When people think about grad school, one of the first things that crosses their minds (or at least mine) is whether or not we’re ready both academically and mentally. When considering the timeline of school, I went in with the thought that optometry school would be this 4-year gap in my early 20s where I would be doing nothing but studying and studying and studying. I had a mindset that life would begin once school is over, and that the 4 years in school would be nothing but a worthwhile sacrifice to achieve my goal of becoming an optometrist - just a means to an end.
Little did I know how wrong I was. Don’t get me wrong - there are many hours of tests, studying, and practicing clinical skills. That was expected. If we hope to become the best providers that we can to serve our patients, we have to put in the work. But by no means has optometry school been that blank 4-year gap of nothing but studying that I was expecting. I would argue that life really began when optometry school started.
This past year has been so much more than keeping my nose down in a textbook. Just because optometry school is undoubtedly a lot of work, and a lot of time is spent studying, does not mean that optometry school marks the end of who you are and what you enjoyed doing before school. If anything, I would argue that optometry school has become a bridge between the things that I enjoyed before school, and either similar optometry-related activities, or classmates that enjoy the same things.
For example, I have always had a passion for community service. I’ve had opportunities to do it throughout high school and college, but thought that I would have to take a break for school. I was wrong about that, too - there have been multiple community service opportunities a month, local and abroad, to give back to your community and put the clinical skills you’ve learned so far into practice.
On the other hand, school has helped me connect with people who have similar interests in things that may not have an optometry-related counterpart. You realize pretty quickly that it isn’t too hard to find someone with similar interests as you. Even though everyone here is linked by a passion for the same profession, there is a huge variety of passions within your class, and the odds of you stumbling across someone who enjoys something that you do is pretty high. Even if there isn’t, people are pretty open to trying new things and sometimes you may even introduce them to a new hobby! I was worried that I’d lose all the things that I did in my free time, but I was super happy to find friends that I could do some of the things I enjoyed with. We’ve had the opportunity to do anything from just working out, to weekend trips, to going to concerts together, which I never in a million years thought I would have the time to do during school.
My point from all this is that school has been a lot of work, but has also been some of the most fun I’ve ever had. What has surprised me most about optometry school is how you’re able to keep doing and even expand on your hobbies and passions you had before school. Sure, grad school is very, very different from undergrad, but the platform for you to continue to pursue your passions is in place, whether that is through clubs on campus, or connecting with your classmates. Optometry school absolutely follows the “you get out what you put in” rule. There is nothing wrong with going in, getting your degree, and getting out. But just know that if you ever change your mind, your classmates, your faculty, and the rest of your school community are waiting for you, ready to make these 4 years some of the most memorable years of your life.
