In addition to meeting the non-academic requirements, applicants must meet the following academic requirements:
The Doctor of Optometry is a second-entry program meaning entrants must complete a compulsory set of university-level courses prior to entering the Optometry program. The list of courses is referred to as the “prerequisite courses.” These prerequisite courses provide the base of knowledge that the Optometry program subsequently builds upon.
For additional help, please check the remainder of the Doctor of Optometry site. If you still have questions, please contact the appropriate resource on the help page.
Completion of prerequisite courses
Please note; typically, you will begin the application process before you have completed all the prerequisite courses (up to 14 months before the Optometry September start date). You are responsible for completing the remaining courses and having your final transcripts submitted to the School by the May deadline.
Courses completed between the end of May and the beginning of September of the year you enter Optometry will not be considered by the Admissions Committee.
All of the prerequisites must be completed before entry into the Optometry program.
Applicants who have not completed all the prerequisites will not be admitted. There are no exceptions.
Three or more years of Bachelor of Science studies
In order to complete these prerequisites, applicants must enrol in a university-level undergraduate Bachelor of Science (BSc) program (for example; biology, biochemistry, biomedical science, or pre-optometry), preferably within a Faculty of Science. Applicants may complete their BSc studies at any accredited university. No preference is given to University of Waterloo BSc students.
A minimum of three years of full-time Bachelor of Science studies will be required to complete all of the prerequisite courses along with the BSc requirements. Three years is the equivalent of 30 four-month courses. At the University of Waterloo, that is 15.0 credits. Full-time means 5 courses per four-month term or semester with two terms per year.
Helpful information about selecting a BSc program is presented on our Information for High School Students page. Consider a program that you would like to complete should you not be admitted to the Optometry program.
Applicants sometimes take the opportunity to complete their Bachelor of Science degree before entering the Optometry program.
For BSc students at Waterloo, it may be possible to have some of your Optometry courses contribute towards your Waterloo BSc degree.
Full-time course load
Due to the rigorous nature of the full course load of the Optometry program, the Optometry Admissions Committee looks for applicants to be taking a full course load (five courses per four-month term) during their BSc studies.
Prerequisite courses
The following courses are required for entry to the Optometry program.
These prerequisite courses are very similar to prerequisites for Medicine or Dentistry programs.
The table has links to the course descriptions for the University of Waterloo. There are also links pages that have course descriptions from other universities.
Required Optometry prerequisite courses
Course eligibility
If you wish to know whether a course at another university qualifies as a prerequisite, try comparing that course's description to the examples above; both Waterloo's and the examples from other universities.
The descriptions from other universities are also linked here. They have been broken into categories to keep the size of the lists small.
- Arts: English, ethics, psychology
- Biology: general biology, microbiology, physiology
- Chemistry: general chemistry, biochemistry, organic chemistry
- Mathematics: calculus, statistics
- Physics: general physics
If you are still uncertain, first contact an undergraduate advisor at the university you attend or will attend. Subsequently, help can be obtained by sending an e-mail to admissions@optometry.uwaterloo.ca including:
- your full name
- your e-mail address
- the prerequisite in question
- the university name
- the name of the BSc program
- the course name & number
- a full course description
- a web reference to the course description (usually found in the undergraduate calendar)
- the name & e-mail address of the undergraduate advisor
Remaining non-prerequisite BSc courses
Which courses you take to fulfill the remaining BSc requirements is up to you. Keep in mind that you may not be accepted to Optometry and may want to continue on with your BSc studies.
Minimum overall university average of 75%
The average of all courses you have taken in you BSc studies are included in the overall average calculation. The average is not limited to the prerequisites. Your average must be at least 75%. In recent years, the actual averages of students that have been accepted into the program have ranged from 79% to 94%.
