Potential Optometry Applicants for 2010

Hey man congratz, I also got an offer from Aston on the exact same day as you (couldn't post due to a ban). You gonna to their open day?

Is anybody that's applied to Bradford going to the Open Day on March 17th?

Is anybody that's applied to Bradford going to the Open Day on March 17th?

Is anybody that's applied to Bradford going to the Open Day on March 17th?

Nooo!! Thats just soo not fair

Im going on the 10th and i have no idea how i'll be getting there and more importantly i don't know a single soul thats going then too!

Is anyone doing A2 biology and studying the eye and the smelly welly rod and cone cells??!

Im having multiple heart attacks since i m struggling to grasp any of it...if i cant cope with learning about the eye at A-level how on earth will i cope at degree level.

Any help on this topic would be greatly appreciated

Don't worry I don't anyone either. Should be fun nonetheless.

I did that module last year. The eye is not hard at all. You just have to go through the textbook really slowly. The eye and the nervous system are like the respiration and photosynthesis of the previous module. The first thing is to just learn a bunch of definitions of what each bit actually does and where to label it if they gave you a diagram. Then you have to learn difference between rods and cones and the cells attached to each and the arrangement of them. You have to know why you have a blind spot and also acuity between rods and cones and some other stuff. I kind of forgot bits of it. lol. If I see it again I'll remember it because I understood it and never learnt it off by heart. If you go through it slowly then you will be fine. Make sure you understand it and do not try to learning it off by heart because chances are that if you get a question on it, they will give you and unfamiliar situation so if you know your things off by heat you may get confused as to what to put down.

Aww thanks for the tips on how to tackle this topic...think i may just have to learn the definitions first like u said. If this topics anything to go by i think i wll be very much struggling at uni, and heres me thinking i was pretty good at biology

Have u applied for Manchester uni?? I have an interview on the 3rd of March nd im officialy shaking in my boots!! Im not entirely show what they're going to throw my way, think i'l just be blagging my way through lol.

Aww thanks for the tips on how to tackle this topic...think i may just have to learn the definitions first like u said. If this topics anything to go by i think i wll be very much struggling at uni, and heres me thinking i was pretty good at biology

Have u applied for Manchester uni?? I have an interview on the 3rd of March nd im officialy shaking in my boots!! Im not entirely show what they're going to throw my way, think i'l just be blagging my way through lol.

Are you doing AQA bio? I'm doing that eye stuff this year too, I found it hard at first too, but after memorising the structure of that cone cell stuff and doing a few summary questions on it, I'm fine with it now. We all have weak points in bio so don't worry about it lol.

Good luck with your interview, dunno if it helps for this year, but my cousin goes to Manchester for optometry and when it came to his interview (last year) they just asked the basic, common questions (why optom, why manchester etc.), some stuff about his personal statement but no complicated questions.

One of the things I found about Biology is that you may know everything but until you are able to do the exam papers, in everyone's eyes, you know nothing. It is probably why everyone was complaining about the module 4 exam in one of the specs this year. Biology exams have always been like that. Ours were the same. When you see the questions, you think to yourself when was I ever taught this. Personally, I don't like the way I am tested but I guess in this world you have to conform to succeed.

I didn't to apply Manchester because I ran out of choices plus they want AAB in one sitting and I got ABB but I'm sure I would have got an offer because I had other circumstances. I know a few people who went to the interview. They said it was really an informal chat. You probably would be asking most of the questions yourself. I think they will give you a tour of the place.

Just to be on the safe side though, think about questions like:

Why Optometry?
Why Manchester?
Why Optometry out of all the other possible health care courses?
Work experience?
How do you relax yourself from study? Activities?
What is the difference between orthoptics and optometry?
What is the difference between an ophthalmic optician and a dispensing optician? Which one will this degree lead towards?
I very highly doubt they will ask you all this but failing to prepare is preparing to fail. That is the way I see it.

Wish you the best of luck!

Yep doing AQA biology...i think its THE most hated exam board since the january exams and i can see why lol..

I know this will sound crazy since i REALLY wanna do optom but i really don't know where to start when they say why optom...i have like a million reasons buzzing thru my head but can't pick out wht on earth to say!!

Goodluck with you interviews too (thats if you have any )

Optometry was one of those choices I thought, ach Who cares if i get rejected I'll just put it down for the sake of a 5th choice . I got an unexpected conditional offer, so how do i know if it would be right for me. Or should I just go for my primary courses which are Pharmacy and Chemistry respectively as firm and insurance.

I got an unexpected conditional offer, so how do i know if it would be right for me.

Could you get some work experience? Try contacting all your local opticians and hospital(s) nearby, asking if you could shadow an optometrist for a few days, so you can see what they do and then decide if you think you'd enjoy it or rather go for pharmacy/chemistry.

Im not sure if this is only me, but i have tried to organise work exp at a hospital but they never seem to get back to you or put u on this never-ending waiting list??!!

Im not sure if this is only me, but i have tried to organise work exp at a hospital but they never seem to get back to you or put u on this never-ending waiting list??!!

I have no experience of it, it was just a suggestion to try everywhere. Your version sounds like something a hospital might do...