Took 2 Gap Years, Applied Late in the Cycle, and Still Got Into My Dream School by SCCO Student Ambassador Gavin Jaime

My path to optometry definitely wasn’t perfect.

During my final year of undergrad, I thought that I would pursue a career as either becoming a RN or PA. This intention continued even after I graduated from UCSB.  I became a licensed EMT during my senior year and decided this should be my first job out of college. This plan would give me a chance to receive clinical hours as well as get a feel for what patient care is like in the hospital setting. After about 3 months of working with long 12-hour shifts, I realized that this type of work was exhausting and unfortunately for me, not fulfilling. This experience forced me reconsider what I wanted to do for a career.