The Illinois College of Optometry Student Blog

The past five weeks have zoomed by and I am loving the change in pace. Gone are the days of classes, homework, and tests. From morning to evening for five days a week, I’m a clinician tasting what real life could be like in one of many clinical settings. My clinical rotation site this summer is Visionary Eye Care, a private practice with two locations – one in Andersonville and the other in the South Loop. My time at the practice is spent doing routine eye exams, contact lens

As a prospective student, I was always curious to know how externship selection worked. All my life, the best everything was awarded to those with the highest grades (or “marks,” for my fellow Canadians) or standardized test score. Personally, I think they deserve it. I expected externships to be no different–students would be ranked by their GPA, clinical skills, perhaps leadership involvement, and then allowed to select accordingly. The top-ranked students would get to choo

When you see license plates from Oregon, Texas, and British Columbia on Indiana Avenue on a hot August day, it can only mean one thing: it’s Move-In Day at ICO. Now that I am far removed from moving in, I can look back on the beginnings of ICO with fondness, instead of what it actually was. (insert “Jaws” music) The first few weeks of ICO are fun and games until someone pokes an eye out. Luckily, we have all chosen a profession where eyes falling out are child’s play. A secon

I had an amazing time coming back to ICO as a fourth year this past quarter. The air seemed thick with respect for this impending doctor. I definitely noticed a kind of camaraderie between my class and the faculty that just further reinforced the awesomeness of fourth year. I grew even closer, if possible, to my class as well. And fall quarter’s got all kinds of fun school events that trump other quarters in my opinion (the picture above is from ICOlympics). But as I was gett

If you’re reading this, you’re probably doing so because you’re interested in my life. I don’t blame you. My life is pretty amazing. As a fourth year, I gotta say that this… year… ROCKS!! We are in a strange transition period where we no longer have responsibilities as students, and yet we don’t quite have the responsibilities as doctors. In other words, my life has been chock-full of excellence including “Gangnam Style” dance moves, endless hours of TV both good and bad, eat