric Career to Feed Your Personal Passion

While Dr. Kattouf seemed destined to become a Doctor of Optometry — she always had an interest in science and medicine and her father is longtime optometrist/practice owner and current eyecare business consultant Dr. Richard S. Kattouf — her career didn’t follow the precise path she had expected. “My dad’s practice never seemed like work; it was part of our life,” she says. “I never experienced him talking in a negative way about his career, and that was infectious.”

Dr. Kattouf says she arrived as a student at Illinois College of Optometry (ICO) thinking she’d return home to Ohio after graduation and join her father’s practice, but mentors helped her discover other possibilities. “Dr. Sue Cotter, one of my professors at ICO, was a tremendous role model,” Dr. Kattouf notes. “She engaged my interest in pediatrics and binocular vision and was instrumental in my interest in academics. Also, during my residency at State University of New York College of Optometry (SUNY), another mentor, Dr. Irwin Suchoff, told me that he saw teaching qualities in me, and I found I really did enjoy an academic environment.” When Dr. Kattouf was at SUNY, Dr. Cotter was making a move from ICO to another school and encouraged her to apply for the position she was leaving. “I chuckled and thought ‘I’m too young and inexperienced for that,’ ” Dr. Kattouf says, “but my dad chimed in, too, telling me I should pursue the position.” Ultimately, she listened to the wisdom of her mentors and joined the ICO faculty.

Today, Dr. Kattouf is an associate professor at ICO and chief of the Pediatrics and Binocular Vision Service and a clinical instructor at the University of Chicago. Her goal each day is to inspire those around her to be the best they can be. “Optometry as a career tends to have a positive air around it,” she says. “Our patients and students appreciate us, and we can influence them in positive ways. Things we do have a big impact on patients’ lives, such as addressing someone’s struggles with reading or prompting earlier diagnosis of a systemic disease because of its effect in the eye. And I enjoy being able to show students what they are capable of. Even though I’m incredibly busy sometimes, I’ve never come to work a day in my life disliking what I do.”

Dr. Gailmard describes his path to the optometric profession as practical. Receiving excellent optometric care as a child, including the prescription of vision therapy and glasses, helped to shape his perception of the field, but his decision to pursue a Doctor of Optometry degree was based on his assessment of the field as a freshman in college. He went to the library and researched key aspects of many different careers, including educational requirements, nature of the work, income potential and outlook for the future. “I was interested in medicine and the health professions, but I also had an entrepreneurial spirit and I wanted to be my own boss,” he says. “Optometry seemed to be the best fit for me.” Dr. Gailmard points out this gem about optometry as well: “Most college majors don’t lead you directly to a career; there is still a great deal left to chance and you must work your way up the career ladder for several years. Professional school was challenging, but it was fun at the same time, and as soon as I graduated I started to practice my profession.”

When he first graduated from optometry school, Dr. Gailmard opened his own practice from scratch, but also became a clinical instructor at ICO to supplement his income. He stayed with ICO for 20 years, finding that he loved teaching, which he still does at optometry schools and professional conferences today. And, while he also loved providing medical eye care for patients for the first 20 years of his career, he subsequently earned an MBA degree in order to change his focus to the business aspects of optometry. Currently, he’s still CEO of Gailmard Eye Center in Munster, Ind., but is also co-founder and president of Prima Eye Group, where he works as a consultant to help optometrists manage their practices. He is a great example of how many career options exist in optometry. “There are many different modes of practice and many opportunities to change your career as you go along,” he says. “Change keeps the work fresh and exciting.”

Your Bright Future in Optometry Awaits

Dr. Gailmard believes optometry is a terrific career choice for today’s students, citing that most publications that cover the outlook of various careers rank it even higher today than when he was exploring it because of the huge need for eye care. “Optometry is a very rewarding profession because you can help people to preserve and maximize their eyesight,” he says. “You can own your own practice, which allows you to be your own boss and follow your career goals and dreams. The typical income range is quite high for optometrists and has unlimited potential. The scope of practice for optometry has expanded quickly over the past 50 years to go far beyond refraction, eyeglasses and contact lenses, to include the medical treatment and management of eye disease. Technology holds the promise of rapid advancements in the years to come.”

Dr. McPhillips couldn’t agree more. Optometric career options exist to satisfy just about any aspiration, he says. “There is just so much opportunity. One can work in private practice, pediatrics, a commercial setting, contact lenses, ophthalmic practice, ocular disease; the list goes on. Furthermore, the field is always moving toward bigger and better things. We have an expanded scope of practice and amazing technologies that improve what we can do to help patients here and abroad. As a primary eyecare profession, optometry can really have a great effect.” And that’s quite inspiring.

