Why residency was the best thing I ever did for my career
I will tell you, though, my residency year was the most fun I’ve had as an optometrist. I worked the hardest and most hours I’ve ever worked in my life, but man, did it fly by. And when it was all over, I didn’t recognize the same young punk who started the residency.
When I was a student intern at ICO in Chicago, I spent the first half of my third clinical year thinking I wasn’t interested in doing a residency because I thought, “I don’t want to teach,” and, “I’m tired of being in school and I don’t want to spend a year getting paid next to nothing for something I will be qualified for when I graduate anyway.” I think if many
I will tell you, though, my residency year was the most fun I’ve had as an optometrist. I worked the hardest and most hours I’ve ever worked in my life, but man, did it fly by. And when it was all over, I didn’t recognize the same young punk who started the residency. My fellow residents and their family members became some of my closest friends and are still super dear to my heart to this day.
Residency material
You see, I almost wrote myself off as not being good enough to do a residency as a student. As a third-year, as far as I knew, I was an average clinician who did well in school but wasn’t “residency material” because I honestly didn’t even know what residency material looked like. That changed when two of my clinic attendings each told me why they thought I’d be a great candidate for residency and that they were hoping that I would seriously consider doing one. It was a huge compliment and honor to see these doctors who I respected and looked up to reach out to me on a personal level. It was truly humbling and shattered the low-level plans I had for myself after graduation. I am so happy and grateful they reached out to me in the way they did, as I know I would not be here at SCO without their encouragement.
Residency provided me a safety net for a new graduate to see crazy clinical cases, but also allowed me to bounce ideas off of my attendings/colleagues who undoubtedly are some of the brightest optometrists in our profession today. It was the perfect learning atmosphere in which I jumped in with both feet and never looked back. In fact, I think my residency coordinators would agree that I may have pushed myself almost a little too hard, and that some days I even beat them to the office! You see, although I didn’t make very much money doing it, I loved the experiences I gained and the friendships I made. In my mind, everything about residency was totally worth it professionally and personally.
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