UMSL optometry student tops national exam

Michael McFarland is presented with an award by College of Optometry Dean Larry Davis 79 KB .jpg

Michael McFarland, a third-year student in the College of Optometry at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, topped more than 1,300 other budding optometrists in the first phase of a nationwide licensure exam administered this fall by the National Board of Examiners in Optometry.

McFarland, 25, was presented with the 2007 Dr. Norman E. Wallis Award for Excellence by Larry Davis, dean of the College of Optometry in a ceremony at UMSL Nov. 15. The award honors the longtime executive director of the national board and is presented to the top scorer in Part I each year. He is scheduled to take two more part of the three-exam NBEO sequence before he graduates in 2009.

McFarland's Class of 2009 at UMSL also wowed the examiners with a first time pass rate of 91 percent versus a national first time pass rate of 84 percent.

McFarland grew up in Frontenac, Kan., a small town in the southeast corner of the state, and has focused on becoming an optometrist for most of his life.

"When I was in second grade, I needed glasses and it was such a positive experience for me, I knew then I wanted to be an optometrist," said McFarland.

McFarland said he plans on returning to his home state and opening up a private optometry practice.

UMSL's College of Optometry is the only one in Missouri and one of 17 in the nation. Graduates of the college earn a four-year, post-baccalaureate professional degree accredited by the Accreditation Council on Optometric Education.

The NBEO is a private, nonprofit organization that develops, administers, and scores examinations, and reports the results, that state regulatory boards utilize in licensing optometrists to practice eye care.

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