OptomCAS: How the Optometry School Application Works

OptomCAS is the centralized application portal for Doctor of Optometry programs.

You file one application, designate the schools you want it sent to, and each designated school receives your essay and test scores through the service.

OptomCAS counts 25 schools and colleges of optometry in the United States, and all of them participate, so the portal covers every one of them.

The application carries a single personal essay: OptomCAS sends the same essay to every school you designate.

You also designate your admission test — the OAT, or the GRE where a school accepts it — rather than sending score reports school by school yourself.

The scale is easy to picture from OptomCAS's own Applicant Data Report.

In the 2024-25 cycle it counted 2,897 verified applicants, who submitted 12,536 applications to the 25 schools — an average of 4.33 applications per applicant.

What OptomCAS does not replace is the school-specific layer.

Inside the shared application, each school keeps its own deadline, its own supplemental application where it has one, and its own letter-of-recommendation rules — the parts the rest of this page walks through.

The 2026-2027 OptomCAS cycle opened on June 25, 2026 and closes to all submissions on May 20, 2027.

Every deadline in the cycle closes at 12:00 AM (midnight) Eastern Time, so Eastern Time is the clock that matters.

Within that window, each school sets its own OptomCAS deadline.

The earliest for 2026-27 is UC Berkeley's December 11, 2026; the latest is University of Detroit Mercy's May 20, 2027 — the same day the whole cycle closes.

Here is the full table OptomCAS publishes for the 25 US schools, sorted by deadline:

Two schools list a supplemental deadline later than their OptomCAS deadline: Indiana University's OptomCAS deadline is January 31, 2027, with its supplemental due February 15, 2027, and Ohio State's pair is March 1, 2027 and March 15, 2027.

OptomCAS charges $190 to apply to the first school and $85 for each additional school in the same cycle.

Applying to four schools costs $445; five schools cost $530.

Fees move between cycles.

The 2024-25 cycle, which ran June 27, 2024 to May 29, 2025, charged $187 for the first program and $80 for each additional one — a few dollars less than 2026-27.

Supplemental applications carry their own fees where schools require them.

NECO lists $30, with waivers available; SUNY $40; Southern College of Optometry, SCCO, Houston and Missouri-St.

Louis $50; UC Berkeley $66 for domestic and international applicants; Ohio State $60 domestic and $70 international; Indiana $70; and NSU Oklahoma and UAB $75.

Budget the admission test separately: the OAT program charges its own exam fee and sets its own score-reporting rules, covered in our guide to the OAT.

The fee structure is why school count matters.

In 2024-25, applicants averaged 4.33 applications each, so the cost multiplied quickly past the one-school minimum.

One personal essay goes to every school you designate.

OptomCAS requires the essay and sends the same one to all your designated schools.

Test scores are designated rather than mailed: you name the OAT, or the GRE where a school accepts it, and the scores reach your schools through the application.

For 2026-27, OptomCAS's school table shows most schools accepting the MCAT and/or DAT, and many accepting the GRE, in place of the OAT.

The alternatives vary by program: SUNY lists GRE, MCAT, DAT and PCAT, while Southern College of Optometry may accept the GRE and MCAT on a case-by-case basis.

Letters of recommendation are set school by school, and the requirements differ more than applicants expect.

NECO requires one letter from a non-relative optometrist and one from a college faculty member, preferably in the sciences.

Pacific requires two letters: one from a non-relative optometrist and one from a college instructor.

At PCO/Drexel, a pre-professional committee letter fulfills the entire requirement.

Pikeville's Kentucky College of Optometry asks for one letter from an optometrist or healthcare professional, with an AOA-member OD preferred.

Your academic record is the other core input, and OptomCAS's table lists each school's degree expectation.

For 2026-27, four schools list a bachelor's degree as required: Arizona (AZCOPT), Rocky Mountain, UC Berkeley and Houston.

Ohio State, Detroit Mercy and Missouri-St.

Louis require at least 90 semester hours of undergraduate coursework without requiring the degree.

NECO, ICO, Inter American and PCO/Drexel list the bachelor's requirement as a plain no, and the remaining schools mark the degree preferred, recommended or conditional rather than required.

The last piece is the school-specific layer: the supplemental applications, fees and deadlines covered above, plus anything a school's own listing adds.

OptomCAS publishes each school's row in one table, and it is worth reading your target schools' rows before you designate them.

OptomCAS runs one cycle from June to May, but the deadlines inside it do not wait for May.

For 2026-27, UC Berkeley closes on December 11, 2026, and Indiana on January 31, 2027.

Michigan College of Optometry at Ferris State and NSU Oklahoma close on February 1, 2027, and a March 1, 2027 group closes together: Ohio State, Pacific, Southern College of Optometry, SUNY and Missouri-St.

Louis.

An application finished in June faces a different calendar than one finished in April.

Our research did not establish which of the 25 schools review applications on a rolling basis; the table shows when each school closes, not how each reviews.

Test timing is the constraint the earliest deadlines expose.

SUNY lists February 28, 2027 as its last accepted OAT date, the day before its deadline, and UC Berkeley's last accepted OAT date is December 11, 2026 — its deadline day.

The OAT program's own advice is to test in the second semester of junior year, or the summer between junior and senior year, after completing the subjects the exam covers.

The odds context is measured, not dramatic.

OptomCAS's 2024-25 report counted 2,897 applicants for 1,956 first-year matriculants, an applicant-to-first-year-matriculant ratio of 1.48, with applicants averaging 4.33 applications each.

Its report counts 72% of 2024-25 applicants as accepted to at least one program, a figure that includes matriculated, offer-accepted, offer-made, offer-declined and deferred decision codes.

Once offers start, the shared system has rules of its own.

Schools can participate in OptomCAS Shared Acceptance Reports, produced February through September, which tell a school when an applicant is holding more than one seat.

Once you accept an offer, you must withdraw your other applications.

Older applicants are in the accepted pool too.

Among 2024-25's accepted applicants, OptomCAS counted 152 aged 26-30, 31 aged 31-35, 12 aged 36-40, 3 aged 41-45 and 4 aged 46 or older.

One thing our research did not find is a number for how much submitting earlier improves the odds.

What the deadline table does show is which schools set the earliest last-OAT dates and which charge supplemental fees on top.

The practical read is sequencing: test early enough for your earliest school, and file the shared application once, completely.

Career information for optometry school applicants — not licensing, legal, medical, clinical, billing or coding advice. Cycle dates, fees and school requirements change; confirm current details with OptomCAS and with each school's admissions office before you apply.