Guides / Pre-Optometry Four-Year Plan

A Pre-Optometry Four-Year Plan

Start in your first year and nothing on the application will be a rush. This plan puts each step in the year where it fits, links to the guide for each, and flags the rules that trip up transfer students.

Last checked Nov 2, 2026.

Everyone's calendar differs, so treat these years as a sequence, not a deadline. If you start later, compress the steps and keep their order.

First Year: Set Up

• Meet your pre-health advisor. Illinois College of Optometry tells students in its 3+4 program to do this in the fall of the first year. It's good timing for everyone.
• Start the science sequence. Most programs ask for a year each of biology and general chemistry with labs, plus English and math. Make a grid from the prerequisites guide and mark what your schedule covers.
• Pick any major you'll do well in. There's no required major, and grades in prerequisites count most. Use the GPA calculator to see your GPA as OptomCAS counts it.
• Look at shadowing. Find an optometrist near home or school. See shadowing and experience.

Second Year: Build

• Continue prerequisites such as organic chemistry, physics and biochemistry, and check each school's list for extras like microbiology or anatomy.
• Log hours as you go in the hours tracker. Include shadowing, work and volunteering.
• Learn the exam. Read the OAT, explained. Physics is a full section, so plan to finish it before you test. Illinois College of Optometry says its 3+4 students usually take the OAT in the summer between the second and third years.
• Know your window for old credits. Inter American University's catalog won't count courses completed five or more years before the planned start. Other schools may set their own limits, so ask before you rely on old coursework.

Third Year: Test and Ask

• Study for and take the OAT. Use the study plan, and compare your scores to the classes you're targeting in the stats checker.
• Ask for letters early. Most schools want one from an optometrist. See letters of recommendation.
• Draft your essay. See the personal statement guide.
• Pick your schools. Use compare schools and the deadline timeline.

Application Year: Apply

• Know the OptomCAS calendar. For the 2026–27 cycle, applications opened Jun 25, 2026 and the OptomCAS deadline is May 20, 2027. Individual schools set earlier deadlines, and most admit on a rolling basis, so see the timeline.
• Work through the form. See the OptomCAS walkthrough and the application checklist.
• Prepare for interviews and offers. See interviews and offers and deposits.

If You're Transferring From a Community College

• Send every transcript. OptomCAS wants an official transcript from every institution you attended, even where credits transferred.
• Check upper-level science. Many schools accept AP and community college credit, but some want upper-level science taken at a four-year college. Confirm before you rely on it.
• Check credit counts. Some schools set a minimum number of credit hours or require a bachelor's degree, and the numbers differ. The table in switching to optometry lists each school's degree rule.
• Ask each school directly. FutureOD hasn't collected every school's policy on community college credit, so don't assume one school's answer holds for another.

Paying for the Application Steps

• OAT fee waiver. The ADA offers a limited number of 50% partial fee waivers a year for severe financial hardship. Its guide lists conditions, including being a first-time test taker, receiving financial aid at your school, and being a U.S. citizen or meeting the IRS green card or substantial presence test. See the OAT guide for this year's status.
• OptomCAS fees. OptomCAS charges $190 for the first program and $85 for each additional one. Some programs give out coupon codes that offset application fees, so ask the schools you apply to. See what applying costs.
• The big costs come later. See how to pay less and the cost calculator.

The year-by-year order is our suggestion. The facts in it are from the sources below, last checked Nov 2, 2026.

Sources

• ASCO, school-specific prerequisites, May 2026
• OptomCAS 2026–27 application walkthrough (University of Georgia pre-health advising)
• OptomCAS application cycle dates
• ADA, OAT 2026 Candidate Guide
• ADA, Optometry Admission Test
• Illinois College of Optometry, 3+4 program
• Inter American University of Puerto Rico School of Optometry, Catalog 2025–2027
• OptomCAS Applicant Help Center, application fees
• Each school's admissions pages and catalog, checked October 2026 and linked from that school's page

Requirements and dates change each cycle. Always confirm with each school before you apply.

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