2024 Best Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

If you pursue a doctor's degree in optometry, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #15 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 325 doctor's degrees in optometry during the 2020-2021 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Optometry School for Your Doctor's Degree

The optometry doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to optometry students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of optometry students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt optometry students go into to obtain their doctor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized optometry related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for optometry students working on their doctor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The optometry school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Optometry in the Far Western US Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in optometry.

Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in Optometry

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

64 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in optometry needs to check out University of California - Berkeley. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in optometry from University of California - Berkeley

2

Pacific University
Forest Grove, OR

88 Annual Graduates

$89,820 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in optometry has to look into Pacific University. Pacific is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Forest Grove.

Doctorate recipients from the optometry program at Pacific University earn $12,575 more than the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a doctorate in optometry from Pacific University

3

Western University of Health Sciences
Pomona, CA

75 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat Western University of Health Sciences if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in optometry. Western University of Health Sciences is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Pomona.More information about a doctorate in optometry from Western University of Health Sciences

4

Marshall B Ketchum University
Fullerton, CA

98 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in optometry has to take a look at Marshall B Ketchum University. Located in the suburb of Fullerton, MBKU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly small student population.More information about a doctorate in optometry from Marshall B Ketchum University

Best Optometry Colleges by State

Explore the best optometry colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	180	237
Oregon	107	88

View All Rankings >

Optometry Related Rankings by Major

One of 34 majors within the Health Professions area of study, Optometry has other similar majors worth exploring.

Optometry Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Optometry	325

Majors Similar to Optometry

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Medicine	2,702
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	2,420
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	2,097
Dentistry	1,105
Nursing	907
Alternative Medicine & Systems	893
Chiropractic	378
Public Health	108
Communication Sciences	86
Mental & Social Health Services	51

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.