Radiologic Technology Application Process

CHANGE  NOTICE: The deadline for application submission for fall semester 2008 has been changed from May 7 to May 21, 2008.

Applications for admission into Radiologic Technology for fall semester 2008 are due not later than 4:00 p.m. on May 21, 2008. 

As other universities and colleges Montana and in this region do not finish spring semester until May 16th, the application deadline was changed to May 21st so that students grades from spring semester would be available for Phase I of the selection process.

This web site is designed for students that are in the process of applying to the MSU-Billings College of Technology Radiologic Technology program.   This site will include a downloadable Radiologic Technology Application, program curriculum, program time line and notices of concern to those applying to the program.  Other pages will be added to this site as they are finalized. 

This program is a fall start program which means the clinical part of the program will start at the beginning of the fall semester, 2008.  Your prerequisite semester must be completed before you can make an application to the clinical classes for fall 2008.  If you are not currently registered as a student with MSU-Billings or MSU-Billings College of Technology, you must complete an application for admission and be accepted as a MSU-Billings student before you can make application to this program.  You may apply for admission to the college on line or call the College of Technology at (406) 247-3000.  Graduation for the class starting fall 2008 will be in May of 2010.  If you have not taken a physics class in high school, it is strongly recommended that you complete a 3 credit hour introductory course in physics.  For those attending MSU-Billings, I would recommend PHYS 101 Earth, Air, Fire and Water.  This physics course is NOT a required pre-requisite course but the knowledge obtained from this course will be very helpful when taking the two physics courses, RAD 104 and RAD 110, which are part of the program curriculum. 

The MSU-Billings College of Technology Radiologic Technology program is a competitive program.  In order to be accepted into the clinical part of the program this fall, you must successfully complete the required prerequisite semester, or approved equivalent, and submit the required application on or before the date it is due.  If you have any questions concerning your prerequisites, contact Kirtlye Schuman at (406) 247-3020 or kschuman@msubillings.edu.

The selection process for admission into this program involves two phases.  Phase One involves a point system that will be used to select the 24 applicants that will progress to Phase Two of the selection process.  Phase Two involves a personal interview with the Radiologic Technology Selection Committee. The exact days of the interviews will be posted on this site when confirmed.  Sixteen students selected from Phase Two will become the new Radiologic Technology class of 2008-2010 and they will start their clinical classes fall semester of 2008.  The decision of the selection committee will be final. 

It is very important that applicants to this program have a good understanding of the job responsibilities of a radiologic technologist.  You need to know what a radiologic technologist “does” on the job.  In order to assure this understanding, as part of the application process you are required to perform a site visit at a radiology department.  You will need to schedule a site visit at one of the Billings hospital radiology departments and spend four to eight hours learning about a career in radiologic technology.  If you do not live in Billings, you may conduct you site visit at a radiology department at a local hospital.  I recommend you do your site visit at a larger hospital as you will have a more complete view of the radiology profession.  If you are re-applying to the program you should plan to make another site visit or discuss this issue with me.  Times for the site visits will be posted on this web site as soon as they are available.  It is also very important that you understand what is involved in patient care.  Patient care and how you treat your patient are just as important as the quality of the x-ray images you produce.  It is strongly recommended that you either have direct work experience in patient care such as nursing homes, hospital care, working with patients in a radiology department or a significant amount of volunteer work (approximately 80 hours) involving direct contact with patients.  Not everyone is suited for work with ill patients and you need to have some idea if this is really something you want to do. 

Students applying to the Radiologic Technology fall 2008 program must complete a career assessment for student career exploration and planning.  It is the student’s responsibility to complete the career assessment by picking up the assignment and information packet from the Student Services Office (Room A17) at the MSU-Billings College of Technology.  Dates when those packets will be made available will be posted on this web site, usually by February, 2008.  After completing the assessment, you must schedule a follow-up appointment with the COT Career Services (phone 247-3000) to discuss the results of your assessment.  If you do not live in Billings you can complete a career assessment at another educational institution and complete the discussion of your results with your advisor at that institution.  If you have questions about the career assessment tests you can contact Kirtlye Schuman of Mick Ender at the contact information listed below.

For current information on the Radiologic Technology program, continue to visit this site, http://www.msubillings.edu/cotfaculty/radtech/.  This site will contain the most complete and up to date information.  If you have any question or concerns about the application process, or the program, please contact Mick Ender or Kirtlye Schuman.

If you have decided to apply to this program, you should register with the MSU-Billings College of Technology so that we have your contact information.  If either your permanent or current contact information changes, please contact Kirtlye Schuman at kschuman@msubillings.edu or call her at (406) 247-3020.

Note: A download version of the application that you can fill out on line will be available in PDF format by March.

Note: Contents of this site are subject to change. 

     If you have problems with this site or you notice and error, please notify the site master, me, at  mender@msubillings.edu