A series of articles written by SCCO Student Ambassadors.

Overcoming Doubt

by SCCO Student Ambassador, Andrew Herrera

The application process for optometry school can be a very scary and stressful time in a student’s life. You take time to look back at everything you’ve done this far, and the age-old question arises: am I good enough for optometry school?

This question hit me like a truck when I was at the tail end of my senior year at UC Merced. I didn’t have the best GPA because I definitely struggled in some classes (shoutout to OChem 1) and I started the journey late compared to everyone else I talked to. I began comparing myself to others, some of them being people I didn’t even know. Hearing and seeing resumes of students/alumni really put me in a place where I was doubting everything. I looked back at the pieces of my resume that weren’t optometry-related and thought about why I didn’t use my time better to focus on my future.

Being active on the internet gave me the (wrong) idea that students in health care should have these absurdly high GPAs, beautiful test scores, and hundreds of shadowing hours. I would see people on Reddit threads and other platforms post these massive resumes asking the same questions I had but getting mixed answers. Seeing these people have doubts about themselves made me feel even worse about my own application. The act of comparing myself to others began to add so much more unnecessary stress during the application, the OAT, and even some of the undergraduate classes I was still taking.

If you’re feeling this at any point right now, please know it does get better. A big thing about getting over this mental hurdle is acknowledging that everyone’s road is different. Going to college as a first-generation student from a low-income family, I had to work multiple jobs and it had an impact on my performance academically. Luckily everywhere I went, schools acknowledged that you can only spread yourself so thin and that you have other responsibilities to maintain as an adult. It makes you human and is something that shouldn’t be looked down upon. There are more parts to the application than academics.

Another key thing is taking your time with the application. Being comfortable in the process is super important and is something I learned toward the end of mine. Don’t be afraid to take some breaks and take care of yourself. Schools want you to be the best version of yourself.

Don’t be afraid to indulge in your hobbies/interests because they’re not “optometry-related.” They are what make you, you! After I graduated, I took a gap year because I didn’t think I was ready yet, which turned out to be the best decision. If you feel like it can help you, it is always okay to ask SCCO faculty or even other doctors questions about anything regarding your future. You should never feel like you’re alone because these people genuinely want to help you succeed in your dream. As scary as it all may be, your passion for the profession will show through your application and it won’t be ignored by any school, especially SCCO.

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