The Illinois College of Optometry Student Blog

The third year at the Illinois College of Optometry comes with a lot of changes to student life. As we shuffle from class to clinic with lab in between, we often forget the optometric steps ahead of us. These steps I’m referring to are the long-awaited, reverently desired externship sites for our fourth year. Externship sites are where ICO students enhance our clinical knowledge base. We work in different modes of practice for the duration of the year. ICO, on the quarter sys

I’m assigned four 45-minute vision therapy sessions with four different patients every Wednesday night. The best part about this shift is that unless a patient wishes to discontinue therapy, I pretty much get to see the same people every week. It’s an opportunity to get to know them, bond with them, encourage them and learn from them. I think the most unique experience I’ve had throughout my entire career at ICO happened with my 23-year-old vision therapy patient who needed s

As another academic year comes to a close, schedules for the first quarter of third year have been emailed out. Unlike the summer between first and second years, when students have the luxury of going home or taking exotic vacations, this summer will be a working one. My classmates and I will be attending class and we’ll also have three shifts in clinic, a continuation of the Patient Care Program we began this year. Our two Primary Care shifts will be similar to our experienc