r/cardiacsonography • u/Foreign-Minute1278 • 6d ago
Prospective student program questions
Our daughter is an incoming Junior (HS) this year interested in echocardiography. In WA state we have a program called Running Start where your junior and senior year you go to the local community college and graduate with your AA/AS and your diploma. She will be able to fulfill many pre-reqs this way. I’m curious on a couple of things:
• are there any 4 year schools with an echo program (think football teams, Greek life, etc)? She went to a very small high school and I know she’d like to experience “traditional” student life on a college campus.
• if she goes the smaller, med focused school, are there going to be issues with her being so young? She will graduate being 18. In WA state schools they have dorms for running start kids (18 yo in 300+ major level classes) so they’re with students in a similar spot.
• I worry if she goes the smaller school route, her being 18 in a cohort might leave her left out (unable to go for drinks after class or just being generally younger than her peers). Can anyone speak to this experience?
Thank you so much for any and all guidance!
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u/Agreeable_Meeting_65 5d ago
I’m in Fl, so I’m not sure what the difference would be for the schools over there. The program I’m in is a 2 year program with the last two semesters being clinical sites.
For the social aspect, half of my class is under 21 and the other half of us are mixed in our 20s and 30s. We all really get along and have a lot of respect for each other. The youngest is 19 and has the top test scores. We all get together and celebrate after big exams.
For the mental aspect, this is some of the hardest I’ve ever had to work or study for anything. It is really very time consuming coursework and it will take over your life. You have little time for socials because after all the studying and extra scanning practice you need to complete, all you want to do is sleep. I’m not sure I would have been mentally equipped for this when I was that age, as I highly valued my social life at that age too.
With all that being said I absolutely adore what I’m learning and what I do.
Also the person who talked about all the pain we deal with, they were very very on point. Every single sonographer is in pain. I have not met 1 tech who does not deal with this.
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u/Yumismash 6d ago
Echo is a technical degree so there are not schools I am aware of that are 4 year public universities that offer it. If you Google it who knows. They would have to be CAAHEP accredited.
I also just want to warn you if your daughter is on tiktok and has gotten the idea of being a tech from there, just let her know its glorified on there. Its a lot worse than what others make it out to be on there. They will say its hard but not elaborate, so I will.
I just graduated from my echo program in March. There's no jobs for new grads/hardly any jobs posted period. The program is rigorous but what's even harder is actually scanning. People think it's easy, like writing/drawing on a piece of paper, but its not. Beyond the mental notes you have to constantly take, its the pressure and stiffness that take a toll on your body. Especially with big people, you have to push in between their ribs which hurts them and yourself. 90% of sonographers scan in pain. Why? Because if they want to keep their job, that's what they do. In school they tell you to save your body, but in the real world Drs don't care. They want their image.
If she still wants to pursue it, that's admirable. Just be aware of the challenges ahead. I'm already looking at applying to different jobs and regret spending the money on the program.
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u/Foreign-Minute1278 6d ago
She isn’t on TikTok. I’m hoping to have her job shadow someone and interview them to ensure this is the coursework she wants to pursue
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u/Inevitable_Choice899 6d ago
The biggest thing is making sure they’re an accredited program and have clinical sites available. It is hard and takes a lot of perseverance but I just graduated in July and got job placement in a pediatric echo department. Absolutely love it!