by our College Data Analytics Team
Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region” ranking is part of that endeavor.
Optometry is the 194th most popular major in the country with 1,822 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, optometry graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $88,635 and had an average of $0 in loans still to pay off.
Across the Southeast region, there were 346 optometry graduates with average earnings and debt of $94,909 and $0 respectively.
This year’s “Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in optometry. That schools that top this list have a program in optometry in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.
For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.
The colleges and universities below are the best for southeast region optometry students.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern College of Optometry. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region list. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 134 diplomas to qualified ’s optometry students in 2020-2021.
The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Pikeville landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Pikeville, Kentucky, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 55 diplomas to qualified ’s optometry students in 2020-2021.
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Nova Southeastern University landed the #3 spot on the list. NUS Florida is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 107 ’s optometry degrees to qualified students.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools Highly Focused on Optometry Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Alabama at Birmingham landed the #4 spot on the list. UAB is a large school located in Birmingham, Alabama that handed out 50 ’s optometry degrees in 2020-2021.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 4.8% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.
Read full report on Optometry at University of Alabama at Birmingham
Read more about our data sources and methodologies