Web Page: http://www.umsl.edu/divisions/optometry/optometry.html

The UM-St. Louis School of Optometry enrolled its first class in 1980, graduating 32 students in May 1984. The school is located on the South Campus complex of the University of Missouri-St. Louis at 7800 Natural Bridge Road. A modern fivestory building houses the school's classrooms, laboratories, research facilities, administrative offices, healthscience library, and the Center for Eye Care campus facility (the University Eye Center).

The University Eye Center located on campus is open to the public, as well as to the faculty, staff, and students of the university. The primary goal of the center is to provide patients with highquality vision care. This purpose is consistent with the overall goal of training wellqualified eye care practitioners.

In addition to the University Eye Center, the school operates the Optometric Center of St. Louis, a comprehensive optometric eye care facility in the Central West End of the city and the East St. Louis Eye Center, jointly owned and operated by the University of Missouri-St. Louis School of Optometry and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Situated in Missouri's largest metropolitan area, the school enjoys the city's strong community and professional support. The urban setting offers many opportunities for outreach programs, expanding the scope of optometric education and making available highly diverse programs of clinical training. Another asset of the school is the location of the national headquarters of the American Optometric Association and the College of Optometrists in Vision Development, approximately twelve miles from the campus.

The curriculum leading to the doctor of optometry degree is a fouryear, fulltime program of study. The first year of the professional curriculum stresses optics and basic health sciences and introduces students to optics of the visual system. The second year covers vision science and training in eye examination techniques. The third year emphasizes patient care and introduces the student to various specialty areas within optometry, such as contact lenses, pediatric and geriatric vision care, binocular vision and vision training, and low vision rehabilitation. The second and third years also include course work and clinical training in ocular disease and pharmacology. The fourth year provides additional patient care experiences and includes rotations through a variety of outreach programs, giving the student added experience in the treatment of eye diseases, as well as valuable experience in other optometric clinical specialties.

Fourth-Year Externship Program
In addition to the patient care experiences available through the University Center, Optometric Center, and the East St. Louis Center, the School of Optometry has an externship program. When the faculty determines that students have reached a level of proficiency, they are approved for the externship program. Students must receive approval from the faculty and the director of externships for assignments to each externship site. This program allows fourthyear students to spend a portion of their final year of training in a variety of patient care environments, i.e. military bases, Veteran Administration hospitals, Indian Health Services hospitals, various speciality practices and private practices.

These eight-week externships are selected and scheduled according to the individual student's interest, needs and future practice intentions. In this program, students leave the academic environment and begin working with selected practicing optometrists while continuing to be monitored by the centers through weekly reports of all patient experiences and activities.

Currently, the following externships are available: Colorado Optometric Center, Denver, CO; Eye Health Care Associates, Ltd., St. Louis, MO; Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Center, St. Louis, MO; Lighthouse Low Vision Service, New York, NY; Missouri Eye Institute, Springfield, MO; Missouri Eye Institute, St. Louis, MO; O'Donnell Eye Institute, St. Louis, MO; Omni Eye Services of Colorado, Denver, CO; Scott Air Force Base, Scott AFB, IL; St. Louis Comprehensive Neighborhood Health Center, St. Louis, MO; Veteran's Administration, Columbia, MO; Veteran's Administration, Kansas City, MO; Veteran's Administration, Marion, IL; Veteran's Administration, Marion, IL; Washington University Eye Center, St. Louis, MO; Carl Albert Indian Health Service, Ada, OK..

Students may arrange their own offcampus clinical experiences with the approval of the director of externships..

In 1986 the Missouri Optometry Practice Act was revised by the state legislature to include treatment of certain eye diseases utilizing pharmaceutical agents. Thus optometry students at UMSt. Louis are uniquely situated to receive excellent training in this aspect of optometric practice. Roughly half of the states in the United States now have laws authorizing optometrists to prescribe drugs in the treatment of certain eye diseases. The training and clinical experience optometry students receive at UMSt. Louis in the diagnosis, treatment, and management of ocular disease is excellent and qualifies UMSt. Louis graduates to practice optometry in any state in the nation.

A student who satisfactorily completes all four years of the professional curriculum will be eligible to receive the doctor of optometry degree.

The School of Optometry is a member of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry and is accredited by the Council on Optometric Education of the American Optometric Association, the official optometric agency recognized by the National Commission on Accrediting and by the International Association of Boards of Examiners in Optometry.

All optometry students enrolled in the University of MissouriSt. Louis School of Optometry are eligible for membership in the student optometric association, which is affiliated with the American Optometric Association. Through this organization, students become involved in local and national optometric activities. The organization provides an environment for the cultivation of professional leadership skills, and members have organized and participated in a variety of community service activities, including community health screenings and vision care to residents of nursing homes, convalescent hospitals, and mental institutions. Furthermore, optometry students have formed local chapters of SVOSH (Student Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity), an international organization of optometrists providing free vision care to people in impoverished nations, and the NOSA (National Optometric Student Association), which strives to recruit minority students into optometry and encourages retention of minority students.

In addition to the many activities through the School of Optometry, optometry students are able to take advantage of all the activities provided by the university to the entire university community.

These include intramural sports, movies and cultural activities, a modern, fullyequipped gymnasium, and access to many social and cultural opportunities in St. Louis at reduced cost.

Admission Requirements
Semester:
English  2
Biology (including laboratory)*  2
Physics (including laboratory)  2
Chemistry
General (including laboratory)  2
Organic (including laboratory)  1
Mathematics**
Calculus  1
Statistics  1
Psychology  2
Social and Behavioral Sciences  2 or

Quarter:
English  3
Biology (including laboratory)*  3
Physics (including laboratory)  3
Chemistry
General (including laboratory)  3
Organic (including laboratory)  2
Mathematics **
Calculus  1
Statistics  1
Psychology  2
Liberal Arts  2

*One semester (or one quarter) of microbiology is a requirement. Other biological science courses that are recommended include genetics, cellular physiology, and embryology.

** Trigonometry as a prerequisite course for calculus must be completed in high school or college.

All courses used to satisfy the admission requirements must have been taken at a fully accredited institution or must be acceptable by an accredited institution toward degree credit. Specific prerequisite courses must be taken for a letter grade; they cannot be taken as an audit or on a pass/fail or satisfactory/ unsatisfactory basis. Applicants must have completed 90 semester or 135 quarter hours (the equivalent of three years of college education) before the start of classes. The applicant cannot apply more than 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours which were earned at a twoyear institution toward the credithour requirement. Applicants holding a bachelor's degree will be given preference over applicants with similar academic credentials who do not have a degree. Applicants to the school come from a variety of undergraduate backgrounds, such as biological sciences, psychology, education, and business.