A series of articles written by SCCO Student Ambassadors.

What Surprised Me (in a Good Way) About My 1st Year of Optometry School

by SCCO Student Ambassador, Bianca Gonzalez

It is hard to know what to expect from optometry school. We all have questions and try to compare it to past experiences. However, I have come to the realization that optometry school feels like a restart in the best way possible. You get to decide the kind of legacy that you want to leave on campus, but also the kind of doctor you will be in the future.

There are many different aspects of optometry that you can be involved in, and at the end of the day, it will be what you decide to make of it. Maybe there was something that you wanted to be involved in during your undergrad, but felt like you couldn’t make time for it. Now is the time. You can decide if you want to use your gifts to serve others in the community by volunteering or you might feel passionate about the profession of optometry and want to advocate for it. Whatever you decide, it could alter your trajectory as a future doctor.

The campus community is another aspect where you begin to build a legacy of your choosing. The community is quaint and intimate, and you will decide the part(s) you play. You may choose to be a light in a place that is full of stress and worry. You may choose to be the one encouraging others before an exam. You may choose to be the one people admire for the hard work you put into studying. You and your peers will go through similar hardships, and you can decide the impact you will have on your experience and the experience of others. Optometry school is hard, but the attitude you have about it can cause a chain reaction with those around you.

Everything you are learning seems to have more of a purpose. When you’re learning about anatomy and diseases, you commit yourself to learning this information and the role it plays to improve and potentially save the lives of others. When you’re practicing clinical skills, you get this amazing realization that you will be performing them on real patients. You will give patients a better quality of life. Optometry school is rewarding to know that what you’re learning will allow you to better care for people. You realize that everything that you can commit to memory in school now will only make you a more successful doctor in the future.

I realized that being in optometry school in Southern California is such a gift. To have the passion, the intelligence, the financial means (thank you FAFSA), and the support to be here is truly not something everyone gets to experience. So, I hope that, if you are given the opportunity to restart in optometry school, you remember that starting from the beginning can lead to pretty extraordinary outcomes.

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