<p>I can't spell this word...which is why I'm having trouble finding information. What is an eye doctor called properly spelled?
And how would I go about becoming an eye doctor?
Just exploring careers :)</p>
<ol>
<li>Undergraduate</li>
<li>Medical school</li>
<li>Residency in Ophthalmology (that's how I think it's spelled)</li>
</ol>
<p>Ophthalmologists are also considered general surgeons, so it's going to take a couple of years to do extra general surgery courses</p>
<p>almost 10,000 posts??? HOLY $#*)%#@</p>
<p>Ophthalmologists are not general surgeons and do not complete a general surgery residency. Post graduate education comprises an intern year (as medicine, transitional or surgical intern) followed by a three year ophthalmology residency. Matching to ophthalmology programs occurs before the regular match for intern and other programs.</p>
<p>See the AAO page on "A Practical Guide to Ophthalmology as a Career Choice" at <a href="http://www.aao.org/careers/envision/index.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.aao.org/careers/envision/index.cfm</a></p>
<p>double penny is correct.</p>
<p>If you go through the matching process for ophth, you find out in janurary where you'll go, then match through regular match for the PGY-1 position - typically at the same or a nearby institution for the ophtha position.</p>
<p>What was said above is true if you wish to do surgery on the eyes. If you don't, you can go to optometry school instead of medical school. This will quallify you to perform eye exams, diagnose eye diseases, and prescribe medicines for the eyes. You would also provide all pre and post-operative care for laser surgery patients. The advantage of becoming an optometrist over an opthalmologist is that you don't have to go through any residency or fellowship. Optometry school is a four year school after your undergrad and is structured very similarly to medical school.</p>
<p>Does anyone know how optometry school compares to other health grad schools is selectivivty (med, pharm, chiropractic)</p>
<p>I can't speak for pharm or chiro, but I can say that it is a bit less selective to get into optometry school than it is to get into med school. There are, I believe, seventeen optometry schools, and all of them have an average accepted GPA of between 3.3 and 3.6. Many med schools have much higher averages than that. Also, several of the optometry schools accept more than half of their applicants. That being said, it is still competitive to get into optometry school and shouldn't be taken lightly.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if having a pre-optometry major is an advantage in admissions. Only a select few colleges have optometry majors and most of them, quite franky, suck. Would one be better going to a competative undergrad school without a pre-optometry major, majoring in something like chemistry, or go to a "bad" undergrad school where a "pre-optometry" major is offered.</p>
<p>^^^^^I believe that the undergraduate major is not much a revelant key factor as long as the required courses have been taken. Thus, it would be wiser to go to a undergraduate school that is a "good" college/university which has a reputation for its academics and GPA.</p>
<p>Is there some route you can take to avoid going to medical school?_but still get your degree?</p>
<p>still get your degree in what?</p>
<p>The only way you get an MD is to go to medical school.
The only way you get an OD is to go to optometry school.</p>
<p>If you want to go into ophthalmology, then you'll need to go to med school and complete a residency in ophthalmology.
If you want to go into optometry, then you go to optometry school.
Both professions deal with the eye, but each plays a slightly different role.
Yahoo</a>! Canada Answers - Opthamologist vs Optometrist for eye checkup and eyeglasses prescription? If you scroll down a bit, some of the posters there explain the difference fairly well.</p>