Starting Your Own Dentistry or Optometry Practice

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Starting Your Own Dentistry or Optometry Practice

Unlike many careers, dentistry and optometry offer considerable flexibility for the practitioner to go solo or join a family practice. Owning your own practice offers independence and greater financial rewards. But the effort comes with considerable responsibilities that drastically change the career experience - budgeting, client development, facilities and equipment leasing. The skill set can get even more harrowing if you decide to purchase an existing practice - how do you value the practice? how do you protect yourself from liabilities of the existing practice?

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iHireOptometry

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iHireOptometry

What it is:  iHire is an industry-focused job search resource that allows users to screen selections according to specialty, e.g., optometrist, location, and marketable skill.

Why it Matters to You: iHire lists the top ten optometry schools in the United States based on the percentage of program students passing their optometry board exams.

Considerations:  In relying solely on boards pass rate to determine top optometry programs, iHire admittedly oversimplifies what determines student success and, perhaps more importantly, what makes a good practitioner. Factors such as faculty, almuni network, and diversity of course offerings, all contribute to making a well-rounded graduate.

Created By:  iHire

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Think Twice about Working for These Dentists and Optometrists

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Think Twice about Working for These Dentists and Optometrists

Every state has some regulatory body that oversees dentists and optometrists, imposing fines and penalty where warranted. Much of that disciplinary action is transparent and easily accessible.

Below we provide some links to sample regulatory bodies for a handful of states. We encourage you to identify through a simple Google search the regulatory organization of the state relevant to you and investigate any practitioner that you are interested in.

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Student Doctor Network (SDN)

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Student Doctor Network (SDN)

What it is: Student Doctor Network (SDN) is a non-profit created to help build a diverse doctor workforce by providing free advising resources and peer-support to “those who would otherwise not have access to such services.” SDN brings together thousands of current and future healthcare students and professionals into one community where they can share information, offer guidance, and provide encouragement to their peers and those coming up behind them. Its nearly 700,000 members spans from high school students to attending physicians.

Why it Matter to You: SDN ranks medical schools on a scale of 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best. It is not very clear how the ranking is determined, although it appears to be based on surveys submitted by website users. The ranking is searchable by SDN score; location; accepted MCAT (or PCAT for pharmacy applicants); accepted GPA

Considerations: SDN is a great resource to get “street level” intelligence on medical school admissions and student life. By reviewing a specific school profile, the user will be able to get detail on the school application process and interview, including specific questions that were asked during the interview and interview stress level.

Created By: Student Doctor Network (SDN)

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QS World University Rankings

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QS World University Rankings

What it is: QS World University Rankings is produced by Quacquarelli Symonds, a British company specializing in education. The ranking lists schools from throughout the world, enabling a comparison of U.S. schools to those abroad. It is the only international ranking to have received International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approval.

Why it Matter to You: Schools are ranked based on an overall score. The components of that score can be broken out by the user to enable an issue specific analysis. Those components include academic reputation; citations per faculty; and employer reputation. For each university listing, the user can view trend lines going back several years that provide insight to school progress.

Considerations:  Data sources from across the world are not necessarily uniform. This can impact the accuracy of the comparison analysis. Also, several of the score components are reputation-based which may or may not crossover to reputation in the United States. You need to research deeper the impact of a foreign-education on your marketability in the U.S.

Created By:  QS World University Rankings

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