Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State University

3.68 verified3.68 unverifiednot published checked, absentnot given not researchedWhat do these mean? ▾

3.68 Verified — official source: Published by ASCO or OptomCAS, the bodies that run optometry admissions and report board results. Board pass rates, class GPA and OAT averages, deadlines and letter requirements come from here. Click any underlined value to open the exact document it came from and check it yourself.
$31,746 Verified — the school’s own site: Read directly off the school’s website, then either accepted automatically because the wording was unambiguous, or approved by hand after a person read the surrounding sentence. Also clickable to the source page. These can go stale if a school updates a page and we haven’t re-crawled it yet.
Traditional Unverified estimate: Compiled by a student in a personal spreadsheet. No citation, no source link, and possibly wrong or out of date. These are a starting point for your own research, not a fact. Confirm with the school before you make any decision based on one. Where an official figure exists it always replaces these — so an unverified value means nobody has found a published source yet.
31,746 Calculated: Worked out from sourced figures rather than published as such. Year-1 direct cost is tuition plus mandatory fees, because no two schools break their costs up the same way and nothing else compares across them. The inputs are sourced; the arithmetic is ours.
not published Checked, genuinely absent: Someone opened the school’s own page and the figure is not there. This is a finding, not a gap — it means you can stop looking. Click it to open the page that was checked.
not given Not yet researched: Nobody has looked at this field for this school yet. Different from the one above: absence of research, not evidence of absence.

NBEO results — ASCO institutional report

Report year	Candidates	Part I	Part II	Part III	Ultimate	US Part I	Source
2024-2025	33	63.64%	87.88%	57.58%	72.73%	66.83%	PDF

Footnoted rows carry a school-specific graduation requirement noted in the report; read the PDF for the exact wording.

Class profile — 2025 entering class

Class size

Applicants

not given

Interviewed

not given

Average GPA

3.71

Average science GPA

not given

Average OAT (AA)

334

Read from the school’s own page, 10 days ago.

Program

Public / private: Public
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Accreditation status: Accredited (next ACOE site visit 2030)
reviewed by hand
Year established: 1975
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Class profile

Class size: 37
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Average GPA: 3.71
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Average science GPA: not given
Average OAT (AA): 334
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Profile year: 2025 entering class
ASCO · 2025 entering class

Admissions

Letters of recommendation: 3 letters — required: optometrist, science faculty
OptomCAS
Interview style: Traditional
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Patient care hours required: Recommended
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Application deadline: 2/1/27
OptomCAS
Last OAT date accepted: 2/1/27
OptomCAS
Supplemental application: None listed
OptomCAS
Bachelor's required: Preferred, but not required
OptomCAS
Other tests accepted: OAT is strongly preferred. MCAT and DAT are accepted.
OptomCAS

Cost

Year-1 direct cost: 38690
— DERIVED (38304 tuition + 386 fees). Lowest year-1 direct cost of any school researched so far.
reviewed by hand
Tuition — in-state: 38304
For year 1. Charged at 1008 per credit hour. Year totals: 38304 (Y1), 38304 (Y2), 52416 (Y3), 44352 (Y4). Four-year total 173376.
reviewed by hand
Tuition — out-of-state: 38304
For year 1 — MCO charges ONE professional tuition rate for all students regardless of state or country of origin. No residency distinction despite Ferris State being a public university.
reviewed by hand
Cost of attendance / yr: not given
Fees: 386
In year 1 — DERIVED from published rates: student technology fee of 5 per credit hour (38 credits = 190) plus 98 per semester in nonrefundable fees (2 semesters = 196). MCO publishes the rates but not the annual totals.
reviewed by hand
Average debt at graduation: $158,000
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Scholarships available: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Boards & outcomes

NBEO Part I — first-time: 63.6%
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO Part II — first-time: 87.9%
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO Part III — first-time: 57.6%
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO ultimate pass rate: 72.7%
ASCO · 2024-2025
Average NBEO pass rate: 69.7%
ASCO · 2024-2025
Residency match rate: 85%
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Residency programs available: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Employment after graduation: 99%
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Clinical training

Clinic starts: 2nd
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Patient volume: Medium
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Specialty clinics offered: Medical optometry
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
VA / hospital rotations: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Curriculum

Problem-based learning: Some
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Research opportunities: Available
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Dual degree options: No
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Faculty-to-student ratio: 8:1
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Location & life

Cost of living: Low
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Housing availability: Easy/Rural
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Weather / climate: not given
Competitiveness vs collaboration: Collaborative
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

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