Chapter 54

Year 3 was the first year you could apply into Optometry school and I was ready. My carefully and meticulously crafted schedule over the last 3 years has led me to this moment. I had all the prerequisite courses I needed, a reference from an Optometry clinic which I needed and, with the help of all the music courses, a competitive GPA on application (around 88% if you must know). 

Just to double check to make sure I had everything I needed, I also frequented the Tatham Center in third year university. This was the career preparation center where you can access all sorts of career-oriented tools and services such as mock interviews, seminars for resume building and guidance counselors. I went there for the interview practice and resume building mostly because in all honesty, they were only somewhat helpful for grad school applications. They were mostly oriented towards co-op program students who needed to interview for tech company jobs. Regardless, I prepared as much as I could and before I knew it, the application date for Optometry had come around. 

I put my best foot forward and applied. It was pretty simple in itself. Fill out an online form with some questions about experiences. After that was done, you were supposed to submit an official transcript. Since I was already a Waterloo student applying for the Waterloo’s Optometry program, this meant the admissions committee already had access to my transcript and therefore, didn’t require any further submissions. It was just a few simple clicks of the keyboard but I would be lying if it didn’t feel heavy regardless. 

After that, it was a long wait. Then, one day, a simple email, no more extraordinary than a spam email or a newsletter of sorts popped up in my mailbox. It was an invitation to the interview for the Optometry program. I was overjoyed. Step 1 completed! This was kind of a big deal. An interview meant that I had already gotten one foot into the door. Out of thousands of applicants to the program, only a hundred plus a few people were invited for interviews. The chances of getting into the program after getting an interview was very high. I just needed to beat out a few more people now. 

Unlike the other professional schools in Canada, Optometry had only 2 schools offering the program. Furthermore, the only other school that offered optometry was in Montreal and they only taught in french. I was not a fluent french speaker so that was not an option. This means that Waterloo’s program, which only had 90 seats a year, was the only one I could apply into. 

On the interview day, I woke up 5 hours before my interview and reviewed all my notes from the Tatum center. Then I got ready and put on my best suit. A little bit more grooming afterwards and then I met up with the girlfriend. You got to invite a few guests with you on interview day because after the interview, you got a tour of the school. Naturally, the girlfriend was my +1 to this event. 

When we got to the school, I went right into competition mode. I counted around just a little under 100 students or so for my section. Since there were around 2 sections, this meant around 200 optometry hopefuls. In other words, I estimated that there was a 45% chance I would get an acceptance on numbers alone. That was a good fighting chance. 

The fact that it was such a good fighting chance made me extremely nervous. To be honest, I never thought I would be standing in a position where I almost had a 50% chance of getting into the program of my dreams. While this was a huge deal, I understood that it was difficult for a 3rd year student to get in. The average student applicant in optometry is someone who was about to complete their undergraduate degree, aka a fourth year student. While I was glad my application got an interview, I knew I wasn’t that spectacular in comparison with the rest. But I was already extremely happy that I was even considered in my third year so wore that as a badge of honor.

That year, 2015, the interview progress was an MMI or a multiple mini interview. This meant that when the interview started, you got 30 seconds to read a prompt on a door that asked you some questions. After that, you were invited into a room and given around 5 minutes to answer the question. A lot of the questions were kind of silly, if I’m being honest. I got questions like “who do you look up to and why?” or “Are having pets a good thing?”. Somewhere down the line though, there was always the “Tell me about yourself” question. This was a classic and one for which I had an answer memorized for. What they were asking was to tell me about how you came to apply for this school and this career. I’ll spare you the details but my answer was very generic about helping people and wanting a career that focused on work life balance. A very truthful but generic answer. The cool thing about this is, even now, looking back. That would still be my answer. 

The MMI’s were fun and often kind of light hearted. The best part? If you screw up one, you still had 5 other interviews since there were 6 in total. While I wasn’t sure how much the interview actually directly affects how your admissions application was seen, I was still keen to not screw up. But despite all the practice I’ve done at the Tatum center previously and wanting this so much, I still feel like I kind of blew it. My answers felt nervous and not confident nor was I projecting any sort of deeper insight. I felt like I had held this interview in such high regard I’ve forgotten how to behave in a normal manner. Regardless, after it was all over, the girlfriend and I went on their tour of the school and though it was cool to see how the place was run, my mind was more focused on how I probably wouldn’t be getting in this year. 

In the months afterwards, I eagerly checked my email almost everyday with paranoid eyes. Did I make it? Was the grind finally over? The chances are not good but I was hoping that there might be a miracle. I wasn’t confident but was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Although I really enjoyed the balance I had in my life at the moment, I still didn’t like the uncertainty of my future career. If I don’t get into optometry, where would I even go?

As the next few weeks passed by, my eagerness to check my email started to calm down a bit. This was not because I had given up hope. I had simply found out that there were online forums talking about the application process. It was just a random forum made by someone who was applying into the Optometry program and it eased my mind up. The forum was very active and always seemed to feature information that only those who were there at the day of interview would know. Instead of checking my emails, I would be checking the forums. 

Sure enough. On one fateful day near the end of finals, the forums suddenly went quiet. I felt it then. People got their emails. While I still didn’t get the email, I went online to QUEST, the webpage we used to apply into the program. This page updates before the emails went out and as it turns out. I got some unsatisfying news. 

Rejected. 

Well, that was fun. I had thought this may happen. As I mentioned, usually you get in after you’re done with your undergrad and I was way in over my head. Furthermore, I felt like my interview went horribly. Despite all that, I was saddened by this outcome and sought comfort in the girlfriend and getting food with LP. I wasn’t deterred by this but it did take a small toll on me. In my mind, I was still on track to get where I needed to go. Afterall, I had made it to the interview process on my first try in third year, which was already quite outstanding by my books. I knew I had a chance, though I was also realistic about it all. As an undergrad veteran, I knew that if I don’t get into the program by next year, I would have nothing to do after graduation. A thought that kind of frightened me a bit. 

With that fear in mind, I continued on to the summer term. There was no time to take it easy and I was on a schedule. I had to take music courses if I wanted to complete that second major. Luckily for me, this coming term was when I would go on to take the first one-on-one music theory course for my second major. This and the fact that I was only taking some simple and easy science courses meant I was left with a lot of free time. 

It wouldn’t be all perfect though. Since the girlfriend was one year older than me, she would be graduating in the summer term. 

This summer term would be the last term we spend on campus together.