Selective Admission for Health Professions Programs

Programs and Deadlines

Admission to several Parkland health professions programs involves special procedures and deadlines.  These programs include:

• Dental Hygiene
• EMT-Basic
• EMT-Paramedic
• Medical Assisting
• Nursing
• Practical Nursing
• Occupational Therapy Assistant
• Radiologic Technology
• Respiratory Care
• Surgical Technology
• Veterinary Technology

Students interested in applying to a health professions program should obtain a copy of the application checklist explaining admission procedures for their specific program from the Office of Admissions and Records (U214) or from the program webpage at parkland.edu/hp. The application deadline for most health professions programs is March 1 prior to fall semester enrollment. Programs with spring semester admissions also have an October 1 application deadline.

Students seeking admission to a health professions program are encouraged to submit all required credentials as early as possible. Once the selection process begins, qualified applicants will continue to be accepted on a monthly basis until programs are filled. It should be noted that many programs fill by the application deadline.

More information can be found on the Parkland Health Professions website.

Selective Admissions Information

Selective admissions information for Dental Hygiene, Practical Nursing, Medical Assisting, Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Radiologic Technologist, Respiratory Care, Surgical Technology, and Veterinary Technology programs:

1. Admission into most Parkland College Health Professions programs is selective, which means that admissions is competitive and programs may have their own admissions criteria and minimum scores for admission. You must be accepted into the program prior to taking any courses in the major. Students are conditionally admitted to all selective admissions programs until all the program requirements are fulfilled by the established deadlines.
2. To determine if your program of interest has selective admission, or if additional admission criteria are used, please see the program page or visit the website for that program. A selective admission “score” is required for most programs.
3. A specialized orientation, called “Get the Facts,” is online and is required for all applicants. At the end of the presentation students are directed to take a brief survey. The information in this orientation is extremely important for understanding the selective admission process and how scores are determined.
4. It is strongly recommended that you work closely with an academic success advisor or a Health Professions dean, department chair, or program director when seeking entrance to a Health Professions program.
5. Students who wish to apply transfer credit towards a Health Professions degree or certificate should verify acceptable credits before applying to the program by sending official transcripts to Parkland College Admissions and Records and requesting a transcript evaluation. Only undergraduate credit from regionally accredited institutions is accepted for scoring.
6. Application deadlines for selective admissions programs are March 1 for fall admission and October 1 for spring admission, where applicable. Programs will continue to accept applications after the deadline when space is available. Check with the program director for more information.
7. Admission to Parkland College does not guarantee a student’s admission into any selective admissions program. Students who have not yet been accepted to the program of their choice will have a program code that begins with the letters A.G.S. (Associate in General Studies) followed by the letters of their selected program (for example DHG, NUR, OTA, XRA, RTT, SUR, VTT). Once the student is admitted to the selective admissions program, the program code changes to A.A.S. (Associate in Applied Science) followed by the letters of the major. The same coding process is used for certificate (CER) students.
8. Students seeking admission into a Health Professions program should be aware of the following policies and procedures:
   1. All biology courses required in Health Professions programs must be taken within the past five years of application to the program. If you have taken Anatomy and Physiology or microbiology at another college, you should contact the Parkland College Natural Sciences Department for questions regarding transferability.
   2. BIO 121  requires high school or college chemistry, or passing score on the chemistry competency test within the past three years prior to taking BIO 121.
   3. Mathematics skills are important to each Health Professions program. Math assessment, high school placement, and developmental math expire after two years. Check the math requirement for each program carefully. Math assessment is not required if you have transferable college-level math taken within five years.
   4. Students for whom English is a second language will be required to take TOEFL or IELTS and achieve the minimum or greater scores in reading, listening, speaking, and writing, established by each program prior to admission to any Health Professions program (except Massage Therapy). Spoken and written language skills are critical to student success in clinical courses. Accurate communication between the students and patients, families, care providers, physicians, all facility employees, and faculty is essential to patient safety. See the Health Professions website for more information.
9. Prospective and admitted Health Professions students will need to meet the following clinical eligibility requirements depending on the specific program (refer to program website):
   1. Upon admission, students may be required to pass a background check, drug screen, physical, and TB test and present evidence of immunization and Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
   2. American Heart Association BLS (Basic Life Support) Healthcare Provider or Red Cross Professional Rescuer cards are the only acceptable BLS cards for the Health Professions programs. No other BLS cards or BLS classes are accepted. KIN 183  does not meet this requirement.
   3. Most Health Professions programs require a background check and drug testing for entrance to clinical sites. The Illinois Department of Public Health list of disqualifying conditions will be used to determine eligibility for all other programs. A positive finding may limit entry to the program, clinical placement, advancement in a program, license to practice, and/or employment. Contact the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation at 217/785-0800.
   4. Students are required to have and maintain a current Healthcare Record. All programs (except Veterinary Technology) must maintain a current BLS card, as specified above, while enrolled in a Health Professions program. Dates must be good through the semester in which the student is enrolled. Failure to maintain these important clinical and contractual credentials could result in dismissal from the course and/or the program.
   5. Students are responsible for the cost of screening required by clinical agencies, including but not limited to background checks, drug screening, physical, and immunizations or proof of immunizations. These costs are not all included in course fees.

