Prospective PCO Students Tap into Optometry Learning Experience

The Pennsylvania College of Optometry (PCO) at Salus University’s annual Optometry Learning Experience (OLE) is both an academic and career-focused program established by PCO/Salus more than four decades ago. It offers participants the opportunity to investigate academic programming associated with pursuing a Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree as well as the profession of optometry and its many professional paths.

This year’s multi-day event was an interactive online experience that offered synchronous and asynchronous components to current undergraduate students and recent graduates who are considering applying to PCO/Salus. Like many aspiring optometry students who participate, Dormeshia Ward, a recent Seton Hall University graduate who earned her bachelor’s degree in social behavioral science with a minor in social work, left OLE feeling inspired with a heightened level of confidence in her plans for optometry school.

“I'm just so excited to start, I even thought about changing my plan around,” she said. “But I did speak to a graduate from PCO from the Class of 2015, and I spoke to her personally and she suggested that I take my time and pace myself. So, I'm going to stick to my plan, but I am so excited to hopefully be getting started at Salus.”

Ward plans to apply to start in the fall of 2023. She began working in the ophthalmology profession before college and recently received a promotion from her current technician role to special procedures technician at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Prior to the hospital, Ward also worked for a glaucoma specialist as well as an optometry practice. OLE helped her gain valuable insight from the perspectives of current PCO/Salus students.

“I really enjoyed the fact that we were able to get a one-on-one with the first-year students,” she said. “It all comes together with the way everything is paced, which I totally appreciated because all the information that I'm getting, for example, working at the hospital, can be very overwhelming. But the way the first-year students explained it, it's more like you learn things in moderation.”

While OLE is open to those who are interested in optometry, the program is also available to students who might be undecided about their career direction. Throughout the event, students had the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge about the various optometric pathways through interactions with faculty, staff, and current students. They also virtually toured the clinical skills lab and The Eye Institute (TEI), the program’s main clinical facility.

Nour Azzam, a current undergraduate at the University of North Carolina Greensboro anticipating graduation this May, also attended OLE this year. A biology major with a minor in chemistry, Azzam always knew she wanted to practice healthcare, but it wasn’t until she joined the pre-optometry club as a freshman at UNC Greensboro that the decision became easier to make. She’s now the president of the club with hopes of starting at PCO/Salus in fall 2023. After completing OLE, she reported back to her club members about the benefits of the program.

“I told them it's definitely a great opportunity,” she said. “The way you network, you can also find someone to shadow in your area. You can meet other students, hear what they're experiencing, make sure you like optometry, and talk to the faculty to see if this is your school, your program. I told them, you don't have to be very familiar with optometry, but you can still participate in the program.”

Other highlights from this year’s OLE included breakout sessions with other undergraduates preparing to take the optometry admission test (OAT) as well as current PCO/Salus students. Financial aid guidance and advice was also provided to assist prospective PCO/Salus students in planning their educational journeys to earning their doctorates.