By Harneil Aulakh
Optometry school is a four-year marathon, and the key to any marathon is to pace yourself. While completing optometry school may seem like a daunting challenge, the hardships also come with many fun memories. The key to a successful four years is remembering to maintain a healthy school-life balance.
Getting Involved Early (Undergrad)
If you are currently an undergrad, there are many benefits to getting involved early. Getting involved in a pre-optometry club (or any other club), shadowing your optometrist, and getting involved in extracurricular activities can help you start building the time management skills you will need in optometry school. Building this skill early is greatly beneficial, given that optometry school can have a lot of commitments with deadlines on top of all the assignments, labs, quizzes, and exams you must prepare for.
Getting Involved in Optometry School
Classes, labs, and clinics can take a lot out of you as a student. Using the time management skills built throughout your academic career, I would highly encourage you to get involved in various aspects of the student body within your optometry program. Join both optometry and non-optometry clubs! Clubs can be a wonderful way to get involved and can be a creative outlet for yourself. They can help you network with other optometrists and company reps within our profession. You could also join a club on campus that is not optometry-related to help get your mind off school. Attending club events can be a fun way to make new friends within the student body and can help you feel part of a community. Having a sense of community within optometry school can be crucial, as it can be an extremely hard four years, especially if you do it by yourself. It is also important not to overextend yourself, as this can cause burnout. You know yourself best! Try to get involved as much as you know you can handle.
Take Care of Your Mental and Physical Health
Something that every optometry student seems to forget about is sleep! It cannot be emphasized enough how important sleep is, not only for your education but also your overall health. It can be easy to get caught up in pulling all-nighters for the upcoming exam, but without a good night’s rest, all that studying could be for nothing. Going to the gym, meditating or doing yoga can be some simple ways to maintain a healthy school-life balance. Setting a goal for yourself to be active a couple of days of week is great for your mental and physical health. Personally, my friends and I like to hold each other accountable and ask each other to go to the gym to help motivate each other to get moving. Because we are always sitting for classes and studying, even one workout a week can have an enormous impact on your health! Another fun way to stay active is to have a recess! Yes, you read that right: RECESS! In between classes or during the breaks, my friends and I like to go outside and toss around a frisbee or a football just to keep ourselves active and fresh throughout the long day of classes!
Studying
Studying is something that most of us may dread, but who said studying can’t be fun? Making studying fun can be a creative way to get through certain class lectures you were dreading. Get together with friends and make a study group, make games out of studying like jeopardy and quiz each other. Studying does not have to be a boring task! There are so many ways to get creative and make studying an enjoyable experience.
Live Life
When in optometry school, it can be easy to forget you are more than a student. Being in a rigorous program does not mean you cannot enjoy life. Finding some free time may seem next to impossible, but when it comes around you should do the things you enjoy, like going for a movie, going to a concert, reading a book, trying new recipes or going to a new restaurant. Doing things you love will help you stay grounded and give you something to look forward to throughout the week. Taking time for yourself is so important for your school-life balance so you do not burn yourself out! In the moment, it may seem like you do not have time to do the things you enjoy, but as a third-year student I cannot emphasize enough that you really do have the time. There have been moments where I have felt guilty for doing things I love and thinking I should be studying instead. Afterward, I would look back and think that I am so thankful I took that time out for myself.
Balance
Never forget that you are a person who has a life outside of textbooks and the clinic. Maintaining a healthy school-life balance will be one of the keys to surviving the four years of optometry school. Build those time-management skills early by getting involved with clubs on campus in your undergraduate program and then carry that over to optometry school and get involved with organizations such as the AOSA! Make sure you take care of your mental and physical health by getting proper sleep, eating healthy, and working out or meditating. Making studying fun can also help in maintaining the balance you need. Lastly, just live life. You are more than a student and you have worked hard to make it to this point in life, and you deserve to live life and do the things you love!
Getting Involved Early (Undergrad)
If you are currently in undergrad, there are many benefits to getting involved early. Getting involved in pre-optometry club (or any other club), shadowing your optometrist and getting involved in extracurricular activities, can help you start building the time management skills you will need in optometry school. Building this skill early is greatly beneficial given that optometry school can have a lot of commitments with deadlines on top of all the assignments, labs, quizzes and exams you must prepare for.
Getting Involved in Optometry School
Classes, labs and clinic can take a lot out of you as a student. Using the time management skills you have built throughout your academic career; I would highly encourage you to get involved in various aspects of the student body within your optometry program. Join both optometry and non-optometry clubs! Clubs can be a wonderful way to get involved and can be a creative outlet for yourself. They can help you network with other optometrists and company reps within our profession. You could also join a club on campus that is not optometry-related to help get your mind off school. Attending club events can be a fun way to make new friends within the student body and can help you feel part of a community. Having a sense of community within optometry school can be crucial as it can be an extremely hard four years, especially if you do it by yourself. It is also important to not overextend yourself as this can cause burnout. You know yourself best! Try and get involved as much as you know you can handle.
Take Care of Your Mental and Physical Health
Something that every optometry student seems to forget about is sleep! It cannot be emphasized enough how important sleep is, not only for your education but also your overall health. It can be easy to get caught up in pulling all-nighters for the upcoming exam, but without a good night’s rest, all that studying could be for nothing. Going to the gym, meditating or doing yoga can be some simple ways to maintain a healthy school-life balance. Setting a goal for yourself to be active a couple of days of week is great for your mental and physical health. Personally, my friends and I like to hold each other accountable and ask each other to go to the gym to help motivate each other to get moving. Because we are always sitting for classes and studying, even one workout a week can have an enormous impact on your health! Another fun way to stay active is to have a recess! Yes, you read that right: RECESS! In between classes or during the breaks, my friends and I like to go outside and toss around a frisbee or a football just to keep ourselves active and fresh throughout the long day of classes!
Studying
Studying is something that most of us may dread, but who said studying can’t be fun? Making studying fun can be a creative way to get through certain class lectures you were dreading. Get together with friends and make a study group, make games out of studying like jeopardy and quiz each other. Studying does not have to be a boring task! There are so many ways to get creative and make studying an enjoyable experience.
Live Life
When in optometry school, it can be easy to forget you are more than a student. Being in a rigorous program does not mean you cannot enjoy life. Finding some free time may seem next to impossible, but when it comes around you should do the things you enjoy, like going for a movie, going to a concert, reading a book, trying new recipes or going to a new restaurant. Doing things you love will help you stay grounded and give you something to look forward to throughout the week. Taking time for yourself is so important for your school-life balance so you do not burn yourself out! In the moment, it may seem like you do not have time to do the things you enjoy, but as a third-year student I cannot emphasize enough that you really do have the time. There have been moments where I have felt guilty for doing things I love and thinking I should be studying instead. Afterward, I would look back and think that I am so thankful I took that time out for myself.
Balance
Never forget that you are a person who has a life outside of textbooks and the clinic. Maintaining a healthy school-life balance will be one of the keys to surviving the four years of optometry school. Build those time-management skills early by getting involved with clubs on campus in your undergraduate program and then carry that over to optometry school and get involved with organizations such as the AOSA! Make sure you take care of your mental and physical health by getting proper sleep, eating healthy, and working out or meditating. Making studying fun can also help in maintaining the balance you need. Lastly, just live life. You are more than a student and you have worked hard to make it to this point in life, and you deserve to live life and do the things you love!
