Doctors of Optometry (ODs) are the primary health care professionals for the eye. Optometrists examine, diagnose, treat, and manage diseases, injuries, and disorders of the visual system, the eye, and associated structures. They also identify related systemic conditions affecting the eye. ODs diagnose and treat, prescribe medications, perform certain surgical procedures, provide vision therapy and low vision rehabilitation, and assist patients with spectacle and contact lenses. They counsel patients regarding surgical and non-surgical options to meet their visual needs, and in cases involving surgery they provide both pre-operative and post-operative consultation and care.

Pre-Optometry is an academic designation at Texas Tech University; it is not a degree-granting major. As Pre-Optometry students prepare to apply to optometry school, they have the option to major in any area they choose as long as they take the prerequisite courses required to enter optometry school along with the courses necessary to complete that degree at Texas Tech University.

Regardless of which degree-granting major a Pre-Optometry student chooses at Texas Tech, they will always have a PPHC Advisor on their team. If you have any questions whatsoever about being Pre-PT, contact your assigned PPHC Advisor today!

Below are the prerequisite courses for University of Houston College of Optometry:

Prerequisite courses for University of the Incarnate Word Rosenberg School of Optometry:

Required if applying without a Bachelor's Degree:

Strongly Recommended Courses:

Frequently check with the programs to which you plan to apply prerequisites and/or application procedures can change.

PPHC Advisors have created a year-by-year PDF guide to being Pre-Optometry.

To learn more about professional degree programs in optometry both in Texas and elsewhere, please visit the Accreditation Council for Optometric Education (ACOE) directory here.

• Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry
• Optometry Centralized Application Service (OptomCAS)
• Exam Prep