The Illinois College of Optometry Student Blog

When I began my applications to optometry school, I had concerns about the gap years I took between my undergraduate education and what would be the start of optometry school. Some of my apprehensions have been valid, while others haven’t affected me in the slightest. One of my fears was that I would feel an age gap between myself and my fellow classmates. Thankfully, this has not been a concern to me after starting at ICO. Not only are there many students in my shoes, but th

This past week, my fellow third years and I had a practical unlike any other. Usually, practicals are done by individual students and can feel stressful. This practical was in groups of five or six. It wasn’t very stressful, and our patients were children between the ages of 6 and 12. You may be wondering, “What is the big difference between doing VAs and normal tests on children versus adults?” but we were not practicing day-to-day tests on these kids. Instead, the tests wer