Curriculum
Prerequisites/Pre-Professional Phase
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Undergraduate students
Students interested in entering the cytotechnology program spend their first three years of college fulfilling the university’s general education requirements and all of the cytotechnology program’s prerequisites, including biology, chemistry and allied health courses. Students can declare specialized practice — cytotechnology as their intended major and work with program advisers to ensure they are taking the proper classes. Coursework for the first three years is considered pre-professional. Students must maintain a 2.5 GPA and earn a C or better in all required science courses to apply to the one-year clinical/professional phase of the program.
Students with a bachelor’s degree
Students who already hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution may apply to the one-year program if they meet the GPA and prerequisite requirements. See admission process for more information.
Professional/Clinical Phase
The cytotechnology professional program is composed of 40 hours of academic, laboratory and clinical education experiences. The 12-month program, which begins and ends in May, does not follow the typical university calendar. Students are in the classroom from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, with occasional vacation days but no semester breaks.
The program include lectures, practical assignments, one-on-one instruction, microscope instruction and clinical experiences. Students learn to collect, process and prepare specimens from all body sites and then to diagnose normal and abnormal diseases.
For more information, visit Clinical Experience Requirements and Professional Courses Sequence.