An optometry student adjusting a phoropter on a patient during an eye exam.

Doctor of Optometry Program

Ohio State is home to seven health science colleges where discovery and innovation happen every day. Students in our highly selective Doctor of Optometry program experience all the benefits of a small college within a large university - the best of both worlds. 

As an Ohio State Optometry student, you will learn from a group of highly qualified and passionate optometrists, whose primary goal is to provide top notch eye care to the world by training the finest optometrists in the world. You will experience every mode of practice just within our state of the art clinics and then delve further into specialty areas through our exceptional externship sites. 

With a focus on both clinical skills and research under one roof, you will receive a balanced, comprehensive optometric education that will allow you to pursue any career you want. With leadership development programs, one-on-one career and personal coaching, and a comprehensive practice management curriculum, you will find your best fit in the field of optometry and secure the tools to achieve your individual practice goals. 

Meanwhile, our small class sizes, allow you to develop strong personal relationships with your peers and faculty, enriching your student experience and later serving as the foundation of your life-long professional network. We invite you to explore these pages to find out more about how Ohio State Optometry can work for you.

Accreditation

The professional optometric degree program at the Ohio State University College of Optometry holds the status of “Accredited” from the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education (ACOE), 243 N. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO  63141—Telephone 314-991-4100.  The next evaluation visit is currently scheduled for November, 2028.  The classification of “Accredited” is granted to an educational program indicating that the program generally meets the standards of accreditation and that the program has no deficiencies or weaknesses that compromise the educational effectiveness of the total program.

Optometry Schools and Rankings

A word of caution to prospective applicants about unauthorized attempts to rank the U.S. schools and colleges of optometry: There is no officially accepted program or algorithm for ranking U.S. optometry programs. If there were, it would be endorsed and published by the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) — the official academic leadership organization that represents all accredited schools and colleges of optometry in the 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Applicants may encounter for-profit websites that claim to "rank" U.S. optometry programs. Please be aware that neither ASCO nor The Ohio State University College of Optometry contributes data to or in any way endorses these unofficial websites. As a result, the data they report are flawed and/or incomplete, and the comparisons they make are invalid. It is our strong belief that applicants should place absolutely no value on these unofficial rankings of optometry programs.

In gathering information for use in making legitimate comparisons among U.S. optometry programs, prospective applicants are urged to visit official websites for the individual schools and colleges, and for ASCO, where they will find valid information.