The Heart Hospitals Cardiovascular Institute

Requirements

The applications process for the 2023-2024 Cohorts is now closed as of 11:59pm May 31st. The next application cycle for 2024-2025 Cohorts will begin February 1st, 2024.

Non-discrimination

The school will encourage an atmosphere that is respectful and supportive of every individual. This includes ensuring that all student-related actions and all employment actions be made without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, veteran status, age, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

General admission requirements

Admission to the Cardiovascular Institute is a competitive process and a limited number of applicants are accepted each year. The student should demonstrate a dependable, mature demeanor and interact well with others. The student should have a genuine desire to care for the disabled and sick and have the ability to work well under pressure. It is a requirement that all students selected for admission into any program consent to a criminal background check and urinalysis drug screening. These costs will be covered by the Cardiovascular Institute.

The application process is open to applicants who meet all the following minimum criteria at the time of program commencement. Please note that there may be additional admissions requirements for each CVI program. Please see the section on Program-Specific Admissions Requirements.

• 18 years of age
• Proof of U.S. citizenship or permanent residency status
  Please note: The Cardiovascular Institute is not a college or university and cannot sponsor Student Visa pplications. All applicants must either be a United States citizen or have obtained Permanent Residency status in the United States.
• Possess the physical and mental qualities required to work in the profession. See Student Catalog section on "Physical, Communication, Mobility, Tactical, Hearing and Visual Demands."
• Provide proof of current immunizations and negative TB test. Immunizations must be current prior to school start.
• Proof of current health insurance (requirement for non-Baylor Scott & White Health clinical sites). This document may be uploaded under the “Other Documents” section of the online application.

Minimum education requirements

• Adult Echocardiography – Associate degree, Eight (8) credit hours of Anatomy and Physiology, grade of “C” or better, within the past six (6) years. Preferred: Bachelor’s degree or higher, medical terminology
• Cardiovascular Perfusion – Bachelor’s degree, specified prerequisite coursework must be completed from an accredited college or university in the United States (U.S.)
• Invasive Cardiovascular Technology – Associate degree. Preferred: Bachelor’s degree or higher, Eight (8) credit hours of Anatomy and Physiology, grade of “C” or better, within the past six (6) years, medical terminology

Foreign transcripts

Foreign transcripts will be accepted, but only when converted through the World Education Services degree conversion service. The Degree Conversion Report from WES must state the equivalency of the converted degree to meet the minimum standards listed above for each program. Importantly, irrespective of the resulting degree conversion, all prerequisite coursework for the Cardiovascular Perfusion program must be completed from an accredited college or university in the U.S.

Immunizations

Provide this list of immunizations to your Primary Care Provider (PCP):

• 2 Mumps, measles, rubella (MMR) vaccines or positive titers
• 2 Varicella (Chicken Pox) vaccines or positive titers (history of Chicken Pox is not acceptable)
• Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pertussis (Tdap) given after age 18 years
• Influenza (Flu) only in flu season
• Tuberculosis (TB) test (TST within last 3 months or QuantiFERON within last 6 months)
• Hepatitis B (Recommended, but not mandatory)

Student body limit

To provide a quality educational experience with optimal student-to-teacher ratio, the Cardiovascular Institute has a limited student body per program with a maximum number of students as defined below:

• Adult Echocardiography – Ten (10) students
• Cardiovascular Perfusion – Ten (10) students
• Invasive Cardiovascular Technology – Twelve (12) students

All selected candidates are to complete a personal interview with program faculty. The school reserves the right to reject applicants and/or rescind eligibility for an applicant to begin classes if all general and selective admissions requirements are not successfully completed within the required period.

Process and timeline

The online application portal is open each year beginning at 12:00am on February 1st until 11:59pm on April 30th, at which time the online application portal will automatically close until the next application cycle.

The application process for all programs, including the uploading of all supporting documentation, must be completed online via the application link on the school website. All mandatory fields and required document uploads must be completed in order for the applicant to proceed through the online application, and payment must be received for an application to be considered complete. Importantly, the email address and contact information provided by the applicant will be used for all correspondence regarding the status of the application.

No documentation should be physically mailed or emailed to the school or school staff. These documents will neither be retained by the school nor manually applied to an application. Digital documentation will be deleted, and physical documents will be shredded.

Please note: Partial or incomplete applications will not be processed or retained. Application fees are non-refundable.

