The following chart lists all members of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry in the United States. For all domestic optometric educational institutions, ASCO is the academic leadership organization committed to promoting, advancing and achieving excellence in optometric education. ASCO represents optometric education and has a goal of enhancing the efforts of each institution as it prepares “highly qualified graduates for entrance into the profession of optometry and serving the public’s eye and vision needs.”
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Are you looking to apply to optometry school? The choice of which school to attend can be difficult, but this chart’s aim is the help make the data gathering easier for you, the student. The following are factors that many pre-optometry students consider before applying to school:
- How close is it to home?
- How old is the institution? Does it have a history of being a leader in optometric medicine and education?
- What does the campus look like?
- Is the institution affiliated with an undergraduate institution, or is it a separate entity?
- What are the National Board pass rates (Parts I-III) on average for the students?
- Is the optometry program supported by other successful medical programs (MD/DO) at the school?
- What is the average student’s OAT score?
- What is the average student’s entering GPA?
- Where is the school located? Is it urban, suburban, or rural?
- What is the cost of attendance?
- What kind of students does the undergraduate institution attract? Are the graduate programs held to the same standards?
- What are the perks of attendance: Is there new equipment? Is there a combined OD/MS or OD/PhD program available?
- How comprehensive is the curriculum? Do labs and lectures cover the full scope of optometric medicine?
- Is the student population diverse? What percent of students are out-of-state/in-state?
* NOTE: The OAT is scored out of 400. *
Average national score for matriculating optometry students as of 2017 is 324.
