Pupillary Pathways

As a student in optometry school, I was always curious to know what it would entail to have a particular job. I often tried to research online, but found that connecting with people who were a few years ahead of me in their careers was the most critical part of determining where I wanted to be after graduation.

Pre-optometry school, my exposure to the profession had only been private practice optometry and retail settings, as I had worked in both before beginning school. Throughout my professional training, I wondered why there were procedures I was seeing for the first time, despite having experience and being present in an optometry office working as a technician.

You’ve spent the past few months applying for residency programs, sending in all of your supporting documentation, traveling for interviews, and now comes the HARDEST part of the entire process: submitting your ORMatch Rank Order List!

This part of the process can be extremely stressful as it determines the next pathway that you will take in your optometric career. Where you end up for your residency year is a huge stepping stone that will help you determine where you want to practice, what type of setting you will practice in, and which specialty you will focus on within the profession.

‘Tis the season for all things residency! By this time, you have likely submitted all of your applications to optometry residency programs using the ORMatch Application Service. Now, the next couple of months are going to go by quickly with traveling for interviews, ranking your programs, and waiting for the Match results!

As you enter the final stretch of optometry school, many of you are likely weighing the pros and cons of applying for a residency program. Determining whether to spend an extra year of your life on more training is a huge decision and will probably be one of the most important ones you make in your optometric career. Here are the dates for 2020 you should know!

Ranking optometry residency programs can be an extremely stressful decision! The residency program that you end up participating in will help mold your future as an optometrist, so there is a lot to consider before the final submission of your rank order list. We’ve put together a few tips for you to seriously think about before you press that submit button!