Course Requirements

In order to apply for admission to KYCO, each candidate must have:

The Kentucky College of Optometry requires completion of the prerequisites listed below or the equivalents of these courses from any accredited college or university. Applicants must have completed 90 or more credit hours of undergraduate work; however, preference for admission will be given to those with an earned bachelor’s degree. If you have questions about the applicability of your coursework, please email kycoadmissions@upike.edu.


Recommended courses

  • Anatomy
  • Physiology
  • Microbiology
  • Bacteriology
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Statistics
  • Histology
  • Embryology
  • Immunology
  • Genetics
  • Ethics
  • Computer Science

Age of coursework rule:

The admissions committee requires all science prerequisites to have been completed within the last 10 years. If you have taken prerequisites in the past that are now greater than 10 years old, you will need to repeat the coursework.

Online, CLEP, AP and IB Courses

KYCO accepts Advance Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) credit as long as those credits were accepted at your regionally accredited undergraduate institution and appear on your transcript. Online coursework may be accepted if it comes from a regionally accredited institution and official transcripts are submitted via OptomCAS.