A key component of your optometry school application is gaining a variety extracurricular experiences inside and outside of the field, as well as involved in your community. This experience is gained through shadowing, health care volunteering and/or patient care experiences, and community engagement. Explore the ways to get experience in and out of the field before you attend optometry school on this page.
Direct Patient Care Experience
Some applicants find it helpful to have some kind of direct patient care experience. For optometry, this can be in the form of optometric assistants or a paraoptometric assistant. These experiences can also open doors for shadowing opportunities or additional employment opportunities. Some schools may recommend or even require this experience; however, that is not the case for all schools. We encourage students to review admission websites for confirmation of requirements.
- Optometric Technician or Paraoptometric Assistant
- Learn more about Paraoptometric Assistants and Technicians from Optician Certification.
- ACC Continuing Education, Ophthalmic Assistant
- American Optometric Association, Paraoptometric Resources
- American Optometric Association, Paraoptometric Certification
Volunteering
Competitive applicants will have both health care related volunteering and general community engagement volunteering in their application. They both serve different purposes. Health care volunteering allows you to learn about the health care system as a whole and what it means to be a part of that system. Whether you are volunteering in a hospital gift shop supporting patient families or taking vitals at a walk-in clinic, these experiences are vital to understand the multiple roles that make up the health care system. General volunteering shows your dedication and involvement in your community, as health care professionals ultimately serve the community they work in.
Check out some of the opportunities below for recommendations to get started. This isn't an exhaustive list, and we encourage you to do your own research in your local community.
Healthcare Volunteering Opportunities
Healthcare volunteering opportunities do not have to be strictly related to optometrist duties or direct interactions with patients to be relevant. However, we do encourage finding those direct care experiences where you can, especially if you do not have direct care experience yet.
- Muscular Dystrophy Association
- Prevent Blindness, Texas
- Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
- American Cancer Society
- American Red Cross, Central and South Texas Region
- Any Baby Can
- Austin State Supported Living Center
- Austin Volunteer Healthcare Clinic
- C.D. Doyle Clinic
- CommUnity Care Services
- Project Transitions
- Texas Area Health Education Center - East
- Texas Department of Health and Human Services
- Vivent Health
Community Volunteering Resources
Austin Volunteering Opportunities
This is not an exhaustive list of opportunities in Austin. Please do additional research if there is a community or cause that you would like to support through your volunteering efforts.
- Volunteer Match - Volunteer Opportunity search function, filterable by location
- Do512 - Volunteering in Austin
- Austin Partners in Education
- Bastrop County Long Term Recovery Team
- Central Texas Food Bank
- El Buen Samaritano
- Habitat for Humanity (Austin)
- Inside Books Project