Applying
Online Courses: Buyer Beware!
There’s a definite trend toward offering more ways to complete college coursework online, resulting in more and more confusion for the student consumer who must choose an online course that meets that will fulfill a specific requirement.
SCCO does accept the online course format as a way to complete prerequisite coursework for classes that do not require labs. The institution offering the course must be a regionally accredited college/university for the coursework to be accepted, and must be a non-profit institution.
Access SCCO’s comprehensive online course policy using this link
And now for the confusing part…
Some regionally accredited colleges/universities have online coursework offered through outside-contracted companies. The big tip off that these courses would not be acceptable is that they are not offered for college/university credit, but rather as “continuing education,” or “adult enrichment.”
Recently, as I was searching for an online human anatomy course for a student, I came across an offering on University of Cincinnati’s website. It was through an agency—whom I will not name here for liability sake—that offers coursework through “Communiversity.” If one clicks through to this unnamed agency to see its website, it shows all the regionally accredited institutions with whom it is affiliated. The list was impressive! In my current position as Assistant Dean of Admissions, I have been in higher education for 12 years now. Even I was confused about whether or not these courses were college/university level courses, and whether they were offered by a regionally accredited institution—both fundamentally necessary conditions.
In this current emerging market of commuter education, more and more hybrid courses and marketing jargon are making it even more difficult to make an online course choice.
So buyer beware!
Here is a list of institutions that offer courses accepted by SCCO that will fulfill our prerequisite requirements:
If you are ever in doubt about whether an online course is acceptable, feel free to email a course description and link to odadmissions@ketchum.edu, and it will be reviewed and either denied or approved for acceptability. This goes for any course, whether you’re planning to take it in the classroom or online.
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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!
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