Are You a Doctor of Optometry Who Wants to Share Your Inspiration?

If you’re an optometrist who would like to spread the word about what a great career choice optometry can be, learn more about the new program from the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO), Inspiring Future ODs. The program is a practitioner-based effort that encourages Doctors of Optometry to speak to their patients and other qualified young people about optometry as a rewarding career. Register and learn about the free, readily available resources the program provides at ASCO’s website.

In the previous post, we zoomed in on the Letters of Evaluation (LOEs) section of the application for optometry school, clarifying requirements and providing some pearls for effectively fulfilling them. This time we turn our attention to another crucial part of the application: the personal statement, a.k.a., the essay.

The LOEs and the personal statement [both of which you’ll manage through the Optometry Centralized Application Service (OptomCAS)] are relied upon heavily by the schools and colleges of optometry as they determine whether you’re the type of person who can succeed as a student in their programs and as a future optometrist. Your official instructions for composing the essay are as follows: “Please describe what inspires your decision for becoming an optometrist, including your preparation for training in this profession, your aptitude and motivation, the basis for your interest in optometry, and your future career goals. Your essay should be limited to 4500 characters.”

While the instructions have a kind of “just the facts,” flat quality, your essay will need to be the opposite of that in order to provide the admissions office with information they’ll notice and appreciate. According to Michael Bacigalupi, OD, MS, FAAO, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs & Admissions at Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry (NSU), “The personal statement allows me to get to know a student much better than just filling out blank spaces and checking off boxes on an application. It gives me a better sense of who the applicant is. Through the personal statement, students can convey what we’re looking for, which is motivation, dedication and a love of the profession of optometry. Those qualities aren’t measurable by OAT scores and GPAs.” By the way, Dr. Bacigalupi uses the word “love” of the profession on purpose. “I want students to be passionate about becoming an optometrist,” he says. “Like in any health profession, the rewards can be substantial, but the road to success is not easy, so you have to love it.”

Like some other schools and colleges of optometry, NSU requires applicants to submit an essay in addition to the personal statement. In fact, they ask for two supplemental essays. The two essay questions change from time to time, but for the last application cycle they were: 1) “What specifically are your reasons for choosing to apply to Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry?” and 2) “Professional school is very challenging. What experiences in your life and/or undergraduate career have prepared you for the rigors of optometry school?”

Dr. Bacigalupi says the statements and essays (he reads about 3,000 per year) that catch his attention are the ones that tell a story and talk about a crossroad or a serious decision an applicant made in life that led him or her to optometry as a career. He cites as an example, “Let’s say someone was an at-risk youth but realized that’s not the way he or she wanted to end up so instead took the right path and decided to focus on school. That’s a story that illustrates motivation.” He also recalls an essay from an applicant who had temporarily lost his vision, which led to the realization of how important sight is in daily life and the desire to help safeguard it for others. Don’t worry if your experiences aren’t as dramatic as those, Dr. Bacigalupi says, just be honest while providing insight into who you really are.

Essays that definitely don’t impress are those that seem to be quickly thrown together or are poorly crafted and contain spelling or grammar errors. “What comes across through those things is that the applicant rushed through this step without much care, which may indicate a lack of commitment or that this isn’t that important to him or her,” Dr. Bacigalupi explains. He recommends having another person or people, perhaps with no ties to optometry, read the personal statement with an eye toward content, grammar and readability before it’s submitted. “That gives you insight into whether it’s readable and will be effective,” he says.

Need more inspiration and ideas about what to write about in your personal statement? ASCO points out in its Optometry Career Guide that, in general, optometry schools are looking for students who can demonstrate strong academic commitment as well as exhibit the potential to excel in deductive reasoning, interpersonal communication and empathy. They like to attract well-rounded candidates who have achieved not only in the classroom but also in other areas, such as in leadership ability. A disposition to serve others and a work ethic characterized by dedication and persistence are other desirable qualities. Adds Dr. Bacigalupi, “We want to see in the statement and essays that we’d be admitting teachable students who ultimately will make good colleagues; therefore, the right balance of people skills and academic abilities is very important.”

The 2015-2016 OptomCAS application cycle opens on July 1, so the time to start working on your essay is right about now. Good luck!

