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Optometry Schools Selection Criteria (2021 Updated)

2xq

Allied Health Member
Hi all,
It's that time of the year when high school leavers (and beyond) might be thinking about studying optometry as a possible backup to medicine/dentistry (I was doing precisely that two years ago), so I thought I'd just make a optometry factsheet/FAQ as a current vision science student.

Getting to know the job:
Can optometrists do surgery? No. The most common eye surgery is cataract surgery, and this is done by an ophthalmologist.
Do optometrists diagnose diseases? Yes, they are often the first to pick up ocular abnormalities and pathology BUT will then refer patients to ophthalmologists for treatment (eg. surgery, glaucoma drops).
Can optometrists prescribe (insert medication)? They can prescribe some topical medications and of course, glasses and contact lenses.

Optometry vs vision science:
Optometry: accredited allied health qualification you can obtain from UNSW, Canberra, Deakin, Flinders, Melbourne and UQ. Master's degree level.
Vision science: similar to a BSci with a major in vision science, however, you are pushed to begin developing clinical skills from 1st year. Bachelor's degree. Possible pathways from BVisSci: entry into Master of Clinical Optometry, Master of Orthoptics (more later), vision science research or other postgraduate degrees.

The structure of optometry degrees:
Historically, optom has been a 5-year Bachelor level degree. Most Australian unis have now moved to a 3-year Bachelor's plus 2 year Master's (even Melb whose degree has a Doctor of Optometry title, but master-level coursework).

(Essentially, there's two degree streams:
Bachelor of Vision Science, or
Bachelor of Vision Science/Master of Clinical Optometry.)


Deakin has gained popularity as having a 3.5 year program - 2 years undergrad, 1.5 years postgrad - but note that they're on a trimester system. The first year has four subjects per trimester I believe, and I've heard anecdotally that third-year clinical skills are too rushed in delivery. I've also heard that the fourth-year placement is 6 months long and in one location, with not many chances to be exposed to varying patients and pathology. Note: this is mostly anecdotal stuff I've not heard personally from people.

Master of Orthoptics at UTS is another related postgraduate degree after vision science that deals with diagnosing and managing eye disorders (like double vision, squint, lazy eye). There is some scope to work in a hospital here, unlike optometry, and you'd work closely with ophthalmologists here too.

Cut-offs:
Entry cutoffs to the Bachelor's start at around 85-90 ATAR, I think, the lower end for Canberra or Deakin. Entry to Master's lies at around 93-95 ish for Flinders, Deakin, Canberra - and 98-99+ for UNSW. This is all for high school leavers, mind you - I'm not sure about the GPA needed for non-standard entry.

How I got here: 2020 HS grad, studying Bachelor of Vision Science [not the master's stream] at UNSW. I got into UNSW with a 93.75 ATAR in 2020, and also got successful offers for BVisSci/MClinical Optom from Flinders and Deakin in Y12 - you get bonus points for Flinders if you do HSC Physics and Chemistry. After my 1st year, I applied to UQ with 6.3 GPA and got into the master's stream but didn't take the offer (only put it there as I was applying for med). This year I'm applying to medicine again.

Quality across schools:
Of course, I may be biased, but UNSW is really a couple of leagues above the other optometry schools; being bigger on research, having more staff and students etc etc. If you want to get an optometry qualification any of the degrees will work for you. UNSW has trimesters, but I can't say whether it's better/worse than semesters, having started uni when they implemented trimesters.

What it's like:
Cohort sizes do vary but we started with ~150 in 1st year, and dropped to 140 this year. By 4th year (1st year of master's), it's usually around 40-60, but numbers, again, do vary. Similar to medical science, a large majority are med-hopefuls, a small minority actually want to be optometrists, and an even smaller amount want to do vision research. Students are definitely very driven, with a good amount maintaining HDs, but there's no cut-throat/sabotaging behaviour that I've seen in optometry that reportedly happens in medical science. Something funny/interesting is that almost everyone works at an optometry clinic (Specsavers, OPSM, Bailey-Nelson etc.) - it's a good allied health job that is flexible, complements what you study, and builds your communication/teamwork skills.
Classes are usually 2-3 online lectures and one in-person tutorial (small group class) per week. Subjects eg. Anatomy might have 1x 3hr lab/week, while vision science might have 1x 1hr practical where you'll be doing ray tracing or something.
The lecturers in the school of Optom/Vision Science are all very kind and know what they're talking about. The other science subjects, being under various faculties, are more hit-or-miss - but you don't have to worry about that after 2nd-year. 3rd year has a heavy focus on diseases of the eye and is infamously tricky to do well in - think memorising 50 or so similar eye diseases.

Why optometry:
My first-year subjects consisted of 1 maths subject, 1 biology, 2 chemistry, 1 physics and 3 vision science subjects. Subjects except for vision science units were intro science courses - you'll share classes with those in exercise physiology, medical science, biomedical engineering - pretty much anyone who has science as the foundation for their degree. These subjects were just an extension of Y12 science knowledge, and it is possible to get HDs in all of them.
You'll also be interested in 2nd-year subjects, where we do whole-body anatomy (with weekly cadaver labs) and physiology (you'll be sharing classes with med sci students for both), while starting to learn more about the visual system and building pre-clinical optometry skills (you get to learn optical dispensing, which is unique to all other optometry schools in Australia - it's kind of an auxiliary skill that optometrists don't necessarily use, but should know imo). Honestly, the subject is just fun, too :)
As an alternative to say, medical science, I really do think vision science has merit in being broad enough to get uni-level knowledge across all sciences, while being specific enough to progress towards a vocation. It's also helped me prepare for GAMSAT, but that's later down the track for many of you.

Any cons:
You don't qualify for the Lateral Entry Scheme as UNSW med sci does, but if you're able to keep up your marks and do sufficiently well in the UCAT - your chance is just as large.
If you didn't do science in HS, I would say it'd be hard work, particularly in first-year - but lecturers and tutors are readily available to help you.
Getting into the Bachelor's degree only doesn't guarantee you a place in optometry.

(I do apologise that this became slightly 'optom vs med sci' - that was not my intention. I'm just putting my experience and thoughts out here to hopefully help someone along the way).

Finally, thanks for reading - hope this helps! I'm also more than happy to answer any questions here. Cheers and have a good one!!
Love the insight!! 😍
 
Hey I have been wondering, is there any massive benefit one would have if they went UNSW over the other unis which have a lower atar requirement for this degree or is it just for some minor reasons like prestige???
would highly avoid UNSW, they dont pass many students into the masters x

Hey just wanting to know if there is a jobs board here for optometry roles to post here somewhere?
Unable to create new post.
Mods please delete if not allowed, not trying to spam.
not that i know of :(
 
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