Hi, I will be heading off to the University of North Dakota at the end of summer and had some questions regarding an Amblyopia SODA. My right eye is 20/25 or so but my left eye maxes out the charts that my eye doctor has. He says that my combined vision is at least 20/20, so it is not the actual SODA I am worried about.

So I know that a check flight is involved to get the SODA so I would assume that I would need to at least have a fair amount of experience, if not a PPL. Now I understand that you can get a PPL with a third class, and I know that while UND prefers a first or second class medical, I can technically get away with a third class for my student training. Now my question is, how do I go about actually getting the SODA? Should I talk to the AME when I go there to get a third class, or do I have to wait until I actually have the experience to take the SODA? Or, do I even need to do the SODA, or can I just get a waiver to begin with and not even have to deal with the SODA?