The Illinois College of Optometry Student Blog

During optometry school, I mostly have had to live off of my student loans. This money allows me to eat, pay rent, and get to ICO- you know, the necessities! But let’s face it, we are in Chicago. There is so much more to do and explore that can cost money. We definitely don’t want to take out more loans than necessary. Fortunately, there are many different work-study jobs that ICO provides. However, the times you are needed to work may not always correlate with your class and

It is my final year of optometry school and I’m a few short weeks away from graduation- pretty exciting! Many of my classmates are now thinking, “What comes next?” For me, the next step will be completing a residency. I am happy to say that I matched in a residency specializing in ocular disease, low vision rehabilitation, and traumatic brain injury. I can’t wait to start! Looking back, though, the application process was definitely a bit nerve-wracking. I, for sure, learned

“And now, here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery SJ is a first-year student here at ICO and such a hard worker. SJ came to the United States in 2006 from South Korea. Even though she moved around the country a lot thereafter, she calls Atlanta, Georgia home. Coming from a background of business, she discovered her love for optometry b

Does this sound familiar? You have to get good grades in high school so you can go to a good college. Then, you have to get good grades in college so you can get a job. Wait, scratch that. Now everybody is going to college, so you have to get good grades to get into a master’s or doctorate program. Then, you can get a career and be successful. That was my train of thought for a long time. As I was going along with “the plan,” I would often say or think, “I don’t really need t

What I have learned during my fourth year, while rotating with students from other optometry schools, is that ICO is one of the few schools that has a break week in between quarters. Break week even occurs during fourth year. While this may not seem like a lot while you are a student at ICO, especially if you have a mid-week clinic shift at the IEI, it is a perk. Many other schools only have a long weekend between their quarter breaks. Graduate school is very demanding and ca