Welcome to another insightful episode of A Couple of Rad Techs Podcast , hosted by the experienced medical imaging professional, Chaundria | Radiology Technologist . With over 20 years in the field, Chaundria | Radiology Technologist is here to share essential tips and tricks to help you elevate your career as an MRI Technologist.

If you're a radiologic technology student looking to get off the waitlist and into your desired program, this podcast episode is packed with essential tips just for you.

The main takeaway? Your GPA is important, but it’s not the only factor schools consider when selecting candidates; your volunteer experience and interpersonal skills can set you apart. Speaker A emphasizes the value of maintaining a solid GPA while also encouraging you to showcase your volunteer work, as it demonstrates compassion and empathy—qualities that matter in healthcare. You'll also discover practical strategies for improving your grades, such as utilizing free tutoring resources at your local library.

So, if you're feeling lost in the application process and unsure of how to enhance your chances, tune in for insights that can help you stand out in the competitive field of radiologic technology.

Radiologic technology students often find themselves tangled in the competitive web of admissions, where GPAs and volunteer work become the keys to unlocking their dream programs. The podcast dives deep into practical and actionable strategies for students aiming to strengthen their applications and stand out in a sea of candidates. With a focus on the importance of GPA, the host emphasizes that while high grades can enhance an application, they don't tell the full story. Admissions panels are looking for qualities beyond academic performance—qualities that reflect compassion, empathy, and the ability to work well in a team, especially in high-pressure environments like healthcare.

• The discussion also highlights the value of volunteer work, recommending that students seek out opportunities to give back to their communities. This not only enriches their applications but also allows them to develop vital interpersonal skills that are crucial for a successful career in radiology. Real-life anecdotes from the host about volunteering in nursing homes illustrate the profound impact this can have, not just on their applications but also on their personal growth and understanding of the patient experience.
• The episode doesn't shy away from addressing the realities of being a radiologic technologist. It encourages students to embrace the challenges of their chosen field, including the need for flexibility and adaptability in patient care. By weaving together personal experiences and expert advice, the podcast equips aspiring radiologists with the tools they need to navigate their educational journeys and secure their spots in competitive programs, emphasizing that being a well-rounded candidate is just as important as academic excellence.

Takeaways:

• Maintain a GPA above 3.0 to improve your chances of getting accepted into radiology programs.
• Utilize free tutoring services at your local library to help boost your grades.
• Engage in volunteer work to demonstrate compassion and empathy on your application.
• Highlight your strengths and personal growth experiences in interviews to stand out.
• Be flexible and ready to adapt to challenging situations in the clinical environment.
• Remember that grades aren't everything; show your personality and dedication during interviews.

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radiologic technology tips, get into radiology program, radiology school application advice, improve GPA for radiology, volunteering for radiology students, radiologic technologist qualities, study tips for radiology students, library resources for students, radiology program waitlist, how to stand out in radiology applications, radiologic technology prerequisites, student success in radiology, volunteering experience for medical school, radiology GPA requirements, radiology program competitiveness, flexible skills for radiology, tutoring resources for radiology students, compassionate care in radiology, radiologic technology interview tips, best practices for radiology students

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So if you are a radiologic technology student and you're trying to get into a radiology tech program, here are five things that I would suggest that you do.

I just made a video about it, so if you haven't seen the video, I'm going to be talking on that video right now.

So about a gpa.

And they go by your gpa.

Well, excuse me.

Not all schools require that they're going to choose people who have high GPAs.

That's not always the case.

But what they do do is take into consideration.

They're like point systems sometimes, and they take into consideration what your GPA is.

So if you go and take your prereqs and all of Your prereqs are Cs and Ds, what does that say about your effort?

It's not so much about how smart you are because there are people with high GPAs that are not very intelligent.

They're book smart, but they're not very intelligent.

So that doesn't always make for a good technologist.

Just because you have good grades, it doesn't mean you.

I'm going to get to that.

How well you deal with people, co workers and patients as well.

Your grades don't tell that all.

That tells a lot of times to directors and people that are in positions to decide which students should come into our radiology program.

Your grades tell basically how well you comprehend what kind of study habits you have because most people just don't study study.

And that I found as being an instructor in MRI for seven years is most people just don't take the time to apply themselves and study.

It's not about aptitude, it's about your desire to really, really study and get the information.

How do you carve out time to study?

If you're struggling with grades, your local library can give you a tutor for free.

That's going to be my.

If you want to get those grades up to apply to a radiology program, Radiologic technology premiere, go to your local library, get a library card.

All of this stuff is free.

I know there are a lot of things out there, people out there that charge you for tutoring.

I mean, if you want to get a really good tutor, you know what you're getting?

Yeah.

Pay for you pay for what you get.

But you're trying to go to school to further your education.

I personally have a library card and I make use of it.

All of the free stuff that I can get, I use.

And I would encourage you to do the same thing.

