Doctor of Optometry

As an optometrist, you have the power to help patients improve their vision and see the world through a brighter lens. This innovative program helps you provide comprehensive eye care and promote healthy vision to patients of all ages in diverse settings. Through cutting-edge instructional technologies in both classroom and clinical environments, you will learn how to diagnose and manage a wide range of ocular and systemic conditions.

In this four-year, full-time program, you will begin seeing patients in the first year and progressively increase your time in the clinic for four straight years, including summers. Our expert and dedicated faculty will work with you individually as you engage in more challenging and frequent patient exposure. You will graduate with the requisite skills, experience, and confidence to practice and advance as a professional optometrist in a wide variety of clinical settings.

Gain Hands-on Experience

The fourth year of the program is exclusively clinical and is designed to expose students to a variety of patient care experiences, as well as to provide a platform in which to explore specialty opportunities.

Our external clinical affiliations are located in over 30 states, from Maine to Alaska, and include a variety of settings, including community health centers, hospitals, military bases, multidisciplinary practices, and private practices. Consisting of three, 16-week rotations, the fourth year is designed to expose students to a multitude of patient care experiences, as well as to provide a platform in which to explore specialty opportunities.

Ready to shape your future? There’s no better place to start.

MCPHS is a private, not-for-profit, healthcare-focused university with a full spectrum of healthcare programs. As a teaching institution, we are passionate about our students, and they are equally passionate about advancing into careers in a vital industry. While it’s nearly impossible to put a price on building your life around your passion, we think you’ll find that MCPHS is a remarkable, all-around value for what you get in return.

Mission

MCPHS prepares graduates to advance health worldwide through excellence, innovation, and collaboration in teaching, practice, scholarship, and research and to transform the communities that they will serve.

Vision

MCPHS is an innovator in health and professional education that prepares future generations of global leaders and promotes systems to improve the health of the public.

• Student success: Our graduates are prepared to achieve high levels of success, both in their chosen careers and in life.
• Student experience: Our students are active participants in their learning, enjoy a strong sense of connection with the University community, and feel empowered to meet their personal and professional goals.
• Faculty and staff success: Our faculty and staff are recognized as leaders in higher education due to their sustained efforts to grow professionally and to collaborate as a community.
• Infrastructure and technology: Our intellectual, physical, and digital environments invite engagement, advance learning, embrace innovation, promote collaboration, and support quality in all that we do.