Here at the Eye on Optometry blog, you’ve already done some reading about OptomCAS, the Optometry Centralized Application Service, which you are required to use in order to apply to any of the 21 schools and colleges of optometry in the United States (and Puerto Rico) that are members of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO). While OptomCAS is a requirement for applying to be accepted into the Doctor of Optometry programs, it’s also a major help to you because it enables you to use a single web-based application and one set of materials to apply to multiple schools and colleges of optometry.

As part of your optometry school application at OptomCAS, you’ll need to provide names and contact information for the individuals you have chosen — and who have agreed — to write letters of evaluation (LOEs) for you. The LOEs play an important role in helping the schools and colleges determine whether you have what it takes to succeed in their programs and as a future optometrist. The number of letters each school requires ranges from one to four. ASCO provides an informative overview of the essentials in a chart at the OptomCAS website.

Who Should Write My Letters of Evaluation for My Optometry School Applications? 

“When considering whom to ask to write you a LOE, it’s important first to understand the letter requirements from each institution to which you are applying,” says Monica Maisto, Director of Admissions at Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry (Salus/PCO). “Most institutions give you various options for letter requirements, and there are subtle differences between them. Be sure to carefully read and understand the letter requirements according to each school you are interested in and to cover all of your bases as far as the type of recommenders that you should ask to write you a letter (e.g., science professors, optometrists, pre-health committees/advisors). If you have any confusion, don’t hesitate to call or e-mail the admissions office of the school to clarify the requirements.”

Even if the ASCO overview of LOE requirements for a specific school seems straightforward, there may be nuances you wouldn’t be aware of unless you contacted the admissions office directly for a complete explanation. For example, a school or college might accept one committee letter in lieu of several separate individual letters to satisfy its entire LOE requirement. Or, a school may have updated its LOE requirements since the previous application cycle.

Each undergraduate institution that has a pre-health committee has its own process for producing committee LOEs, and the departments the committees are part of have different names, such as Health Professions Advising Center, Pre-Health Mentoring Office or Pre-Health Advisement. A committee may also fall under the auspices of a more general Career Center on campus. According to Maisto, “A committee letter usually consists of the collective evaluation and summary of your qualifications by the pre-health committee” The committee usually consists of college/university faculty and staff members. Its process for creating the committee letter usually includes an interview with you and often includes information such as your resume and your shadowing experience, which you are asked to provide. Sometimes, the committee may also seek out an evaluation from someone other than a committee member.

Some schools and colleges of optometry also accept what’s known as a composite letter to fulfill all or part of their LOE requirements. A composite letter is a single LOE that is based on letters from evaluators who have agreed to your request to provide a recommendation. The combined letter is typically compiled by an academic advisor or other individual in a pre-health office or career center.

If you’re using a committee letter, you would list the chair of the committee as the evaluator on OptomCAS. If you’re using a composite letter, you would list the letter compiler, e.g., the advisor, as the evaluator on OptomCAS. In both cases, even though each letter represents multiple evaluators, each would be counted on OptomCAS as one LOE, taking up just one of the four available LOE slots.

Whoever you list in an LOE slot on OptomCAS — whether it be an individual evaluator (e.g., professor or optometrist), the chair of a pre-health committee, or the creator of a composite letter — will automatically receive an e-mail from OptomCAS that provides instructions for uploading the letter(s) to the web portal. Many schools and colleges of optometry also accept LOEs via a letter service of your choosing, which is basically a third party that collects the letters you designate and uploads them to OptomCAS. If you choose to have your LOEs submitted to OptomCAS via a letter service, ASCO strongly recommends that you have the author of each letter fill out the rating of attributes, which is required in addition to each LOE.

In addition, knowing the attributes evaluators are asked to rate can help you to determine who best to ask for letters. They’re asked to rate you on a scale from Excellent to Poor, including “Not Observed,” on the following:

• integrity

• knowledge of profession

• organizational skills

• promise of achievement

• self-awareness

• stress management

• time management

• intellectual ability

• interpersonal relations

• leadership

• oral communication

• reaction to criticism

• team skills

• written communication.

“When deciding who to ask to write a LOE, you want to consider how well each recommender knows you and to what capacity,” Maisto explains. “The recommender should be able to comment on your academic abilities and/or assess your qualifications for graduate education and your ability to complete graduate work, your qualifications for a professional scholarly career, and/or your patient care and professional skills in a clinical setting.”