Good morning from Portland.

Thank You, I would encourage you to do the same thing.

So that's my first tip, is making sure those grades are up.

And if you can't get the grades up by yourself, hey, everybody.

If you can't get the grades up by yourself, go to your local library, get a free library card and get a free tutor.

It will help because these are classes that if you've been out of school for any time and you went back to radiology school like me years after high school, that stuff kind of, you know, it doesn't.

Hello, everybody.

That stuff doesn't stick, so you need a refresher.

I'm trying to teach you guys the quick, easy and least expensive way to go back to radiologic technology school.

Those prereqs that tess the exam, HESI exam, whatever it's called, that is a little hard for some people.

So if you need some tutoring, be sure check out your local library.

Now let's go to my next video.

Oh, the other part about grades.

Don't worry about being a straight A student.

Get that GPA above 3.0.

That tells them a lot.

And get it as you can get it.

And when you don't try to cram, some people don't want to take so long to get their prereqs done.

So they'll cram all these six classes into one or two semesters.

I don't advise that.

Take your time.

Maybe take like one of the hard classes.

If you're not good at anatomy and physiology with a lab.

Don't take that with a chemistry.

Do not take that with a chemistry.

Space those things out.

What I do is take, because I'm going back for my degree as well.

I take one hard class and two easy ones, but I'm going to take at least three.

I've always, even when I finished my first education in college, I continue to take classes.

The class, it keeps your brain going.

So even after you go to radiology technology school, I'm gonna.

If you follow me, I'm gonna encourage you to continue to take classes, take continue education, which you have to do as a radiologic technologist, but continue to do those things so you get your brain, the cobwebs moving.

Right, right, right.

Who agrees with many comments?

Okay, if you have any volunteering that you're doing, where are you?

So this is the next part that I say.

Number two, you want to buy here.

That looks really good on an application to go to school to be a radiologic technologist.

Volunteer.

You can volunteer at a puppy shelter, a dog Shelter, cat shelter, a nursing home.

I did volunteer work at nursing homes before the pandemic for a couple years.

It was so fulfilling.

I happened into it.

It wasn't something I was looking for.

I had a friend who grandmother was in there, and I decided, let me go.

She couldn't go visit, so she asked me, so I did.

And I see all these people in there that are lonely.

Nobody's visiting them.

And I just had to go back every week to visit my friend's grandma because she was just a sweetheart.

And we became really good friends, but also to visit all the other people.

Then my uncle got put in a nursing home, so I would go visit him every week.

So I have more friends.

I'm telling you, that looks really.

It says a lot about you.

I'm not saying you have to do a nursing home, but when you take your time to volunteer, some people say, well, can I go to school to be a cna?

Would that look good on my application?

I'm going to tell you, volunteering looks even better.

I know everybody's like, I don't want to do something I'm not getting paid for, but y'all take my advice.

Volunteering is like chef's kiss on an application to go to school for any medical.

Because that, you know what that shows?

That shows you have compassion, you have empathy.

You.

You.

You don't mind dealing with.

Even some of the people in that society deems we're going to put them away.

They're not useful anymore.

That says a lot about you.

When you volunteer for those that can give you nothing back.

When you give to someone, they can't give something back that is better than a 4.0 GPA.

If I was accepting students, I'm telling you, a school is looking for people who are going to finish the program, make the school just shine, go into clinicals and take care of people and not be a hazard and a liability to the program.

They don't want students in there that talk about patients in their most vulnerable state and.

And do things that are just not nice.

And sometimes you do get people that come through the programs that do do those things and even graduate.

But you can weed people out through this application process like this.

So let's get on to number three.

Okay, so this is the third thing.

Making sure that you highlight the things that you are good at.

And if you're not sure what you're good at, stop after this video.

Not right now, but stop after this video.

And I want you to get pen and paper, get a Tablet, pick up your phone, go to your notes section and write down 10 things that are really, really solid about you that are really good.

This is going to help them to see that when they ask you this question, you're going to say, well, on this such and such date, this is what I learned about myself.

Situation isn't something that is going to put you in a positive light.

Always include in the end of the story.

They're like, learn that from that.

I would have been so embarrassed.

You got your teeth.

These instructors going, wow, that's impressive.

They didn't get down on themselves or they didn't say, oh, I'm above that counsel, or that correction.

Learn from it.

You know what that says about you.

You're going to be an excellent student, you're going to be an excellent technologist, and you're going to be a pleasure to teach.

Because as an instructor, it is very hard to have to tell another grown adult basic things, but also to correct them.

People don't take correction well.

I was an instructor.

I had people.

I got a whole video.

I'm going to do about that when I can.

I got to be careful what I say.

But I'm telling you, there are people who will not take, they will not just take onus of the fact that, that they didn't read the directions and they did something wrong.

They're going to say, you, the instructor, you were wrong because you gave me an F.

You didn't do the, you didn't do the, the, the class assignment.

