Not many people take the time to seriously ask themselves “Where do I see myself in the future?” but as I am writing this essay, I am asking myself that very question, and my answer is that I see myself as an optometrist. However I did not begin to seriously consider it as a career choice until my mother was diagnosed with Graves disease. During an eye exam, the optometrist had noticed that my mother’s eyes were bulging out, exophthalmos, which is a symptom of an overactive thyroid gland. The optometrist was able to diagnose my mother with Graves disease just by looking at the health of her eyes and it was this incident that sparked my interest in the field of optometry and my desire to become an optometrist. This incident opened up my eyes to the expanding field of optometry where optometrists are now not only diagnosing diseases of the eye, but also diagnosing systemic diseases that affect the health of the eye. I have found vision science to be an area where both my intellectual and societal interests overlap, and I have pursued my education along the pre-med academic route. I received a full Presidential Scholarship to Saint Joseph’s College based on my academics and continued my academic career as a Biology major with a minor in adolescent education. I remember one of my first dissections as a biology major involved dissecting a cow eye and comparing it to that of a human eye. I was extremely intrigued at how this little ball was capable of processing the multiple of constant outside information and producing images. My fascination with vision grew when I studied psychology and found out that much of our learning comes from visual pathways. When children are not prescribed the proper corrective lens to enhance their vision, their learning processes can be hindered, especially in less fortunate communities where resources are limited. If something as fundamental as vision can be helped, I want to train and develop skills