Information for Beginning Students
How to become a Certified Medical Technologist:
- Enrollment* at SWAU as a Medical Technology Major. See Bulletin Description for Bachelor of Science Degree in Medical Technology. A total of 128 semester hours are required for graduation. The first three years (86 sem. hrs.) of basic sciences and general education requirements are completed at SWAU. The student's GPA must be maintained at 3.0 or above to be competitive for placement in the senior year clinical program.
- Senior year (12-13 months)(42-48 sem. hrs.) of Clinical Training at one of three accredited hospital-based programs affiliated with SWAU. Applications for clinical programs are available from Dan Petr, Med. Tech. Advisor, and must be submitted to affiliated hospitals during the Junior Year about 6 months prior to starting the clinical program. See Application Deadlines and Program Start Dates.
- Certification Examination (Administered at the end of the Clinical Year).
- Graduation from SWAU with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Medical Technology upon successful completion of clinical training. If clinical program ends in August, student may march in May with his/her graduating class as a deferred graduate. An application for deferred graduation must be filed with the Records Office. See Med. Tech. Calendar and Check Sheet.
- Student becomes a Certified Medical Technologist with a Bachelor of Science Degree from SWAU.
* Beginning students from countries whose language is not English must submit a score from the Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a minimum proficiency level of 190 on the computer-based test, or 520 on the paper-based test. The TOEFL test is taken in the student's country of origin. If unable to take the TOEFL before arriving on campus, the student must take the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP) through the English as a Second Language (ESL) department at SWAU and must pass with an average score of 80 over each section. Acceptable SAT or ACT scores may be submitted in place of a TOEFL or Michigan Test score.