Abstract: Dr. Angelica Cifuentes, a Miami-based optometrist who graduated from Nova Southeastern University in 2022, shares practical advice for aspiring optometrists. Her main recommendations include: start shadowing early and consistently (at least three months with the same doctor), attend classes regularly to build professor relationships for recommendation letters, balance strong grades with meaningful extracurriculars, and keep detailed records of all activities for applications. She emphasizes that getting into optometry school requires more than just good grades; networking, commitment to the field through shadowing, and well-rounded applications are essential for standing out among hundreds of applicants.
Angelica Cifuentes, OD was born in Colombia and raised in Miami. She is a bilingual, licensed optometric physician in Miami, Florida. She graduated from Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry in May 2022, but has been active in the optometry field since she was 18 years old. She has done it all from front desk to optometrist and is passionate about helping pre-optometry students with their educational journey. She is active on Instagram @TinyOptometrist. Below is an excerpt of the Student Doctor Network interview with Dr. Cifuentes. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
When did you decide to become an optometrist?
Angelica Cifuentes, OD: So I think we all know that we usually start as a pre-med, right? So that was my case as well. I knew I wanted to be a doctor – I just didn’t know what type of doctor. And for a very long time, I thought was going to be a pediatric doctor, a pediatrician, until my little sister was born. At that point, I was like, yeah, definitely not.
So I was studying anatomy, and my brother thought that his contact lens had gone to the back of his eye. I searched up a few optometrists, and I found a really good one. I went with him (my brother), and I really liked how she managed the entire situation, and was able to give him a straight answer and calm him down in the spot. And he walked out. He came in completely worried and walked out fully happy. So at that point, I asked her if it could shadow her, and I did. I shadowed her for two years straight. I treated it as a job. I completely fell in love within the first week of shadowing her, just seeing every case, how different it is, and how people coming worried, and you’re able to able to help them right in the spot. So I enjoyed it very much. And then I decided to pursue Optometry.
Are you interested in a career in Optometry? Check out SDN’s comprehensive guide, “How to Get Into Optometry School” to learn what you need to do to succeed.
What helps build a relationship with professors in order to get recommendation letters? What are some extracurriculars that boost your application?
So definitely attend class. Believe it or not, professors really do see who’s in class and who’s not. And nowadays is it’s easier to say, forget it, I’ll watch it on replay if they record your classes. Or just be like, I’m not learning anything in class, I will do it by myself. That’s the typical college student. Or this class is more important than this one, so I’m not going to go to this one. I get it, but I think you should really try to go to class so they can physically see you, and then ask questions and be interested. I got my recommendations from my chemistry and biochemistry professors. They’re hard classes, so I did, in fact, go to their office hours, and not (only) because I want a letter from them, but because I actually needed help. So you build that relationship. Once they know that you’re interested and you’re really trying to do your best, and you get that connection, they’ll be more than happy to help you. You have to stand out between hundreds of students (that) will take the class. There’s (around) 200 people in your class. How do you stand out? So that’s why you have to be there. Show up, show interest. You know, obviously get a good grade in the class. Otherwise, (the professor) is gonna be like, “No, I’m not gonna write you a letter”.
As far as extracurricular activities – I was a non-traditional student, so I couldn’t do much. School wise, I was taking four to five classes every semester, and I was working 40 hours a week. So definitely, 10 out of 10 do not recommend doing that, because you do not sleep, and it was horrible. My personal extracurriculars were a very, very heavy case load of work experience. But I did do some (extracurriculars) like vision walks. I did volunteer (in) a home for the elderly. I tried to do other little things. But as far as I clubs are concerned. I wish I could have joined (in) undergrad. I did it in optometry school because I couldn’t join (in) undergrad.