Applications must include all the following documentation and payment to be complete:

• All unofficial college academic transcripts. Please do not request or submit official transcripts at this time. Official academic transcripts will be required only for those applicants selected for an in-person interview.
• Pictures or copies of all college degrees earned. Clear, focused pictures or portable document format (pdf) documents only. Copies of official degrees must be submitted to the school prior to enrollment into a program.
• Personal program essay. Essay should be a maximum of 2 pages, 12-point Calibri or Arial font, double-spaced.
• Two letters of recommendation. One letter should come from a professional source and one from a personal source.
• Current personal resume’ stating educational history, work history and patient care experience (if applicable).
• For the Cardiovascular Perfusion Program only – Completed Cardiovascular Perfusion Program Shadowing form for each operating room case observed. A minimum of 2 observations are required but please upload all observations that were completed.
• Application fee payment – $100.00

Complete applications with all required documentation and attestations will be ranked. Once ranked, students will be sent a decision letter regarding their application status as denied or selected for the interview process by May 15th. An Interview Committee selected by each Program Manager will interview those students chosen for the interview. The Program Manager will make the final decision on acceptance or denial into the program.

Acceptance, alternate and denial letters will be emailed by June 15th, and accepted students must claim their seat within 10 calendar days.

Two alternates will also be selected and offered admission in the event that one or more candidates either withdraws their claim to a seat or fails to accept by the deadline. Alternates will be notified as soon as possible that a position has been made available to them.

Application essay guidelines

All applications must include an essay about you, your motivation and passion for choosing this field of study, and where you see yourself in this field in five years (two pages maximum, 12pt Calibri or Arial font, double-spaced). Application fees are non-refundable.

Criteria

A rubric will be used by the Interview Committee in an effort to select applicants for interviews for each program. The personal interview with the interview committee will be implemented as part of the final selection process.

• Academic performance: Degree(s) earned (science-based preferred) and academic accomplishments (Dean's List, etc)
• Personal essay, letters of recommendation, and resumé: Quality and content of essay(s), letters of recommendation, and experience on resumé.
• Personal interview: Interviewing students only. Overall impression of the applicant from the in-person interview.

Program-specific requirements

Adult Echocardiography admissions requirements

It is required for students in the Adult Echocardiography program to take one of the two available national registry credentialing examinations before the end of the summer semester. These tests are offered by Cardiovascular Credentialing International® (CCI®) and the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers® (ARDMS®).

If you have a criminal background, it can be a barrier to taking the national registry examinations, which will be a barrier for you to graduate from this program. Credentialing bodies such as CCI and ARDMS have rules indicating that they may take action against an applicant, candidate, or registrant in the case of conviction, plea of guilty or plea of nolo contendere to any crime.

CCI website: https://cci-online.org/

ARDMS website: https://www.ardms.org/

Learn more about the Adult Echocardiography program

Cardiovascular Perfusion admissions requirements

Applicants to the Cardiovascular Perfusion program are required to have observed two (2) cardiac surgical procedures with a Cardiovascular Perfusionist prior to interviewing for the program.

The application process for the Cardiovascular Perfusion program is open to applicants who meet all of the following minimum criteria at the time of program commencement:

• Completion of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college
• Cumulative GPA of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale
• Successful completion and submission of application
• Completion of application essay
• Pre-requisite coursework: Completion with a grade of "C" or better:
  • Physics: Either trigonometry based, or calculus based; three hours
  • Physics lab: one hour
  • Human anatomy and physiology: six hours
  • College algebra or higher: three hours
  • Statistics: three hours
  • General chemistry: six hours
  • General chemistry lab: two hours
  • Biology: six hours
  • Biology lab: two hours
  • Applied sciences: three hours in one of the following:
    • Biochemistry
    • Organic chemistry
    • Cell physiology
    • Cell biology

Learn more about the Cardiovascular Perfusion program

Invasive Cardiovascular Technology admissions requirements

It is required for students in the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program to take the national registry credentialing examination before the end of the summer semester. Testing is offered by CCI. If you have a criminal background, it may be a barrier to taking the national registry examination, which will be a barrier for you to graduate from this program. Credentialing bodies such as CCI has rules indicating that they may act against an applicant, candidate, or registrant in the case of conviction, a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to any crime.

CCI website: https://cci-online.org/

Learn more about the Invasive Cardiovascular Technology program