Which is better orthodontics or optometry or ophthalmology? (1 Viewer)

tiffx21

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Hi,
I'm just curious about which job is better in terms of studies and the lifestyle.

I'm thinking of doing dentistry and then do further studies into orthodontics or either studying optometry or ophthalmology. I find all three to be interesting in it own, in terms of the practical behind it, but I am still unsure of which to pursue as I'm stuck in the middle.
I want to pick one earlier so I can focus specific goals to help me to reach my career.

Any opinions?
 

A1P

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Hi,
I'm thinking of doing dentistry and then do further studies into orthodontics or either studying optometry or ophthalmology.
Ophthalmologist is a medical specialist requiring a Medicine degree first. Out of each year cohort of about 300,000 students only 3000 get to do medicine and from there only 30 get to do Ophthalmology. IOW you have about 1 in 10,000 chance to become one.

So be realistic, you choose now to focus on but will you get there. See if you can get into medicine or dentistry first and take it from there. If you can't then optometry is your next best choice.
 

blyatman

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It really depends what you want. Studying dentistry/medicine followed by specialising in a field can take a very long time. In contrast, optometry is a 5 year degree, and you can jump straight into your career as an optometrist - so optometry is pretty straight forward, and you just work retail hours, with decent pay. In contrast, the other fields will require a lot more studies, and may require you to work undesirable hours (e.g. early morning surgery for ophthalmology). However, the pay will obviously be a lot better.
 

sleekgeek

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if you want money but difficult studies then orthodontics/opthalmology
if you want easy study (its still hard) then optometry. you could open up some optom practices and if run well you could get a good lifestyle. very diffult.
 

fxjeep

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Do you have any information regarding the graduate optometry salary in 2019/2020?

Here are the search results I have found for 2011 - 2017:

1. Average salaries for optometry graduates were $70,000 in 2011, rising to $79,000 in 2012; before falling back to $70,000 in 2013 and in 2014.
2. 2016 graduate intake package in Australia ranges from a minimum of $75,000 for inner-Metro roles,
3. (posted in 2018) From last year's Melb graduates - spec savers offered graduates 70K+ super for Syd metro while 60k+ for Melb metro while OPS was 80k respectively. (confirmed by my partner who was a graduate)

I could not find any for 2019/2020.
 

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