Background Checks

Licensure

Students considering application to a health professions program need to be aware of potential legal limitations on licensure. Upon making application for the licensure exam, graduates may be required to provide personal history information by answering the following questions:

1. Have you been convicted of any criminal offense in any state or in federal court (other than minor traffic violations)?
2. Do you now suffer, have you suffered from, been diagnosed as having, or been treated for any disease or condition which is generally regarded by the medical community as chronic, i.e., (1) mental or emotional disease or condition, (2) alcohol or other substance abuse, (3) physical disease or condition that presently interferes with your ability to practice your profession?
3. Have you been denied a professional license or permit, or privilege of taking an examination, or had a professional license or permit disciplined in any way by any licensing authority in Illinois or elsewhere?
4. Have you ever been discharged other than honorably from the armed service or from a city, county, state, or federal position?
5. Are you a U.S. citizen or a lawfully admitted alien of the United States?

The Illinois Nurse Practice Act and Nursing Rules state that the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation may refuse to issue a license because of any “deceptive statement in any document connected with the practice of nursing pursuant to this Act.”

Employment

Students should also be aware that many health care institutions now require drug and alcohol screening as well as a national criminal background check as part of their employment processes.

Nurse Assistant program

Nurse Assistant (CNA) course (NAS 111 ) students must complete and pass a live scan fingerprint background check prior to enrolling in the course.

Clinicals

Most health professions programs require students to pass a background check to be eligible for clinical.

Program Requirements

Program procedures vary. For additional information on each requirement, refer to the specific program handbook.

1. Grades greater than or equal to a C and a Program Grade Point Average (PGPA) of 2.0 are required for all Health Professions program courses. Some programs require a PGPA higher than 2.0.
2. Program grading scales are often higher than the traditional college scale.
3. Each program has requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress, including but not limited to the following: passing clinical; requirements for grade point average; number of allowable course withdrawals or repetitions; criteria for program dismissal; attendance, including limits regarding attendance; readmission to the program; professional behavior; and criteria for academic probation.
4. Students who receive a clinical course failure may not withdraw from the course without the permission of the faculty. Students who have been dismissed from a clinical site may receive a clinical failure and may or may not be placed in another clinical facility.
5. Graduation requirements are specific for each program.
6. Some programs have time limits, requiring program completion within a specified number of semesters or years.
7. Credit/No Credit options are not available for any program courses.
8. Students admitted to a Health Professions program or returning to a program after an absence must follow the catalog specified by the program handbook.
9. Students should be aware that repeating a course will require paying a course repeat fee in addition to required tuition and fees.
10. Selective admission students follow the catalog that is in effect when they take their first program course.

A student may be dismissed from a Health Professions program on any of the following grounds:

• behavior in the classroom, laboratory, or clinical that jeopardizes the safety of others;
• unethical or illegal behavior;
• incompetence; and
• impaired practice.

Information on procedures related to program dismissal is provided in the student program handbook.