AMERICAN SOCIETY OF OCULARISTS |
Thank you for your interest in the College of Ocularistry (COO). The COO is a non-traditional educational institution that does not have a campus. Our courses are held in conjunction with the programs of the American Society of Ocularists (ASO) in the Spring and in the Fall. These conferences are held at various locations around the country. The educational program administered by the COO is geared to academically educate Ocularists that are in training. A large portion of your education will take place on the job
Click here to review the Charter of the ASO College of Ocularistry.
When joining the COO, you enter as either an Unsupervised Intern or Supervised Intern.
Unsupervised: An Ocularist that is practicing full time in a clinical setting would qualify to join as an Unsupervised Intern.
Full time = 35 hours or more per week. Click here for the Unsupervised Intern Application
Supervised: If you are not currently working as an Ocularist, you will need to find a supervising ocularist that provides direct supervised training in their clinical setting full time and apply as a Supervised Intern. Before you apply to the College as a Supervised Intern, you will need to secure a position as an Intern with your supervisor, they are Board Approved Diplomate Ocularist (BADO) with the American Society of Ocularists.
All BADOs are in the Directory of the ASO and can be found here: https://ocularist.org/find_ocularist_search.asp
Click here for the Supervised Intern Application
How Long is an Internship?
Unsupervised Interns will need to complete a minimum of 16,000 (8 years) work hours. This is based on a minimum of a 35-hour work week.
Supervised Interns will need to complete a minimum of 10,000 (5 years) work hours. This is based on a minimum of a 35-hour work week.
See the application and Charter for an accelerated graduation time frame if you are an Unsupervised Intern and have previous work experience.
Go to the APPLY TO THE COLLEGE tab for the applications.
Cost to Attend the College
There is a non-refundable application fee of $500.
Incomplete applications that need to be resubmitted will be assessed a $100 re-application fee.
Annual tuition is billed on December 1 for the following year. Tuition is $775 per year. Tuition is pro-rated in the first year when joining before December 1.
There is a cost to attend each of the two conferences per year. Registration fees are announced prior to the meeting. Travel and accommodations are your responsibility, as well as other expenses associated with travel to the conferences.
Compensation is between you and your supervisor.