My Optometry Career

As a child, I had many interests. My interests were mostly revolved around the arts and medical field. Most of my time spent were playing with fashion dolls, drawing, and acting like doctors with my cousins. The fashion dolls we played with were called Harumika. Harumika dolls are kits that contain pieces of fabric and a manikin which are used to design clothes. Other than the Harumika kits, I would sometimes sketch outfits when I doodle, which was when I knew I had an interest in fashion. When
my cousins and I are not playing with the fashion dolls, we would pretend to be doctors. I would always be an optometrist because I have always liked glasses. I thought glasses were super cool. Besides those activities, I would take part in dances on the weekends with people from a Eucharistic Youth group. The dances were performed during mass to show appreciation to the Virgin Mary or other special ceremonies. My interest in dancing started when I first watched America’s Best Dance Crew. I thought the dancers were very talented, and I wanted to be just like them. With that, I started to watch lots of dancing based videos online in my free time. With my interests in dance, eyewear, and fashion, my colleges would be the University of California-Irvine, the University of California-Berkeley, and the University of California-Davis.
The University of California-Irvine (UCI) is located in Irvine, California. Irvine has tons of majors that range from Aerospace Engineering to Dance to Pharmaceutical Sciences. This is a large school with an undergraduate population of 24,489 and an 87% graduation rate within 6 years. There is also a $23,428 average financial aid package. Admission requirements for this college is a grade point average of at least 3.75 and an essay. As for SAT, the range for critical reading is from 490-620, math is from 550-690, and writing is from 510-620. The ACT score ranges between 25 and 32. However, they do not require both SAT and ACT scores. Their annual tuition fee is $11,220.00 for on-campus or off-campus for in-state students. Dance is one of the available majors at the University of California-Irvine. Although this school is not an ideal school for dance, but many dance inspirations of mine graduated from this college. The career that comes out from this major would be a dancer or choreographer. A dancer would just dance with or without choreography while a choreographer teaches dance performances that they created. All dancers have different styles, so there are no rules in dance. There are no requirements for this job, besides creativity. The average pay for this job is $29,955-$44,851 depending on the area. The salary is not enough to survive in California. A choreographer or dancer is known to be an unstable job, so there is a high chance that this would not be a good choice for the main job but as a hobby or side job. Located in Berkeley is the University of California-Berkeley, a large college with a population of 27,126 undergraduates. There is a 91% graduation rate within 6 years and a $26,871 average financial aid package. The annual tuition fee for this college is $13,432 for an off and on-campus living. Requirements for entrance to this college consists of a grade point average of 3.85 and an essay, which most colleges requires. The SAT critical reading score ranges from 600-730 while the math score is between 630 and 760, and the writing score ranges from 610-740. ACT score ranges from 28-33. Berkeley offers as many majors and minors as UCI such as Anthropology or Toxicology.
The career I have chosen is optometry because I have always liked to help others and had an interest in glasses as a child, so I thought becoming an optometrist would be perfect.
The major required for this career is biology. Optometry requires many math and science courses. UC Berkeley has a grad school for optometry. Since UC Berkeley has a graduate school for the profession I want to pursue in, I thought UC Berkeley would be the right college to choose. There is a required licensed that one must have before practicing. One must also pass the national board examination and a state or regional examination. Once certified, the certificate must be renewed periodically. The salary for this job is about $101,483-$126,983, depending on the location. Optometrists prescribe and fit lenses to improve
vision. A large population of 27,728 undergraduates and an 83% graduation rate within 6 years is the University of California-Davis, located in Davis, California. UC Davis offers majors that range from Animal Biology to Theatre and Dance. There are a $21,420 average financial aid package and an annual tuition fee of $13,951 for an on and off-campus living. Entrance requirements are a grade point average of at least a 3.75, an essay, an SAT critical reading score between 520 and 650, an SAT math score ranged from 560-700, and an SAT writing score between 540 and 660. Also, if taken, an ACT score ranged from 25-31. Available as a major at the University of California-Davis is the major of design.
Though this major, I can achieve my dream of becoming a fashion designer. The approximate salary for a fashion designer in California is $39,799-$58,815. Of course, the salary would increase in big cities like New York. Becoming a fashion designer requires being in an associate degree program for 2 years and getting internships in the field. A bachelor’s degree is also required for this field. Fashion is a talent based job, which requires creativity and art skills. In the fashion industry, there are different positions as a fashion designer. One person may be the artist, who comes up with design, and another person would be the one actually making the
item.

With the college and career options, I chose, the most likely career I would end up pursuing is the optometry career because the career is stable and can benefit the world more. Also, I come from an Asian cultured family, who believes in getting a good job with high pay in order to have a good life is better than getting a job you like. However, in my case I do like the optometry occupation, so both my family and I would be happy. The other two careers would be something I would consider doing as a hobby or a side job. All of the colleges I chose are perfect because they have the majors needed to pursue the career I want and the area is very nice. Since all three universities are in California, the weather will be nice in the mornings which would help me get out of bed and be more active.