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%

**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.