Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Drexel University

Elkins Park, PA · Official site

This program has more than one admission track. Figures on this page describe the main pathway. Also see PCO Scholars, which has its own entry requirements and costs.

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 No citation, no source link, and possibly wrong or out of date.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	130	59.23%	82.31%	73.85%	81.54%	66.83%	PDF

Class profile — 2025 entering class

Class size

126

Applicants

not given

Interviewed

not given

Average GPA

3.38

Average science GPA

not given

Average OAT (AA)

306

Read from the school’s own page, 2 mo ago.

Program

Public / private: Private
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Accreditation status: Accredited (next ACOE site visit 2033
Accredited (next ACOE site visit 2033 — joint-latest in the set with UMSL)
reviewed by hand
Year established: 1919
— founded as the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. Established Salus University in July 2008; became part of Drexel University in July 2025.
reviewed by hand

Class profile

Class size: 126
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Average GPA: 3.38
Traditional 4-year pathway. The Scholars cohort averages 3.73.
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Average science GPA: not published
ASCO's entering-class profile reports cumulative GPA and OAT only — it does not collect science GPA — and the school does not publish one.
Average OAT (AA): 306
Traditional 4-year pathway. The Scholars cohort averages 353.
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Profile year: 2025 entering class
ASCO · 2025 entering class

Admissions

Letters of recommendation: 3 letters
OptomCAS
Interview style: MMI
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Patient care hours required: Required exposure
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Application deadline: 5/1/27
OptomCAS
Last OAT date accepted: 5/1/27 (OD Accelerated Scholars Program) 6/1/27 (OD Traditional Program)
OptomCAS
Supplemental application: None listed
OptomCAS
Bachelor's required: No
OptomCAS
Other tests accepted: OAT is strongly preferred. GRE, DAT, MCAT are accepted.
OptomCAS

Cost

Year-1 direct cost: 53068
— this is PCO's own published "Total Tuition and Fees" for year 1, and it matches the derived-field definition exactly (books and equipment are budgeted separately at 5700).
reviewed by hand
Tuition — in-state: 51560 (Doctor of Optometry)
Traditional 4-year pathway. The 3-year Scholars track is $52,302/yr over three years.
reviewed by hand
Tuition — out-of-state: 51560
— private institution, single rate, no residency distinction
reviewed by hand
Cost of attendance / yr: 95072
For year 1 (Traditional). PUBLISHED as a total — the fifth school to do so. By year: 95072, 94522, 89796, 80616. Four-year total 360006.
reviewed by hand
Fees: 1
Year for the Traditional program: 1508 total (Technology Fee 573, Laboratory Fee 339, Student Services Fee 382, Background Check Fee 147, Professional Dues 67). Later years: 1458 (Y2), 1232 (Y3), 1278 (Y4, includes a 350 graduation fee and no lab fee).
reviewed by hand
Average debt at graduation: not published
No per-school figure exists. ASCO reports a national average of $209,280 for graduates with debt (2024-2025), and notes several schools report the figure as unavailable.
Scholarships available: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Boards & outcomes

NBEO Part I — first-time: 59.2%
ASCO reports one combined figure for PCO's 130 candidates. PCO's own page breaks it out by pathway: the traditional 4-year track was 50.0% first-time in 2024-25, the 3-year Scholars track 77.8%.
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO Part II — first-time: 82.3%
PCO's own page reports 79.8% for the traditional track and 100% for Scholars in 2024-25.
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO Part III — first-time: 73.9%
PCO's own page reports 73.0% for the traditional track and 85.7% for Scholars in 2024-25.
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO ultimate pass rate: 81.5%
ASCO · 2024-2025
Average NBEO pass rate: 71.8%
ASCO · 2024-2025
Residency match rate: not given
Residency programs available: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Employment after graduation: 100%
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Clinical training

Clinic starts: 1st (Very early)
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Patient volume: High
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Specialty clinics offered: The Eye Institute (High Volume)
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
VA / hospital rotations: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Curriculum

Problem-based learning: Case-based
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Research opportunities: Some
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Dual degree options: OD/MS
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Faculty-to-student ratio: 8:1
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Location & life

Cost of living: Medium
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Housing availability: Good
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Weather / climate: not given
Competitiveness vs collaboration: Intense but Team-based
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

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