Doom and gloom about optometry

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Joined: 3 Jul 2010
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14 Feb 2016, 12:42 am

I think I should stop reading the optometry school forums. I keep reading that optometry is dead. That's pretty depressing. Maybe it's because people going into optometry don't care about eyes as much as I do. I really hope so. I'm also in Canada and most of those people are American.

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cathylynn
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14 Feb 2016, 12:52 am

in the US, optometry is thriving. opthalmologists aren't paid by insurance to do refraction. optometrists are.

DevilKisses
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14 Feb 2016, 12:56 am

cathylynn wrote:

in the US, optometry is thriving. opthalmologists aren't paid by insurance to do refraction. optometrists are.

I'm Canadian.

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kraftiekortie
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16 Feb 2016, 9:55 am

It's probably very similar in Canada.

Have you noticed how many people wear glasses?

arkatron
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16 Feb 2016, 10:36 pm

I've never thought of optometry as a dying field. I don't know how different Canada is, but in the US optometry is growing fast (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Healthcare/Optometrists.htm).

Just an idea, but I have noticed that professionals with an OD degree also do research in the vision sciences and teach at universities, so that's also an option if you like research or teaching. I don't know if you've seen them, but there are also combined OD/PHD programs.

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DevilKisses
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19 Feb 2016, 12:50 pm

arkatron wrote:

I like the idea of having a PHD, but I think the OD program has enough work load on its own.

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arkatron
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22 Feb 2016, 1:17 am

DevilKisses wrote:

I like the idea of having a PHD, but I think the OD program has enough work load on its own.

Understandable. However, the combined OD/PHD typically consists of something like 2 years in OD school, a break of about 3-4 years doing research, then 2 final years working on the OD again. It would take longer, but the workload would be reasonable throughout.

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DevilKisses
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22 Feb 2016, 4:35 am

arkatron wrote:

DevilKisses wrote:

I like the idea of having a PHD, but I think the OD program has enough work load on its own.

I'm not sure if it works like that at Waterloo or Oregon. I'll see how much I enjoy research during my undergrad.

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