Find Your Charge Through a Career in Optometry

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March 19, 2020 COVID-19: What current and prospective optometry school applicants need to know

At this time, all our schools and colleges of optometry are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation. Each institution is following its state’s recommendations and individual protocols regarding this threat. If you need to know the status of a specific school or college, please see the web-page for the individual school/college.

Read where ASCO stands regarding resources for current and prospective optometry students. Hide

OAT Exam

All Prometric testing centers where the Optometry Admission Test (OAT) is given are closed in the US and Canada. Candidates may continue to schedule appointments. Prometric will be monitoring the situation closely and will provide updates accordingly. More information can be found at www.ada.org/en/oat.

OptomCAS

OptomCAS plans to continue to process your application without any interruption. Additional information for applicants can be found at help.liaisonedu.com/COVID-19.


Deadlines

Many optometry schools/colleges have made changes to their application requirements and deadlines in light of current circumstances. For specific details about any changes in deadlines or application requirements, please see the web page for the individual schools/colleges. For questions about decisions, delay in standardized exam scores, transcripts, etc., please contact the optometry school/college directly.




We will continue to provide updates as new information becomes available. In the meantime, please stay safe and healthy.

Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki
I’ve
Helped People
Drive Again

Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki Riverhead, New York

Dr. Zilnicki owns her own practice where she changes lives through vision therapy. All while balancing her other passions in life—yoga, her daughter and helping out on her husband’s farm.

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Dr. Jeffrey Lewis
I’ve
Improved Patients’
Quality of Life

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis Champaign, Illinois

Fueling strong connections drives Dr. Lewis—whether that’s with his patients in the exam room or on the dance floor when he’s deejaying. His life is full of the things and people he loves.

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Dr. Muriel Martinez
I’ve
Advocated For Children With
Special Needs

Dr. Muriel Martinez Houston, Texas

Whether she’s in the lecture hall with students, the exam room with patients, or at the studio rehearsing for her next dance competition, Dr. Martinez is getting the most out of life.

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Explore the possibilities of a career in optometry.

Learn more about finding the right optometry school or college for you, the application process and the different modalities you can pursue.

Three reasons to seriously consider a career in optometry

Strong Patient Relationships

“The relationships that I develop with my patients are unique and special because not only do I get to provide them with the highest quality of care for what arguably is the most important sense, but I get to do that in an affordable manner and also spend the time that these patients deserve. Unfortunately, there’s a trend in health care right now where it’s less and less time with the patient as the doctor, but in optometry, you have a say in how much time you want to spend with your patients, and my relationships extend beyond these walls.”

Earning Potential

“I think the earning potential is empowering. It gives you freedom. You can travel; you can dance; you can do so many things. You can change lives while you’re doing all that stuff at the same time.”

Career Autonomy

“I chose optometry because I knew that I wanted a family. And I knew this profession was one that would give me that balance between work and family. And I could feel successful in a career … You are in complete control of your future and your success. And not many professions give that to you.”

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Find out what you need to start applying to optometry schools and colleges.

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Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki

Entrepreneur. Vision Therapist.

Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki

At 27 years old, my business partner and I opened our own optometry and vision therapy practice. As a vision therapist, I work with kids with binocular vision disorders, lazy eyes, eye turns, or reading issues, and adults with traumatic brain injuries, post-stroke, or post-concussion vision syndrome. Because I see them on a biweekly basis, and through rehabilitating their vision, I get to understand how they’re using their eyes. So as they progress through their program, I witness all the positive changes they go through—allowing me to really feel the benefit of what I’m doing with them every day.

Lover of Yoga,
Farm-to-Table Feasts,and Family.

Dr. Miki Lyn Zilnicki

For me, when I career shadowed other medical doctors, I found that some didn’t get to begin their life outside of work until they were much older. That’s not what I wanted. I wanted to be present and young with a family. Optometry allowed me to do that. There’s not that many eye emergencies to take me from my family. My quality of life is wonderful, and I have everything I could ever ask for.

Getting someone’s eyesight back to normal is the most rewarding experience I could ever have.

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

Doctor. Changer of
Patients’ Lives.

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

I became an optometrist because everybody needs health care, and optometry empowers me to provide an affordable health care to my community. I’m able to have an immediate, life-changing impact on patients—whether that’s through detection of a serious health issue, or through lenses that help them see their world. It’s about being the best I can and giving that to everyone else. If you’re a student interested in challenging yourself, interested in providing for your community, you should become a Doctor of Optometry.

Builder of Community
and Relationships.

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis

Developing relationships is everything to me. Optometry gives that to me, and so does my event planning business. It’s how I express myself and bring people together. Seeing everybody connect with each other, to see all the faces, all the people joyous, free, relaxed, just enjoying the company and forgetting about all their worries, it’s a happiness that can’t be bought. Optometry also gives me the financial security to be able to raise a family, but more importantly, it gives me the time to spend with that family.

I would absolutely do this all over again.

Dr. Muriel Martinez

Professor. Advocate.

Dr. Muriel Martinez

I chose optometry because I wanted to be a voice for people that can’t have a voice or don’t know how to use their voice to say if something is wrong. That happens a lot with children with special needs. They can’t tell you if they can’t see. So I come in, and I’m able to advocate for them, tell the parent, “They need eyeglasses. They need vision therapy. They aren’t thriving because they can’t see, and I can easily change that.” I’m also changing lives in the lecture hall. I’m educating future doctors that are then going to impact others’ lives. It’s like I’m impacting all these lives that I will never even know about.

Mover
and Shaker to Her Own Beat.

Dr. Muriel Martinez

Optometry has fulfilled me. I’m able to feel good about what I do every day, go home, and have a life of my own. Salsa dancing is my escape from everything. It makes me feel alive. I dance competitively, and practice four or five nights of the week (sometimes every night of the week if I can). And every Friday, I attend salsa night at the local aquarium.

My quality of life is awesome. I change lives during the day and I dance salsa at night.

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