The Student Room Group
Reply 1
sikhklutz
Hey all....I'm doin my AS levels at the moment, but i want to focus on which coureer path i should stick too. I got the right subjects for both coureer paths. I need basically the same grades for both courses and I'm hearing there's lodsa $$ to be made in dentistry. But what's the future like for Optometry? What will there be more demand for in 5-6 years time?
? :frown: ?


It is difficult to predict - the safe option is dentistry - there is a constant demand for dentists, its not like one year everyone will stop having teeth problems.

Optometry is growing. Especially you know this new lazer eye treatment which the demand is increaseing rapidly, and could be a big thing in the future, and other eye technologies as well.
Reply 2
sikhklutz
Hey all....I'm doin my AS levels at the moment, but i want to focus on which coureer path i should stick too. I got the right subjects for both coureer paths. I need basically the same grades for both courses and I'm hearing there's lodsa $$ to be made in dentistry. But what's the future like for Optometry? What will there be more demand for in 5-6 years time?
? :frown: ?


I work in an opticians and I assure you that optometrists are very well paid (my co-workers cars and houses will vouch for this)!!! As for universities, I think that UMIST is meant to be the best at the moment although Glasgow and Aston are close behind!!! Can really help with dentistry but I would not pick it based on the money you can make doing it. At the end of the day I think it comes down to which one (if either) you would like to do the most!!!
Reply 3
TheWolf
It is difficult to predict - the safe option is dentistry - there is a constant demand for dentists, its not like one year everyone will stop having teeth problems.


Same principle for optometry (people aren't suddenly going to develop perfect eye-sight)!!!
Reply 4
sikhklutz
Hey all....I'm doin my AS levels at the moment, but i want to focus on which coureer path i should stick too. I got the right subjects for both coureer paths. I need basically the same grades for both courses and I'm hearing there's lodsa $$ to be made in dentistry. But what's the future like for Optometry? What will there be more demand for in 5-6 years time?
? :frown: ?



Both similar, for people that lack the ability or the determination to do a certain other science based course which happens to last a similar number of years :smile:
Reply 5
Leekey
I work in an opticians and I assure you that optometrists are very well paid (my co-workers cars and houses will vouch for this)!!! As for universities, I think that UMIST is meant to be the best at the moment although Glasgow and Aston are close behind!!! Can really help with dentistry but I would not pick it based on the money you can make doing it. At the end of the day I think it comes down to which one (if either) you would like to do the most!!!


I understand Aston is the place to be for Optometry.
Reply 6
sikhklutz
Hey all....I'm doin my AS levels at the moment, but i want to focus on which coureer path i should stick too. I got the right subjects for both coureer paths. I need basically the same grades for both courses and I'm hearing there's lodsa $$ to be made in dentistry. But what's the future like for Optometry? What will there be more demand for in 5-6 years time?
? :frown: ?


Depends... Optometry = money, but unless you go start your own partnership you're going to spend a lot of your time working in the High Street opticians such as D&A, Specsavers etc unless you go into research. Optometry is VERY competitive - there's only 7 or 8 Unis in the UK that offer the course. The top places such as Aston are after AAB at A2 or thereabouts. I don't actually do Optometry/have applied for it, but at my Sheffield Orthoptics course they were lecturing us about the difference between Orthoptics and Optometry :wink: There are some hospital jobs available for Optometry but the general place after graduation is the High Street or private practice. If you do want to go into Optometry then apply for a job at one of the High Street opticians - you'll learn the meanings of all the prescriptions and it's good to have some background knowledge for interview, plus there's the possibility of being allowed to work in the lab making the lenses which equals even more experience!

If you're after the hospital setting rather than a career in the High Street or research, I recommend the Orthoptics course *plug* :wink: There's only two Unis offering it but they have a low ratio of applicants (thus more likely to get a place) and you get to work with children and adults and do similar sorts of eye tests to those done down at the opticians e.g. Snellen letter charts. The main difference between Orthoptics and Optometry is that with Orthoptics you can't prescribe spectacles as treatment (but you can recommend them, as well as surgery which is much cooler :P). But with Orthoptics you don't have to do a pre-registration year and you get to go on clinical placements in hospitals all over the country (accomodation paid!). If you want more info about that pm me or summat :smile:

Optometry as a career is probably less demanding than Dentistry, though I can't say for sure. Though IMO peering into eyes is a lot more palatable than peering into mouths! :wink:
Reply 7
madmazda86
If you do want to go into Optometry then apply for a job at one of the High Street opticians - you'll learn the meanings of all the prescriptions and it's good to have some background knowledge for interview, plus there's the possibility of being allowed to work in the lab making the lenses which equals even more experience!


Thats it get the thread starter after my job!!! :biggrin:
Reply 8
J.S.
Both similar, for people that lack the ability or the determination to do a certain other science based course which happens to last a similar number of years :smile:


Objection! :wink: I don't see the point in doing a 5 year Medical degree and then spending another 2-3 years working in the NHS to specialise in eye treatment when I can just as easily do a 3 year degree and end up in exactly the same place, plus there's plenty of post-grad courses available in Opthalmology. Not all Optometrists/Dentists are Medicine rejects :tongue: Admittedly the Orthoptics and Optometry courses can be abused in this manner - for Orthoptics there was something like 60 applicants (both Unis combined) and by the third year there were only 30 left - 50% dropout rate is atrocious!

It's not a question of lacking the ability or determination, it's having the sense to apply for a course that takes you straight to where you want to go rather than spending an extra two years studying other subjects that you have no desire to practice. Optometry isn't inferior to Medicine in any way - if that's your interest area, why waste time studying how to treat neurological disorders if you're never going to use the knowledge? Optometry has similar entry grades to Medicine and is definitely not a 'second-best' unless viewed as such by rejected applicants from that certain other science based course.
Reply 9
Leekey
Thats it get the thread starter after my job!!! :biggrin:


No, I'm after your job! :wink: I saw an advert for a lab assistant in the window of my local Specsavers and rushed in there, but the position had already been filled. Though having had to stand behind a woman tearing strips off the receptionist because the woman's glasses weren't ready in time for her to go on holiday had kind of put me off the idea - plus the last time I was in there an engineer walked past brandishing a hacksaw to attack the broken lock that was trapping the head optometrist in the testing room! :wink:
Reply 10
madmazda86
No, I'm after your job! :wink: I saw an advert for a lab assistant in the window of my local Specsavers and rushed in there, but the position had already been filled. Though having had to stand behind a woman tearing strips off the receptionist because the woman's glasses weren't ready in time for her to go on holiday had kind of put me off the idea - plus the last time I was in there an engineer walked past brandishing a hacksaw to attack the broken lock that was trapping the head optometrist in the testing room! :wink:


I've been trained to spit whenever that "S-word" is used, I'm going to assume that you can guess who I work for!!! :wink:
Leekey
I've been trained to spit whenever that "S-word" is used, I'm going to assume that you can guess who I work for!!! :wink:


Heehee! I can't guess, but I can narrow it down - D&A's, or Boots, or some other one I can't remember off the top of my head? :tongue:
Reply 12
sikhklutz
Hey all....I'm doin my AS levels at the moment, but i want to focus on which coureer path i should stick too. I got the right subjects for both coureer paths. I need basically the same grades for both courses and I'm hearing there's lodsa $$ to be made in dentistry. But what's the future like for Optometry? What will there be more demand for in 5-6 years time?
? :frown: ?



I wreckon first you should concentrate on learning to spell, 'coureer' its spelt career. Just helping (",)