There is alot of people out there that want to be an optometrist so yes, I would say the competition is very very high. I work at an optometry and the optometrist there had a 3.6 GPA in college and attended the Optometry school in Fullerton, California. In my city almost every corner you can find an optometry. There is definitely a shift in interest in this field partly because you can be labeled a “doctor” without having to go to medical school. Another reason will be the high pay that Optometrists receive. Our optometrist receives an average of $200 a day, keeping in mind that he only works 4 hours a day. One patient we charge 35 for glasses exam and 55-105 for contact lenses exam. If we have an average of 10-15 patients a day, you do the math! He also mentioned that extra-curricular/work experience is not as important as your GPA or OAT score, so focus on your academics more than anything.