Optometrists?!
Question: I'm thinking about becoming an optometrist, and I had some questions about the career - how many years of school did you go through? What was your major?? How difficult is it to get through school? What is the salary like? Any specific classes a high school kid should take their senior year? How hard is it to find a job / did you open your own practice?
Any/all answers would be greeeatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance :)
Answers: I'm thinking about becoming an optometrist, and I had some questions about the career - how many years of school did you go through? What was your major?? How difficult is it to get through school? What is the salary like? Any specific classes a high school kid should take their senior year? How hard is it to find a job / did you open your own practice?
Any/all answers would be greeeatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance :)
1) Four years undergrad for Bachelor's Degree. Four years doctoral work at Optometry School for your O.D. Clinical internship post grad for in depth specialty training if desired.
2) Major -- Biology. Minor -- Chemistry
3) Difficulty? If you dedicate yourself to the program you should do fine. It will take much time and effort on your part to learn what you need to learn and develop the clinical skills you need but you just buckle down and do what has to be done. You can eat an entire horse if you just eat it one bite at a time.
4) That's like asking how much does a car cost. Well first you gotta tell me what kind of car you are talking about. Just as in all medical profession there is a WIDE range of compensation. Depending upon whether you own the practice, whether you are in a partnership, or whether you are employed by another optometrist your salary can vary widely. Low end can be $75,000 or so. High end can go to $500,000 or even more.
5) Just make sure and take the basic math, science, and physics classes offered. Chemistry, physics, trigonometry, etc. Get the basic understandings so that when you get to the undergrad level you won't feel lost.
6) Again alot of this depends upon the individual but if you know your stuff and represent yourself well you shouldn't have a problem finding employment. Of course, opening a solo practice is probably the most difficult thing to do. I tend to recommend going into an established practice with the intent to work as an employee for a few years before buying into the practice as a partner. That's what I did.
here this is a great websites for all of your questions. just type in optometrists in the search box.
It depends somewhat on which country you live in. Ask your optometrist for the names of optometry schools near you and their admissions department will have most of those answers, including information about salaries and job stats.
In North America, optometry is a four year university program that is done after getting a Bachelor's degree, most often a B.Sc. You would want to take science and math in high school.