Additional Advice for Maximizing the Letters of Evaluation Process

Maisto and ASCO also recommend the following for achieving the best results with your letters of evaluation:

• Request your evaluations as early as possible to give your letter writers plenty of time.
• Notify your evaluators that they’ll receive an e-mail from optomcasinfo@optomcas.org.
• Know that OptomCAS doesn’t determine or notify you as to whether or not you’ve properly fulfilled your target schools’ LOE requirements; it’s up to you to know.
• Don’t use evaluations from co-workers, someone you have supervised, relatives or personal and family friends. These are inappropriate and can be detrimental to the review of your application.
• It’s considered best to waive your right to read your LOEs. Doing so allows your letter writers to feel comfortable providing a completely honest and open review without worrying that you’ll be reading it.

Stay tuned for our next post, which will be Inside OptomCAS Part II: Your Personal Statement for Applying to Optometry School.

Information about the entire OptomCAS cycle can be found out www.optomcas.org.

There are many reasons optometry is an outstanding career choice. To name just a few, it offers job security based on demand for services, personal satisfaction through helping people to improve their lives, and an enviable work/life balance. But we’d be remiss to not recognize that the current state of optometry as a career didn’t just magically come to be. It’s built upon the efforts of optometrists who chose to spend their time and energy on helping to move the profession forward, in other words, serving as leaders.

The point is definitely not lost on Devin Sasser, who is about to graduate from the University of Missouri at St. Louis College of Optometry, just after completing his term as president of the American Optometric Student Association (AOSA), the largest affiliate of the American Optometric Association (AOA). “I have seen the sacrifices made by those who have come before me in order to grow the profession,” Devin says. “I feel as though it’s now my responsibility to continue to make this profession better. As a first-year student, I would often hear then-president of the AOA Dr. Dori Carlson tell students and doctors to leave the profession better than they found it. This has been my personal motto since then. To be completely honest, there is certainly a part of me that runs solely off of being able to be a part of something greater than myself.”

The same goes for Hunter Chapman, a third-year student at Southern College of Optometry who has been elected to replace Devin as AOSA president for a 2015-2016 term. As he explains it, “When I was in college at Louisiana State University, I figured out that it was only when I took on certain leadership positions that I gained a sense of place and purpose. Leadership allows you to gain meaning in life.”

Give to Optometry and Optometry Gives Back

Being an optometry student leader does come with its challenges, but Devin and Hunter both agree the positives outweigh what can sometimes seem like negatives. “There are many times when the juggling of school and leadership may get a little tough,” Devin says, “but the things you get to experience as a student leader are invaluable. During my time on the AOSA Board of Trustees, I served alongside representatives from each of the optometry schools in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. How many students can say they know someone from every single school of optometry? I have also had the distinguished honor of working directly with the AOA and its affiliated associations to develop ways to make this profession even better than it is currently. The feeling of knowing that what you are doing is having a positive impact on the future of the profession is by far the best part of being a student leader.”

Having to make decisions that negatively impact peers that you like and respect, such as appointing committee members from among friends and colleagues, is another aspect of leadership that can be difficult, Hunter continues. But he says, too, that most people understand the difficulty of those situations. Also, he points out, “For me personally, one of the greatest benefits of pursuing leadership positions has been how I’ve developed and continuously learned more about myself. Additionally, I have been fortunate to see many doors, personal and professional, open for me.”

Seeing the Importance of Optometric Student Organizations

If you’re feeling the same inner drive Hunter and Devin have to get more involved in your chosen optometric profession as a student, they say passion will be key to your success. “You have to be in it for the right reasons,” Devin says. “I truly believe that a sense of passion for the respective organization should be at the root of every student leader. So it’s important to do your research in order to develop a better understanding of an organization’s mission, and what you can do to further said mission. When you begin to realize just how important an organization is on both a personal and professional level, you’ll have no reluctance in doing your part to sustain it. It’s also important not to feel discouraged if you don’t get the position you’re seeking. The beautiful thing about optometry is there are many areas in which you can get involved.”

Hunter offers further advice for succeeding as an optometry student leader: “Be relentless in achieving common and personal goals with a sense of urgency and discipline. Choose a specific area for action or priority because time in school is limited. Be personally motivated so that you may also effectively motivate others. Exercise effective communication but also active listening. Be willing and able to personally grow and develop.”

What’s Next for These Two Optometry Student Leaders?

As Hunter rolls up his sleeves to get into his new role as president of the AOSA, he looks forward to contributing to the achievement of the group’s short- and long-term goals, which include creating a stronger connection with pre-optometry students. “Our thought is that if we want to fulfill the needs of our students and profession, then certainly an early exposure to the profession is key to its vitality,” he notes. “We have already created a pre-optometry webpage, and pre-optometry students can become a member of the AOSA at www.preoptometry.org.”

