Student Performance

KYCO Student Performance

The Kentucky College of Optometry graduated its first class in 2020. As we gather this data we will publish it for review on this page.

Ultimate Pass Rate

Academic Year (10/1-9/30)	# of candidates	ultimate pass rate	national ultimate pass rate
2023-2024	54	72.2%	TBD
2022-2023	52	61.5%	83.8%
2021-2022	70	60.0%	87.8%
2020-2021	54	81.5%	92.5%

* Published results include the performance of all first-time takers of each NBEO examination Part within the specified timeframe regardless of year of enrollment, year of graduation, or graduation status; first-time taker pass rates published on the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) website (link) are limited to candidates that have graduated.

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Annual Institutional Pass Rates for all First-time Takers of NBEO Parts I, II, and III

NBEO Part I – Applied Basic Science

Academic Year (9/1-8/31)	# of first-time takers	first time taker pass rate	national first time taker pass rate	program difference, % points
2023-2024	55	72.7%	65.8%	+6.9 points
2022-2023	55	69.1%	65.8%	+ 3.3 points
2021-2022	55	45.5%	63.7%	– 18.2 points
2020-2021	57	54.4%	71.9%	– 15.5 points

NBEO Part II – Patient Assessment and Management

Academic Year (9/1-8/31)	# of first-time takers	first time taker pass rate	national first time taker pass rate	program difference, % points
2023-2024	55	87.3%	81.4%	+5.9 points
2022-2023	56	71.4%	82.9%	– 11.5 points
2021-2022	57	73.7%	84.7%	– 11.0 points
2020-2021	51	76.5%	88.4%	– 11.9 points

NBEO Part III Clinical Skills Examination [will change to Patient Encounters and Performance Skills]

Academic Year (7/1-6/30)	# of first-time takers	first time taker pass rate	national first time taker pass rate
2023-2024	54	50.0%	TBD
2022-2023	52	46.2%	74.4%
2021-2022	55	49.1%	79.7%
2020-2021	51	47.1%	88.4%

Applicants and New First-Year Matriculates

Class of	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028
KYCO Applications(verified) Accepted New First-Year Matriculates	– 457 178 62	– 456 126 59	– 551 113 60	– 604 217 62	– 617 227 58	– 589 171 59

Applicants and Matriculates by Ethnic Groups and Gender

Class of	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028
Applications White, non-Hispanic Asian Hispanic/Latino Black, non-Hispanic Other and Unknown Multi-ethnic Percent Minority Women Percent	– 265 118 29 22 26 — 40.4% 317 68.9%	– 270 121 27 30 8 — 39.7% 300 65.4%	– 321 129 43 35 23 — 39.9% 354 64.2%	– 437 192 54 57 141 — 15.2% 553 62.8%	– 359 177 43 19 2 17 41.8% 404 65.5%	– 346 138 46 16 34 9 39.3% 387 65.7
New First-Year Matriculates White, non-Hispanic Asian Hispanic/Latino Black, non-Hispanic Other and Unknown Percent Minority Women Percent	– 50 4 3 4 1 18.0% 47 75.8%	– 48 5 2 2 2 17.0% 35 59.3%	– 50 2 3 2 3 15.0% 41 68.3%	– 46 4 2 5 5 16.1% 28 42.2%	– 41 11 2 2 2 29.3% 31 53.4%	– 47 5 2 3 2 20.3% 31 52.5%

Source: ASCO Annual Student Data Reports

Notes: (1) Applicant data comes from the OptomCAS data Files, (20) Percent minority removes unknown applicants/matriculates from denominator

Grade Point Averages and OAT Scores of New First-Year Matriculates

Class of	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028
Grade Point Averages Science mean gpa Non-Science mean gpa Mean cum GPA	– 3.09 — 3.31	– 3.12 — 3.33	– 3.28 3.40 3.44	– 3.15 3.26 3.30	– 3.16 3.32 3.31	– 3.32 3.30 3.48
OAT Scores Academic Average mean Total Science mean Natural Sciences: Biology General Chemistry Organic Chemistry Reading Comprehension Physics Quantitative Reasoning	– 296 279 – 294 292 276 327 266 310	– 298 280 – 296 290 282 324 271 312	– 301 285 – 298 300 287 335 271 308	– 302 284 – 301 297 282 330 275 321	– 300 285 – 298 305 279 326 273 317	– 309 292 – 308 306 285 346 280 324

Sources: ASCO Annual Student Data Reports and OptomCAS data files.