I can't give you a, A, B, C or D.

You get a F I.

There, there.

I'm telling you, it's really hard being an instructor.

I'm not saying all instructors, but it's hard being an instructor because you're trying to help people and you have to critique and let people know.

And if you are interviewing someone for your radiology program that feels like they have never learned anything, they have done everything perfectly, they just have all these accolades and everybody's got something to work on.

If you can pull out at least one, maybe two experiences, just give them three, three tops.

One that shines makes you shine, another one where you learned a lesson, and a third one that's kind of diff.

If you can give them three different ones, but don't make them all that are positive, don't make them all that are negative.

You gotta, you gotta build yourself up.

You got to talk yourself up and make sure they know you are confident and that you are aware of your limitations and that you are there to learn because you are paying for this education.

You appreciate the instructors that you have and you're looking forward to learning from them.

Now, I'm not giving you a script to say.

I'm just telling you these are some things.

So let's get on to number four and five.

Yes.

This is back to talking yourself up.

You want to show that I like being an expert in what I do.

So when you see those good grades that I got in my prereqs in college that I was in before and in high school, you see all those good grades, it wasn't because I was just super smart.

I applied myself, I studied, I was in study groups.

I got a tutor.

I went to my library and got a free tutor because my parents were like, we're not paying for a tutor or we can't afford to pay for a tutor.

So what I did, I want to be an expert at what I do.

I wasn't good at chemistry.

So you know what I did?

I went and got me a library card and I got a free tutor and I got a tutor that could teach me all about chemistry.

And I became an expert at chemistry.

I wasn't good at it at first, but I took the necessary steps to become good at it.

Y'all, are these.

Is this helpful?

I.

I just need to know, is this helpful?

Because I want to give you guys content about radiology that is real, that is helpful and practical.

But I don't want to be just cookie cutter, something you can Google.

These are things that I've experienced as a technologist, as an instructor in my many facets in the field of radiology.

And I want to pass it on to you guys.

So if this was helpful, I got one more I'm going to share with you of how you can really, really stand out when applying to a radiologic technology program, especially when they're all so competitive and you maybe don't want to go to a private school that's going to cost you arm and a leg, or you are tired of being on a wait list, or you, you really want to just jump ahead of that program that you really, really, really want to get into.

Not a wait list, but you just want to get into this.

But you got that one that you want to get into.

Go ahead and hit that subscribe button.

Make sure you turn on notifications so that way you'll be notified of all videos that I will make.

Because I'm going to be doing this more regularly here on YouTube and I don't want you guys to miss it.

So let's see what number five is.

Being able to be flexible is the fifth thing.

This is key because so many people, unfortunately, do not know how to pivot.

If you don't fit into their comfortable kind of per, they're making them comfortable.

And as a technologist, you can't be that way.

You have got to be ready to deal with the patient that's having a mental breakdown.

And you still got to be able to show them love and empathy and kindness and get their scan done.

You have to be able to deal with that parent that don't want you touching that child, because the child flailing and kicking don't want to X ray, but, you know, ain't nothing wrong with the child, and they need to get this X ray so y'all can figure out what's wrong.

You have to be able to deal with geriatric patients who don't want to swallow the barium, who don't want to lay down and want to get out of their stretcher, and might be really mean with what they say, but, you know, they have dementia.

How do you deal with people that are so sweet, but they're drooling?

How do you deal with people that don't speak your language?

Do you.

How do you deal with people that are hard of hearing or hearing impaired, visually impaired?

I mean, these are all things that you're going to have to show when you're applying and you want to stand out to radiology technology programs that are competitive.

You have got to show why you are the one they need to choose.

And don't choose me just based off of a lottery or choose based off of my grades, because I come with so much more.

I want you guys to understand that when instructors choose students to come to these programs, it's not always based just on your grades.

And I feel like society has made us feel like if you don't have a master's degree, if you don't have straight A's, you're nothing.

No, not all people who get straight A's are good with patients or good in the field of radiology and will make good students.

And I need you guys to understand that there's so much more to the process of standing out for radiology technology programs and getting into them than your grades.

They do not just solely go on your grades.

And this is no insider information, but I really wanted to make this video so I could be very clear that be yourself when you go into your interviews.

And if you see now after this video, that Maybe you need to tweak some things so that way you still want to be genuine but you can have time to work on who you are.

If you're not a flexible or empathetic or or kind person you can work on that because your grades are not going to solely get you in just because You've been an A 4.0 student since high school.

That is not it.

What gets it and what is going to take you through a radiology program and go on to be a fantastic radiologic technologist and getting you in a school you want to be in is going to be all of those things.

Being yourself, showing why you are qualified to stand out above the rest and be in this program this year, not next year, not on the wait list but this year.

Hopefully this is helpful.

Again if it was, be sure to click the subscribe button, turn on your notifications and I appreciate your time and everybody showing up in the comments.

Toodles.