Home News Class of 2026 is 70 Percent Female

Class of 2026 is 70 Percent Female

The percentage of women entering traditional four-year programs at North American schools and colleges of optometry for the fall of 2021 is 70 percent, just slightly lower than the 2021 starting class where 71 percent of incoming students identified as female**. This was also the fourth year in the past seven years where the percentage has been equal to or higher than 70 percent.

Only one college—University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Optometry—had fewer than 50 percent females in its entering class of first-year students this fall.

Two schools—University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry, and State University of New York College of Optometry—had more than 80 percent females, 84 percent and 82 percent, respectively.

See below for a full breakdown of the women in this incoming class, which will be the class of 2026.

LOGO SCHOOL Total # in 2022 # of women % of women
Illinois College of Optometry 110 77 70%
Indiana University School of Optometry 84 61 73%
Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Optometry 55 34 62%
MCPHS University School of Optometry 58 45 78%
Michigan College of Optometry, Ferris State University 38 25 66%
Midwestern University Arizona College of Optometry 63 45 71%
Midwestern University Chicago College of Optometry 68 51 75%
New England College of Optometry 130 99 76%
Northeastern State University Oklahoma College of Optometry 28 15 54%
Nova Southeastern University College of Optometry 105 62 59%
The Ohio State University College of Optometry 69 44 64%
Pacific University College of Optometry 98 65 66%
Salus University Pennsylvania College of Optometry 147 112 76%
Southern California College of Optometry at Marshall B. Ketchum University 103 72 70%
Southern College of Optometry 133 89 67%
State University of New York College of Optometry 100 84 84%
University of Alabama at Birmingham College of Optometry 48 30 63%
University of California, Berkeley, School of Optometry 68 56 82%
University of Houston College of Optometry 97 66 68%
University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry 70 48 69%
University of Missouri, St. Louis, College of Optometry 43 30 70%
University of Montreal College of Optometry 44 31 70%
University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Optometry 63 30 48%
University of Waterloo School of Optometry 91 67 74%
Western University of Health Sciences’ College of Optometry 78 58 74%
Total # 2022 # of Women 2022 % Women
Total: 1991 1396 70%

 

**Women In Optometry is reporting the numbers of students who identified themselves as women. Some students chose not to specify a male/female gender, and while they are reflected in the total, they are not counted in the “women” column.

Click here for a look at last year’s breakdown and report.

Click here to view first-year female enrollment numbers in the past 15 years.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.

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