Peer Advisor Blog Articles
What I Learned and Would Do Over Again in My First Year at MBKU
Peer Advisers are upperclassmen who are trained to assist incoming students make the transition into professional grad school. One of the way they assist is through the Peer Advisor Blog. Here is an example of such a blog article that may even be helpful to you as a pre-optometry student as you go forward…

By Peer Adviser, Eric Leung, SCCO Class of 2020
I want to preface this by saying that this is in no way a definitive guide on how to be successful in graduate school. I am merely offering this as small bits of advice as someone who has just been through a few of the trials you will be facing in your first year. I hope you can take a few pearls away from my experience and can make a unique one for yourself. Maybe even pay it forward if you happen to be sitting where I am next year…
Think of a list of interesting facts about yourself for your first couple days. Introduction week will likely be a blur of new faces, names, and icebreakers. I honestly forgot most of these as quickly as I heard them but relearned them organically throughout the year. You will begin lectures in the first week at a relatively easy pace. Fall quarter may seem busy but it is not going to get any easier, so do everything that you think you might want to do early. Buy those annual Disneyland tickets, go to those s’mores parties, bond with your classmates.
Find your groove with balancing lectures and tests. Both will be a ubiquitous part of your new life for the next few years. Know that there is not any one way to study. Some learn by hearing a lecture once and can miraculously recall material verbatim. Some have to revisit to portions of lectures on lecture capture and rewrite notes. And some, like me, need to make diagrams for everything, condensing the material into smaller more manageable sets.
Make a schedule and keep to it as much as possible. Think of fall quarter as a warm-up and use it as practice to build good habits. Find out what works and, even more importantly, what does not. Losing attention after 4 hours in the same spot? Change your environment – give yourself a brief mental break while in transit. Find your study oasis. You may think you know how to balance your academic life but don’t underestimate the workload. By spring quarter you’ll be balancing 2 midterms and 3 proficiencies in a single week.
Now onto the fun stuff. Join any club you think sounds interesting. Whether it be medical mission trips, private practice, or medical Spanish, it is a great opportunity for you to get a glimpse into a world that may one day be your professional specialty. Broaden what you think health care is because I can almost promise you that there is something out there that you didn’t know can be an infinite source of self-learning. Go to club info night, go to the next class social, meet with your classmates inside and outside of school – the connections you build will be invaluable to your academic and professional success. It is impossible to get through graduate school alone. Eventually, either you will need someone to practice skills on and vice versa. So don’t hesitate to rely on your classmates, they will definitely rely on you. Your fellow classmates, your faculty and your upperclassman all want the same thing – for everyone to succeed.
And before you know it, just like that your first year will be over. And maybe you’ll be reflecting back just like me at this very moment, wishing you could do it all over again.
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Published by Jane Ann Munroe, OD, Assistant Dean of Admissions, SCCO
I wanted to be an optometrist when I was only 10 years old. Why? I had some kind of geeky fascination with eyeglass frames, and was obsessed with getting a pair of my own. In my situation, having perfect eyesight was a distinct disadvantage, so I had to hatch a plan.
After repeated intense squinting while looking at the blackboard, I approached my teacher and lied with conviction, complaining that I couldn’t see. This report got me first to the school nurse and then finally on to an optometrist for an eye exam, where I tried my best Mr. Magoo impression to no avail.
I would have to wait two more long years until the gods finally smiled on me when, by some miracle, I acquired enough astigmatism to warrant my first bona fide pair of prescription eyeglasses!
Along with my love of people and wanting to take care of them, subsequent visits to the optometrist and shadowing, I sealed the deal—optometry was now officially what I wanted to do with my life.
I made first contact with the Southern California College of Optometry when I was in 8th grade. My older sister had a newly minted driver’s license and so I coerced her into driving me all the way from our home in La Mirada to Los Angeles, SCCO’s then-home. After a master planning effort to plot out our route on a paper map folded in 8 places, we arrived at SCCO where my sister quickly surmised that I didn’t have an appointment with an admissions advisor. She called me a loser, drove me all the way back home and the next day, phoned to help make the requisite appointment.
I entered high school in the late 1960’s (ouch, that hurt) when young females wanted to be anything but what I’d chosen as my newly dedicated pursuit—a science geek. I wore thick horn-rimmed black eyeglass frames (told you I was serious) and hung around chemistry lab after class. This was at a time when women just did not pursue careers in science and being the tomboy that I was, that was fine with me. This trend continued right through into undergrad, attending many classes where I was the only female--bespectacled or not--in the class. At a recent high school reunion, many of my classmates still remember me as the science geek with the blinders on—many envious of my joy and passion for my future profession.
I graduated from SCCO in 1977. Looking back with 40 years of experience as an optometrist, I am awed to know that I chose this wonderful profession way-back-when and with only my juvenile perspective to inform me. In 1977 when I graduated from optometry school, the profession began a series of major changes to its practice scope: securing the rights to use diagnostic drugs (dilating drops), securing the rights to prescribe therapeutic drugs (huge change!), being recognized as physicians by the federal government and treating glaucoma. In some US states, optometry has made even bigger strides into minor surgery, use of lasers, hospital privileges...etc. If I had the opportunity to go back and make another choice and knowing what I do today about health care and my own hardwiring, I’d make the same choice for optometry--nobody loves this profession more than I do. http://www.ketchum.edu/index.php/about/administration-directory
I grew up with optometry and now it’s your turn to inherit its future. That’s what this blog is about—getting you into optometry school and I am just the person to help you achieve this goal. We’re going to talk about the admissions process, how to prepare to take the OAT, how to be a competitive applicant, how to prepare to interview, to name a few. We’re going to talk about SCCO, student life and what it’s like to be an optometric intern. I am very persuasive, motivating and I am completely sold on optometry as the best profession in health care. I speak from experience!
Get ready to dialogue. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and please, chime in on discussions. I want to know what kind of help you need. You got this!
View all posts by Jane Ann Munroe, OD, Assistant Dean of Admissions, SCCO