Interested in Radiology

mugenej8power · Joined: 16 Mar 2009 Posts: 1 Location: Richmond,VA

Hi everyone! My name is Nick and I am from central VA. I graduated high school with a diploma and was a average student. [hey, atleast I'm honest] I'm 20 years old, and now I think I have found my calling. I want to become a Radiologist, but I have a couple questions.

1. A Radiologist and Rad Tech are the same correct?

2. I'm looking at what school to attend, but I am having trouble. It's a MCI school which is what I'm kind of wary about. They are JRCERT accredited and do allow you take the ARRT exam. A local big University though was telling me to stay away from it, and that they don't accept the Associate's Degree from it. Is there anything else I should be looking for in a school?

3. What is the first step I need to take to become a Radiologist? I have to take my pre-requisites, but I'm not sure where and exactly what they are. Do I have to attend medical school first?

4. What kind of material/subject matter can I read up on before schooling to come in with a little bit of an advantage?

I really am serious about this career and I want to do everything right and that I'm supposed to do. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and if there's anything I missed please point it out. Sorry if any questions are stupid or basic knowledge, but I'd really like to hear advice from the professionals and not some school admission and/or internet site. Thank you.

hjhogle · Posted: Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:32 pm Post subject:

No. A Radiologist is a physician. A 4-year college degree, medical school and residency - an expert in the interpretation of diagnostic images of many kinds.

A RADIOGRAPHER or RADIOLOGIC TECHNOLOGIST has specialized in obtaining diagnostic images. We get 'em, they read 'em.

Do some reading at the Bureau of Labor Statistics here: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos105.htm

Also the ARRT - American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (the agency charged with national certification and the maintenance of that (registration) patient information page here: http://arrt.org/index.html?content=patientpage/patientpage.htm and

the ASRT - American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) About the Profession here: https://www.asrt.org/content/abouttheprofession/_AboutTheProfession.aspx

The most important decisions to make regarding schooling are:
1) Is the school accredited by an agency acceptable to the ARRT? If they are not, graduation from their program will not make you eligible to take the national exam. No national certification=no job.
2) Do you want to graduate from a program with a 2- or 4-year degree? If so, focus on a community college or university program. Will a degree make a difference? Not in the beginning, but as you move through the profession, you'll need a degree in order to teach or move into management.

Be sure you use the ARRT website to determine if a program is accredited by an agency approved by them. If it's not on this list, they're not accredited. This list is sorted by state. http://www.arrt.org/index.html?content=http://www.arrt.org/nd/listOfSchools.ndm/listSchools&iframe=yes

Good luck
hjh, RT