The Heart Hospitals Cardiovascular Institute

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 (all programs)

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. As indicated on the online application form, it is a requirement that accepted applicants for all programs undergo a criminal background check and urinalysis drug screening prior to enrollment. The costs for the background check and drug screening will be covered by the Cardiovascular Institute. A positive drug test result and/or significant criminal history report may deny the applicant enrollment into a program.

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 or older
• Proof of United States citizenship or permanent residency status.
  Please note: The Cardiovascular Institute is not a college or university, which are degree-conferring educational institutions, and therefore cannot sponsor student visa applications. All applicants to the Cardiovascular Institute 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 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 clinical affiliates)
• 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)

Minimum education requirements for each program:

Adult Echocardiography

• Associate degree
• Six (6) credit hours of Anatomy and Physiology with a grade of “C” or better within six (6) years of application. (Exception to the 6-year rule may be approved on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Program Director.)
• Medical terminology (preferred, but not required)
• Preferred education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in a health-related field
• Prerequisite coursework specified in the “Program-Specific Admissions Requirements” section must be completed from an accredited college or university in the United States.

Cardiovascular Perfusion

• Bachelor’s degree
• Prerequisite coursework specified in the “Program-Specific Admissions Requirements” section must be completed from an accredited college or university in the United States.

Invasive Cardiovascular Technology

• Associate degree
• Six (6) credit hours of Anatomy and Physiology with a grade of “C” or better within six (6) years of application. (Exception to the 6-year rule may be approved on a case-by-case basis at the discretion of the Program Director.)
• Medical terminology (preferred, but not required)
• Preferred education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in a health-related field
• Prerequisite coursework specified in the “Program-Specific Admissions Requirements” section must be completed from an accredited college or university in the United States.

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 United States.

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.

The online application portal is open each year beginning at 12:00am on February 1st until 11:59pm on March 31st, 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 provided on the school website.  It is important to understand that the email address provided by the applicant will be used for all correspondence regarding the status of the application.

All mandatory fields, required document uploads, letters of recommendation, and applicant attestations must be present in the application in order for the applicant to proceed through the online application.  Payment must be received as the final step for an application to be considered complete.  It is at this time that the system will automatically generate a confirmation email, which should be retained by the applicant.  If payment has gone through and you do not receive an email within 15 minutes, contact the school immediately at CVIinfo@BSWHealth.org so that we may troubleshoot the application.

Please Note:  Uploading a blank or incomplete document in place of a required document in order to advance through the application is not allowed. This will render the application as incomplete, and the application will not be processed.

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.

For an application to be considered complete, all of the following documentation must be uploaded in portable document format (pdf), or as specified in the online application portal.  (Free pdf scanner applications for iPhone and Android smart phone operating systems are readily available.)

• All unofficial college academic transcripts. Please do not request or upload official transcripts at this time.  Official transcripts and verification of all grades will be required for those applicants selected for an in-person interview. Applicant’s cumulative GPA must be reported accurately on the online application and include supporting unofficial transcripts.  Failure to include all transcripts will render the application incomplete. All foreign transcripts must be converted through the World Education Services (www.WES.org) only, or the application will be considered incomplete and will not be processed.
• Copies of all college degrees earned. It is common for an applicant to be actively working on fulfilling the requirements for a degree at the time of applying for a program, and this is perfectly acceptable (e.g. applicant will graduate in May but is applying between February 1st and March 31st). However, copies of all degrees and fulfillment of all admissions requirements must be completed prior to enrollment into a program.
• Personal essay. The essay should (1) use the applicant’s own life experiences to clearly convey their desire to pursue a career in their chosen program, (2) give specific examples of what makes them stand out among other applicants and, (3) meet the following specific essay parameters:  Two (2) full pages of content with a one-line title; 12-point Arial or Calibri font, double-spaced; proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation throughout.
• Two letters of reference. One letter should come from a professional (work-related) source and one from a personal source who is not a first-degree relative (e.g. Mother, brother, etc.)
• Current personal resume. Education and work histories, patient care experience (if applicable), volunteerism, and pertinent life experiences
• For the Cardiovascular Perfusion Program only – Completed Cardiovascular Perfusion Program Shadowing Form for each operating room case observed.  This form may be downloaded from the school website using a smartphone camera and the QR code in the upper right corner of this page. A minimum of 2 observations are required.  However, ALL completed observations should be uploaded to the online application, regardless of the hospital location.
• Application fee payment – $100.00

Complete applications with all required documentation and attestations will be ranked. Once ranked, students will be emailed a decision letter designating their application status as denied or invited to the interview process by April 15th.  Interviews are in-person (if at all possible) and will take place on-campus in late July or early June.  The applicant will be notified of their specific interview date and time slot in the interview invitation email.  An Interview Committee, selected by each Program Director, will interview those students chosen for the interview. The Program Director will make the final decision on acceptance or denial into the program. Acceptance, alternate and denial letters will be emailed to each interviewee within 5 business days of the interview.  Accepted students must claim their seat by return email within 5 business days of the date the acceptance email was sent.  Two alternates will also be selected in the event that one or more candidates either withdraws their claim to a seat or fails to accept by the deadline.  Alternates, if offered a seat in the class, will be notified as soon as possible that a position has been made available to them.  Per TWC-CSC requirements, enrollment for each program must take place on-campus (date to be determined).

A rubric will be used by the Interview Committee to rank applicants for interview selection 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), overall grade point average, individual class grades, and academic accomplishments (Magna Cum Laude, Dean’s List, etc)
• Personal essay, letters of recommendation, and resumé: Quality and content of essay and letters of reference; work, volunteer, healthcare, and life experiences 
• Personal interview: Interviewing students only.  Overall impression of the applicant from an in-person interview.

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/

As a condition of the Living for Zachary Foundation Scholarship money, which is donated to the school every year in perpetuity to benefit the students with meal cards and other support, all Adult Echocardiography students will be required to volunteer for at least one Living for Zachary Foundation event scheduled during the school year.  A representative from the Living for Zachary Foundation will coordinate these volunteer events and students will usually be scheduled in pairs.  These events have been educational and fun for past students and involve heart screenings of local youth using cardiac sonography.

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 3.0 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:
  • Considered Pre-Med Coursework at most Regionally Accredited Colleges/Universities
    • General Chemistry I; 3 hours
    • General Chemistry I, LAB; 1 hour
    • General Chemistry II; 3 hours
    • General Chemistry II, LAB; 1 hour
      Note:  Microbiology may not be used in lieu of any General Biology credit
    • General Biology I; 3 hours
    • General Biology I, LAB; 1 hour
    • General Biology II; 3 hours
    • General Biology II, LAB; 1 hour
    • General Physics I; 3 hours
    • General Physics I, LAB; 1 hour
  • Mathematics:
    • College Algebra or higher; 3 hours
    • Statistics; 3 hours
  • Applied Science: (3 hours in ONE of the following classes) 
    
    • Biochemistry; 3 hours
    • Organic chemistry; 3 hours
    • Cell Physiology; 3 hours
    • Cell Biology; 3 hours
    • Human Anatomy and Physiology; 6 hours
      
       

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. This test is offered by Cardiovascular Credentialing International (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 have 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