But if you’re a regular, traditional student, I would highly recommend you join (what) normally universities have, an optometry club. A lot of times it’s not active. But now I’ve seen that optometry has been more around, people know more about (it) and they want to pursue it. So find out if there’s any pre-optometry clubs at university. Do community service. Shadow – big time. That helped me a lot my application. Shadow and be consistent. Don’t shadow one doctor here and one here. No, have some consistency, like at least three months consistently shadowing the same doctor. One, you build a relationship with that doctor, and that doctor can give you a letter (of) recommendation. And two, it shows that you are committed to doing something. You know, commitment goes a long way. So shadowing, club, doing volunteer work, and if you can work at a place, and that’ll be a plus, like during the summer or something.
What is the hardest part of becoming an optometrist?
I feel like getting your application together is what will set you apart. A lot of students just focus on grades, and grades are important, or my (OAT) score, and they’re so stressed out (with) all that they forget the other components of your application, like the extracurriculars. You can be the best student ever and have zero extracurriculars, and they’re going to be like, what happened? You know, vice versa. So I think a good balance between both of them will give you a higher chance to get in, don’t you? You could be a good student. You have to be an excellent (student) but you could be a good student (with) amazing extracurricular activities, and networking helps you tremendously. Knowing a lot of doctors, it shows that you’ve been interested in your career. (Pulling) that together brings you higher (as an) applicant, in my opinion, right? So I think the hardest part for for me personally, was getting all my pre-requirements done while also working, but everything pays off at the end. So just do your work. Get good grades in all your sciences, like all of the sciences, and then do well on the OAT. Don’t kill yourself. Just do well, apply, and you’ll get in.
What is the most rewarding aspect of being an optometrist?
I feel like getting that patient feedback in your chair is the best feeling ever. When you actually diagnose something, and you’re able to help them and treat them. It makes sense to them. That feedback that you get from them, it’s priceless, and it comes in different aspects, not only disease, because we get to treat some disease. So not only disease, but even the simplest thing, like a child that the mom doesn’t understand why they’re not getting good grades. And then the second they put that pair of glasses (on), and that alone, that (is) like, “Oh my God. Thank you. It’s all I needed.”
Honestly, it’s, it’s a great feeling. Or a patient who has a corneal ulcer, and you’re seeing them every day because you’re trying to make sure that that epithelium closes, and then when it’s finally the last day that everything’s healed, and you’re like, Okay, you’re done with the drugs, their face is like, thank you. Honestly, like to me, that’s everything.
For a freshman undergraduate at university wanting to become an optometrist: Where should they start? What should they do?
So I think you should start by selecting a major. It could be anything. The good thing is that you can graduate with any degree, as long as you have all your pre-requirements met, right? There’s, I believe, 21 Optometry schools in the entire United States, including Puerto Rico. So go through a few (websites). Start seeing where is it that you want to be. I know you are early on into your undergrad, but early is good. So look through them, see the pre-requirements. (The) majority have the same exact requirements. Make sure you meet those and that you get good grades in those classes.
Start shadowing an optometrist as soon as you can. You (can) truly find out if this is what you want to do. Then after that, just try to get into your volunteer work, throughout your entire years of university, try to build your extracurricular activities up. Don’t wait to the last minute, this is what I want to do, so I’m just going to do all of these things at once. No, because in your application, it will show that from four years ago you did this one (thing). So you build your way up. Get the good grades in your sciences, start making relationships with your professors. There’s classes like bio one, bio two, that most likely the same professor will teach, or chem one, chem two, biochem. There’s certain classes that you know you have to follow a sequence to and if you make a relationship with the professors that teach you the next semester, then there’s your letter (of) recommendation right there. And you were just doing your job. You were basically going to school and taking the class that you need to take. So just play smart. And if you already know that this is something you want to do, start shadowing to make sure, (to) solidify that this is what you want to do. And just start building up your application. Just start getting all those extracurricular activities done.
Basically start in filling out something to keep track. Keep track of what you’ve done, because you’re quick to forget the things you’ve done. Keep a little word document. This day I shadowed blah blah blah, and I did this, and I learned that, and this day I volunteer blah blah blah. Keep it like that. So when it comes to application time, you have that document ready, and all you have to do is copy paste and make it pretty. So do that and you’ll be great.
