A series of articles written by SCCO Student Ambassadors.

How Shadowing Motivated Me to Apply to Optometry School

By SCCO Student Ambassador, Vincent Ma

I have always been a very indecisive person, so my choice to pursue optometry wasn’t very straightforward. There was a lot of self-doubt about whether I was even good enough to be considered by schools. However, the more I started to learn about the field of optometry, the more motivated I became to make optometry as a career a reality. This is the process of how I ultimately decided optometry was the career path that I wanted to pursue.

I started by visiting my old friend, Mr. Google. Through Mr. Google, I found different forums and videos that offered a wealth of knowledge about many different aspects of optometry. I also followed many optometrists and optometry students on social media (this later became one of the sources of my motivation as I kept telling myself that I will be in their shoes one day). Through the power of the internet, I learned that optometry was much more than just the typical “Which is better, 1 or 2?” I discovered that the eyes can be a window to someone’s overall systemic health. This really piqued my interest, and I sought to learn more by shadowing.

Unfortunately, when I was reaching out to optometry offices through phone calls and emails to inquire about shadowing, the pandemic was still pretty bad, so I wasn’t able to shadow in person at that time. Luckily, I was able to find some virtual shadowing sessions where different optometrists would present what their life is like in this career. This became a blessing in disguise as I was able to hear from optometrists of different specialties that I probably wouldn’t have heard from if I only did some in-person shadowing. These virtual shadowing sessions showed me how diverse the field of optometry really is. However, virtual shadowing still doesn’t beat the experience of being in an optometric setting in person.

Once the pandemic started to subside, I was finally able to find a doctor that allowed me to shadow him for a couple of days. The name of the doctor I shadowed is Dr. Donald Barniske, and he also went to SCCO when it was still in Los Angeles. He has been practicing since the 70s, so I am super grateful to be able to tap into the mind of someone who has seen so much change in the field. He told me how, historically, optometrists couldn’t even prescribe eye drops, and now more and more states are starting to allow us to do some laser procedures (fingers crossed AB-2236 gets approved*). It is exciting to see what the future holds for optometry.

Aside from the legislative side of optometry, the patient-doctor interaction really stood out to me when I was shadowing Dr. Barniske. The doctor interacted with all of his patients as if they were family. One of the patients I spoke with said that she has been going to Dr. Barniske for over 30 years, even though there were other doctors closer to where she lived. This is the type of relationship that I want to be able to build with my patients in the future. The thought of being able to be a part of someone’s progression through life really appealed to me.

After doing research and shadowing to learn about what a career in optometry entails, my motivation to pursue this path outweighed my self-doubts. Even after submitting my applications to optometry schools, my hunger to learn more was still there. This led me to find a full-time job at a private practice during my gap year just so that I can learn as much as possible before starting school. One thing I would do differently, if I could go back, is to figure out what I want to pursue earlier. It wasn’t until my last year of undergrad that I seriously started looking into optometry. When I wasn’t really sure what I was working towards, I lacked motivation at times and put in minimal effort in some classes. Once I found WHAT I wanted to do and WHY I wanted to do it, I stopped worrying about the HOW and just got it done. I strongly urge anyone who is still deciding on a career, whether it’s optometry or something else, to not worry about the “how” first like I did. Find your “what” and “why,” and the how becomes much more feasible.

Click here to read Vincent’s bio and meet other Student Ambassadors at Ketchum.edu.