Southern College of Optometry

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 No citation, no source link, and possibly wrong or out of date.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	128	86.72%	97.66%	74.22%	95.31%	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

140

Applicants

not given

Interviewed

not given

Average GPA

3.68

Average science GPA

not given

Average OAT (AA)

332

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

Program

Public / private: Private
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Accreditation status: Accredited (next ACOE site visit 2029)
reviewed by hand
Year established: 1932
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Class profile

Class size: 140
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Average GPA: 3.68
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Average science GPA: 3.67
school's website
Average OAT (AA): 332
ASCO · 2025 entering class
Profile year: 2025 entering class
ASCO · 2025 entering class

Admissions

Letters of recommendation: 2 letters — required: optometrist, pre-health advisor — not accepted: teaching assistant
OptomCAS
Interview style: Traditional
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Patient care hours required: Shadowing hours preferred
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Application deadline: 3/1/27
OptomCAS
Last OAT date accepted: 3/1/27
OptomCAS
Supplemental application: Required — fee $50, due 3/1/27
OptomCAS
Bachelor's required: Strongly recommended
OptomCAS
Other tests accepted: GRE and MCAT may be accepted on a case-by-case basis.
OptomCAS

Cost

Year-1 direct cost: 49057
— DERIVED (48540 tuition + 517 year-1 incidental fees)
reviewed by hand
Tuition — in-state: 48540
— flat across all four years
reviewed by hand
Tuition — out-of-state: 48540
— single rate for all students. SCO has no resident/non-resident tuition, but see the state contract seat note, which functions as a regional discount.
reviewed by hand
Cost of attendance / yr: not given
Fees: 517
Incidental fees by year: (Y1), 255 (Y2), 977 (Y3), 390 (Y4). Recurring components are an Activity Fee of 100 and an SGA fee of 140 annually. One-time charges: transcript 75, white coat 25, mailbox key deposit 5, ID card 15, name tag 12, preventive health 95, CPR certification 50. American Academy of Optometry dues of 15 are paid in fall of second year. A graduation fee of 150 is charged to fourth-years.
reviewed by hand
Average debt at graduation: $155,000
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Scholarships available: State contract seats and forgivable loans…
State contract seats and forgivable loans reduce tuition for a finite number of students per state per entering class. Amounts provided in 2025-2026: Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina 21184/year; Tennessee 14354; Kentucky 15000; West Virginia 11510; Kansas 6500; North Carolina forgivable loan 14000; Virginia forgivable loan 5000. Eligibility is communicated by the Admissions Office during the application process.
reviewed by hand

Boards & outcomes

NBEO Part I — first-time: 86.7%
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO Part II — first-time: 97.7%
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO Part III — first-time: 74.2%
ASCO · 2024-2025
NBEO ultimate pass rate: 95.3%
ASCO · 2024-2025
Average NBEO pass rate: 86.2%
ASCO · 2024-2025
Residency match rate: 90%
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Residency programs available: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Employment after graduation: 100%
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Clinical training

Clinic starts: 2nd
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Patient volume: Very High
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Specialty clinics offered: Broad spectrum (State-of-the-art)
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
VA / hospital rotations: Yes
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Curriculum

Problem-based learning: No
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Research opportunities: Some clinical
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Dual degree options: No
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Faculty-to-student ratio: 10:1
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

Location & life

Cost of living: Low
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Housing availability: Low cost area
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source
Weather / climate: not given
Competitiveness vs collaboration: Family feel
unverified — student spreadsheet, no source

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