Respiratory Care Program Admission

The Respiratory Care Program takes pride in its safety program, which follows national guidelines published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Students admitted to the program must arrange for a physical examination and submit the completed health examination form to the RC Program Coordinator prior to the first day of classes. The completed health examination form is required for full admission into the RC program.

Essential functions for acceptance into the Respiratory Care program include:
• Sufficient vision to effectively operate instruments and equipment
• The ability to visually differentiate colors
• Motor functions sufficient to permit effective operation of instruments and equipment
• Communications skills adequate for transmitting and receiving information from patients and hospital setting
• Good general health as evaluated by a physician during a physical examination including urinalysis, RPR, and PPD tests.
• Appropriate vaccinations including a current tetanus toxoid, DPT, MMR, polio and Hepatitis B vaccine. A Hepatitis B surface antibody test demonstrating sufficient antibody titer may be submitted in lieu of the hepatitis vaccine series. All students are required to obtain a Hepatitis B surface antibody titer six months after their final vaccination.

Admission Procedures:
Admission into the RC Program at Fairmont State is selective and students are admitted each year prior to the opening of the Summer session.

To be considered for admission, applicants must:
1. Submit an application for admission designating RC as a major field of study, official ACT, SAT or Compass scores, GED or high school transcripts, and college transcripts (if applicable).
2. Meet the general admission requirements of Pierpont Community & Technical College.
3. Have a high school GPA of 2.0 or better and, if applicable, a college GPA of 2.0 or better.
4. Have successfully completed one year of study in Biology, Chemistry, and Algebra in high school or one semester in college.
5. Have a score of 19 or better on the Math 1110 or Math 1107 section of the ACT (or SAT equivalent) or meet the prerequisites for Math 1100 and Chem 1101.
6. Have a score of 18 or better on the English section of the ACT (or SAT equivalent) or meet the prerequisites for English 1104.
7. Submit program application with $20 application fee. An impartial scoring system is employed to rank the RC applicants. ACT/SAT/Compass scores, high school or college GPA, GED scores, grades in high school chemistry, biology, algebra, and grades in any college courses completed which may be applied to the RC curriculum requirements are considered in the evaluation process. Work in the health care field and other areas of employment will be considered. Applicants may be interviewed in cases where rankings are equivalent.