Earning my Degree by Imani

Earning my Degree by Imani - June 2013 Scholarship Essay

My major is Biology at the University of Miami and I am on the Pre-Optometry tract. I decided on optometry because of the National Student Leadership Conference I attended when the summer before my senior year in high school at the University of California, Berkeley. The conference concentrated on medicine and health care. One day, I learned all about the world of optometry. The rest of the students and I went to the optometry center at the university. The optometry students took pictures of our eyes and we got to see the detail in our eyes on a screen in the room. After that, we went to another building where one student from the university told us all the steps necessary to become an optometrist and the benefits of studying optometry. I have always liked the eyes and found them interesting, so when I learned more about optometry and the benefits of studying it, I decided that that was the field I wanted to study. Plus, I have been to the optometrist several times because I have worn glasses since I was in second grade and the office has never been overwhelmingly chaotic.
            I haven’t decided if I want to be an optometrist or do a residency and become an ophthalmologist. Never the less, I plan on owning my own practice once I have finished my education. I want to help others with vision problems like me and worse than me, as I am very near-sighted. In my career as an optometrist or ophthalmologist, I want to be able to make the days of other people better. After people visit my office, I hope that they will want to come back because of the great service that my employees and I give. If I decided to become an ophthalmologist, then I will make sure that the people who come to me for surgery leave with better vision and more confidence in themselves.