Orthoptics at Sheffield or Optometry at UWE?

Hi there, I have offers for both Orthoptics and optometry at Sheffield and UWE but not sure which to go for. Any advice would be appreciated!

Reply 1

UWE Official Rep

Official Rep

Original post

by marss:)

Hi there, I have offers for both Orthoptics and optometry at Sheffield and UWE but not sure which to go for. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hey @marss [s]smile[/s]

Congrats on your offers!

Something which could help you decide is researching which each profession does day-to-day to see if one resonates with you more. Prospects is a fab website for looking at job profiles. I have attached a link below:

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/optometrist
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles/orthoptist

If you haven’t already, try reaching out to current students or course teams at each uni to ask about placements, typical week structure and what they enjoy most about their programme as that can give you a clearer feel for what suits you best.

I would also advise looking at other things such as the city the university is in, as that will be your home for the coming years and it’s important you like where you live.

I wish you luck!

From Cara (2nd Year Marketing Student)

Reply 2

University of Sheffield Students

Official Rep

Original post

by marss:)

Hi there, I have offers for both Orthoptics and optometry at Sheffield and UWE but not sure which to go for. Any advice would be appreciated!

Hi!

Congratulations on your offers- what a huge achievement!

I can only comment from a Uni of Sheffield perspective, but Orthoptics here is well-enjoyed by the students on the course! It is a hands-on course with early patient exposure, where you can expect to spend 30 weeks on clinical placement throughout the degree. We have a fantastic 'Patients as Educators' programme here, used across the various Healthcare courses, where you get the chance to learn with patients before going on to clinical placement! There's more info about this here.

In Sixth Form I found it super helpful to chat to current students on my prospective course- and now Uni of Sheffield have made it even easier to do that using a chat function. If you type 'Orthoptics' into the search bar on this link you can speak to someone currently studying Orthoptics here at Sheffield to gain more of an insight into the course!🙂

The Orthoptics course page is helpful in outlining the course, but also has a video made by a current third year Orthoptics student, Maria, about her experience on placement which you may find useful!

In considering your options, you have to make the really tricky decision between two Universities as well as two courses. It's important to consider which course best suits you and your future career prospects, as well as which University and city you would feel most 'at home' in- after all, you will be spending at least 3 years studying there! I would recommend going to Offer Holder Open Days at both Universities to check out the city, the course, and the University facilities and accommodation. Attend course talks if you can, as you can get a true insight into the degree from the department, and usually, you get the chance to chat to a current student there to ask any questions you might have about the course/ their experience so far! Attending University Open Days really helped me to solidify which University and Course best suited me, so I would definitely recommend attending both if you can!🙂

Do you have any specific questions about Orthoptics or Uni of Sheffield more generally? Happy to chat everything student life if that's helpful!🤗

-Alicia, Final Year Medical Student + Intercalated BSc Medical Sciences Research

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