Now that he is just a few weeks away from officially becoming Dr. Devin Sasser, Devin plans to stay involved in the bigger picture. “I’m currently working closely with fellow members of the AOA on ways to strengthen the profession,” he says. “This is yet another step along the path of a lifelong commitment to optometry.”

Even though you may have already decided that you want to be an optometrist — an exciting, in-demand, well-paying career — it doesn’t mean you couldn’t benefit from some help along the way. Joining a pre-optometry club is a great way to learn things you need to know about academic requirements, the Optometry Admission Test (OAT) and OptomCAS for applying to optometry school. But the clubs offer much more, too.

They invite speakers to inform and inspire members by providing information on a wide range of topics, such as why they chose the profession, the many different ways to practice, eye diseases and current research. Speakers often include representatives from the schools and colleges of optometry, who talk about what makes their programs unique. Club members get involved in the community by doing volunteer work and helping eye health-related organizations with fundraisers. Members of clubs in areas with a school or college of optometry nearby have opportunities to visit campus and interact with optometry students and faculty. Also, a pre-optometry club is a source of support, fun and camaraderie with like-minded students.

Many undergraduate colleges and universities have a pre-optometry club, which you can find at events like freshman orientation fairs or through the university’s website if it lists available activities or registered student organizations (RSOs) on campus. The Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) provides a list of clubs here, and clubs can register with ASCO to be included on the list.

How the Pre-Optometry Club Helped Me

Here are just a few of the ways students say they benefitted from their involvement with a pre-optometry club.
Patricia Ziccarelli (first-year year student at Illinois College of Optometry (ICO); former member of pre-optometry club at Purdue University in Indiana): “My pre-optometry club was very important in solidifying my decision to go through with applying to optometry school. It was nice to meet other students who shared my same goals. We talked a lot about things that we were all going through together such as taking the OAT, navigating OptomCAS and getting teacher recommendations. The club only met once a month or so but it was nice to have a reminder every few weeks about my end goal of being an optometrist. If for no other reason, I am happy I joined the club because it was at a meeting that I was first introduced to ICO, which is where I am a student today!”

Maryam Khan (first-year student at Illinois College of Optometry; former member, secretary and president of pre-optometry club at Benedictine University outside Chicago): “The leadership experience, including hosting fundraisers and community events, will be something that will help me during and beyond optometry school. The number of members in our club increased every year as awareness of optometry on campus grew. In my first year of undergraduate school, we had 3-5 members and by my last semester we were able to fill a classroom. As we had more members, we added even more events and fundraisers, which led to more awareness and interest in optometry.”

Aaron Nichols (first-year student at Illinois College of Optometry; former member of pre-optometry club at Ferris State University in Michigan): “One of the optometrists who came to talk with our pre-optometry club, Dr. Mark Colip, Vice President for Student, Alumni and College Development at ICO, really sticks out to me as being very helpful. Because the undergrad university I attended has its own college of optometry, I thought I knew what optometry school would be like. However, Dr. Colip explained to us how different students (based, for example, on demographics or personality) are better suited to attend different optometry schools. He explained how life as an optometry student and an optometrist varies in different areas, such as rural vs. major city. He was telling us to find the best place for us, the place we’d be comfortable. That really helped me to broaden my interests when applying to optometry school and realize I wanted to be where I would see the most diseases and potentially more diverse patients.”

No Pre-Optometry Club on Campus? Start One!

While attending MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Jade McLachlin was surprised to learn there wasn’t a pre-optometry club on campus. So she and a friend decided to start one. It required planning and legwork to determine the club’s mission, what type of meetings it would have, how to get the word out about the club and the field of optometry in general, how to elect officers, how to obtain university permission to set up a club (often through an office of student activities or student affairs), how to file an official budget, etc. At times it felt like a lot to do, but you can do it, she says. Her advice: “The best way to go about it is to be passionate! If you’re passionate about starting a club, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

For more details about how to start a pre-optometry club, read the article Jade wrote for optometrystudents.com and see ASCO’s description at its website.

Sign Up for this Additional Valuable Experience

On April 21, 2015, ASCO is holding another Optometry Virtual Fair. No matter where you are that day, you can hop onto the Internet and live chat with admissions representatives from any or all of the 21 ASCO member schools — all for free. They’ll be waiting to answer any questions you may have. Register today.