The percentage of women entering North America’s optometry schools and colleges inched upward to 71%, matching the opening enrollment of the class that is set to graduate this academic year. In five of the past six years, the incoming class has been comprised of at least 70% female students.
All but one school had at least 50% women in its first-year enrollees.
The chart below takes a look at the trend of percentage of women in optometry school classes since WO began reporting this data in 2006. That first year only included the U.S. schools and colleges of optometry, however, each year since analyzed all North American traditional optometry programs including Canada and Puerto Rico.
The chart below shows overall first-year enrollment numbers in North American schools and colleges and the numbers of women in those classes over time. Over the 16 years represented here, the entering class has grown from 1,803 students to 2,078 students this year across the 26 North American schools and colleges of optometry.
Click here to view the class of 2028 enrollment statistics by school.
Related: Women are 70% of the students, but they account for 48% of the practicing ODs.