Note:          (1) In the OAT, scores range from 200 to 400 with a mean of 300.

Entering Class Origin

Class of	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028
N	62	59	60	62	58	59
Highest Degree: Bachelor’s Master’s	– 92% 3%	– 94% 5%	– 87% 3%	– 89% 8%	– 95% 0%	– 93% 2%
Most Prevalent Schools: (N) University of Pikeville University of Kentucky East Tennessee State University Morehead State University West Virginia University Morgantown Brigham Young University Idaho Alice Lloyd College Western Kentucky University Northeastern State University Univ of North Carolina-Wilmington	– 3 2 2 1 1 2 0 2 0 0	– 4 0 3 4 0 0 2 0 0 1	– 1 3 0 1 0 2 0 2 4 3	– 5 0 1 1 0 1 4 0 1 1	– 6 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 0	– 7 4 2 2 4 1 0 1 0 0

Sources: ASCO Annual Student Data Reports and OptomCAS data files.

Currently, KYCO has matriculated students from 34 U.S. States with the highest number coming from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. 

Additional Characteristics of New First-Year Matriculates

Class of	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027	2028
New First-Year Matriculates	62	59	60	62	58	59
Share from Central/South Central Appalachian Region. Share from Rural America (non-Cent’l/So Cent’l Appalachia). Total Share Meeting KYCO Mission:	21% – 40 61%	32% – 32 64%	20% – 65 85%	26% – 29 55%	19% – 29 48%	25% – 14 39%
First Generation College Student First person in family to go to professional school KYCO was first choice of optometry schools	21% — —	25% 57% 73%	32% 65% 80%	31% 67% 75%	33% 60% 79%	22% 71% 75%

Sources: OptomCAS data files and KYCO Survey of First Year Students.

Notes:       
(1) The Central Appalachian Region includes the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia; the South Central Appalachian Region includes the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Grduation & Attrition Rate

Graduation Profile

	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024
First Professional Degree Optometry [51.1701] Women Ethnic Minority	NA	– 36 64% 14%	– 55 51% 13%	– 79 68% 9%	– 55 78% 18%	– 55 62% 16%
Location after Graduation Located in Appalachia Located in Rural Area Located in a Health Shortage Area – Vision Difficulty – county		– 32% 44% 15%	– 45% 52% 15%	– 28% 54% 7%	– 27% 42% 10%	– 27% 53% 17%

Sources: KY Council on Postsecondary Education Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred and Graduate Office of Student Affairs

Career Placement

Plans after Graduation

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Accepted into Residency/Fellowship Program Primary Eye Care/Low Vision Rehabilitation Primary Eye Care/Ocular Disease Ocular Disease Low Vision Pediatric Optometry	N | 22% 1 4 2 0 1	N | 9% 0 4 1 0 0	N | 11% 1 6 2 0 0	N | 22 – 1 10 1 0	N | 22% – 2 10 0 0
Accepted a Position/Opening Own Practice	22 | 59	26 | 47	36 | 46	26 | 47	24 | 44
In Negotiation for a Position	5 | 14	7 | 13	19 | 24	11 | 10
Not Yet Secured a Position	2 | 5	15 | 27	14 | 18	5 | 9
Other/Unknown	0 | 0%	2 | 4	1 | 1	1 | 2
Total	37 | 100%	55 | 100%	79 | 100%	55 | 100%	55| 100%

Source: KYCO Office of Assessment