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Mri Or Cat Scan Tech?

I am looking into being an MRI or Cat scan tech but do not know to much information on it at the moment. Does anyone know how long schooling is and what the starting pay is for either? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Posted on August 18, 2009 at 2:23 am by radiology · Permalink
In: Cat Scan Technician Schools · Tagged with: ,

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  1. Written by julius d
    on August 18, 2009 at 3:12 am
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    Your schools are usually junior (community) colleges or technical schools. Most prefer a few pre-reqs but you can take some of these while you are in the program. I took 1 semester focused on just the pre-reqs for the radiology program and took care of 75% of them then got in right after.
    Some schools base entrance on a waiting list while others will do interviews to pick the best candidates.
    There are some bachelors degree programs while an overwhelming majority of programs are 2-year associates programs. There are also some scattered certificate programs out there (stay away from these).
    Once out of radiology school, most Imaging departments want you to do a year of diagnostic radiology (regular x-rays) before specializing in a field. Most of the time there is cross-training within the Imaging department so you are getting paid to learn a new field (MRI or CT). Although short formal courses are gaining popularity. There is now CT, Ultrasound, Mammography courses offered at the local community college.
    So you’re looking at 2.5 or 3 years to start getting paid, and 4 years before you can go into a specialty.
    Base radiology pay in my hospital is 18/hr and the specialties are around 22/hr. So depending on how many hours you work per week theres a good salary for a relative small investment of 2.5 or 3 years of school. Outside of healthcare, you really dont find that kind of return on an associates degree.
    go to http://www.arrt.org for a list of schools

  2. Written by Corky
    on August 18, 2009 at 3:22 am
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    The type of degree you want to look into is an associate-level degree called radiologic technology. Like nursing though it requires prerequisite science courses which usually make it more of a 4-year track, and also like nursing additional education/certification is available and required for more advanced positions. Although I am not certain, I believe MRI/CT would require additional training. Like anything else the pay depends on where you live and what you do, but $40-45K/year is a pretty good starting salary estimate for a general rads tech.