Diagnostic Imaging

Position yourself for the next step in your imaging career

An aging workforce, new technologies, and the growing demand for qualified health professionals may have you thinking about your next career move. Use your active registry to take another step in your healthcare career with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences: Diagnostic Imaging degree, offered online through the UW Flexible Option.

A bachelor’s degree in Diagnostic Imaging will prepare you to expand your career into other areas of medical imaging and health-related industries and assume a wide range of positions and leadership roles in hospitals and clinics, including quality-assurance manager, healthcare administrator, diagnostic imaging educator, or prepare for an advanced degree.

Offered in the self-paced, competency-based UW Flexible Option format, this degree completion program offers you the opportunity to build on your education and experience. You’ll develop and strengthen your skills in leadership, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and ethics—essential skills for success in healthcare and related professional settings.

What You’ll Learn

• How to integrate leadership, management, teaching and learning methods, and healthcare regulations into professional practice
• Effective communication skills as appropriate in given situations or encounters
• Integrative problem-solving, analytical and critical thinking skills
• How to demonstrate a commitment to professional growth ethical values, career development, scholarly activities, and contributions to the profession and post-baccalaureate education
• The breadth and depth of the university educational preparation, including understanding culturally diverse communities

Earn additional credentials

The UW-Milwaukee Diagnostic Imaging degree program is designed to allow you to earn additional credentials while earning your degree—like the Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare Microcredential and Health Care Informatics Certificate.

Earning the Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare Microcredential is as easy as completing two courses in the Diagnostic Imaging degree program and one elective. Upon completion of these courses, you’ll be awarded a digital badge that you can use anywhere to show your accomplishment and your interprofessional leadership skills, while still earning your degree. Interested in earning this microcredential, but not the degree? Learn more.

You can earn the Health Care Informatics certificate by completing three required Diagnostic Imaging courses and three Information Studies courses that make up the certificate. You’ll gain the skills and knowledge to understand, analyze, and evaluate the information used by successful healthcare organizations to provide patient care. In addition, this certificate can prepare you for a wide range of career options with hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical firms, as well as companies who design, develop, and implement health information systems. Interested in earning this certificate, but not the Diagnostic Imaging degree? Learn more.

Who Should Apply

Designed for experienced healthcare and imaging professionals who have one of the following active registries:

• ARDMS (American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography)
• ARMRIT (American Registry of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologists)
• ARRT (American Registry of Radiologic Technologists)
• CCI (Cardiovascular Credentialing International) registry

Your active registry gives you a minimum of 60 advanced standing credits toward the 120 credits needed for completion. Upon admission to UWM and confirmation of your active registry, you will be awarded a minimum of 60 credits toward completion of your degree.

Apply Now

Don’t have an active registry, but still want a bachelor’s degree? Check out the Health Sciences degree.

Benefits of the UW Flexible Option

The UW Flexible Option is a national pioneer in competency-based education for adult learners. This means you can earn your degree without sacrificing your commitments to work and life. The competency-based, self-paced format of UW Flexible Option programs fits around your schedule, as you balance your responsibilities with your educational goals. In this program you’ll:

• Build on your active registry and the expertise you have developed on the job and in your previous experience or academic work.
• Fit school into your life. Start any month. Without semester schedules, group work, class discussions, or scheduled log-on requirements, you can earn your degree when it works for you. 
• Control your pace. Complete assignments when you’re able and then move on to the next. Take a break when life gets busy. 
• Earn an affordable degree. The Flex Tuition Guarantee locks in your tuition rate while you are actively enrolled in the program. 

About UW-Milwaukee

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Health Professions and Sciences offers a wide array of health-related academic programs in biomedical sciences, global health, health care administration, nursing, the rehabilitation sciences and sustainable peacebuilding.

The faculty and staff in these areas are training our graduates for high-demand careers. Many of our degree programs are nationally recognized and ranked and have achieved the highest accreditation possible.

Accreditation

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges & Schools.

Meet the UW-Milwaukee Faculty

This degree completion program requires a minimum of 120 credits. Upon admission to UWM and confirmation of your active registry, you will be awarded a minimum of 60 credits toward your degree.

The curriculum includes 39 required credits plus any general education requirements and elective credits for a 120 credit UW-Milwaukee bachelor’s degree.

UW-Milwaukee is a national leader in maximizing credit transfer. Your academic program requirements will depend on the number of credits you transfer in and previously completed courses which may meet general education or program requirements.

Lower Division Coursework

Upper Division Coursework 

Earn a microcredential before you complete your degree

Take three courses to earn the Interprofessional Leadership in Healthcare microcredential. You’ll be awarded a digital badge that signifies to employers you have the knowledge and skills needed to lead interprofessional teams. Current students can check with your Success Coach to learn more about your progress. Required microcredential courses include:

• BMS 433 Teamwork in the Health Professions
• DMI 496 Professional Growth and Career Advancement in Diagnostic Imaging Professions
• BMS 435 Foundations for Interprofessional Education and Practice

Choose your electives to earn a certificate with your degree

The Health Care Informatics certificate features 18 credits (6 courses) and can be completed while you earn your Diagnostic Imaging bachelor’s degree. Nine credits are included in the diagnostic imaging curriculum. You will learn fundamental skills in medical terminology, database technology, and data management in this multidisciplinary certificate offered collaboratively through the UW-Milwaukee College of Health Professions and Sciences, School of Information Studies, and School of Nursing. Current students, check with your Success Coach to learn more about your progress. Required certificate courses include:

• INFOST 110 Essentials of Information Science and Technology
• BMS 205 Introduction to Diagnostic Medicine
• HS 311 Law and Ethics for Healthcare Professionals
• INFOST 340 Introduction to Systems Analysis
• INFOST 379 Data Analysis & Visualization for the Information Professional
• NURS 453 Information Management and Healthcare Technology

The UW Flexible Option offers working adults – like you – a more affordable way to finish a degree. Your coursework takes place in subscription periods – rather than semesters. These subscription periods start every single month, and are approximately 12 weeks long.

Instead of paying based on your course or credit load, you choose between two flat rate tuition plans. Our unique subscription period structure and flat-rate tuition model means you are in control of both your schedule and your cost.

Financial Aid and the Aspire Scholarship are available for this program. We also encourage speaking with your employer about workplace tuition assistance.

• All-You-Can-Learn Option: Choosing this option allows you to enroll in as many courses as you have time for within the subscription period for a flat tuition rate of $2,250. You can add additional courses in your subscription period if you finish others early.
• Single Course Option: You may also decide you would like to focus on just one course at a time. The tuition for this option is $1,125.  In this option, you are not eligible to add additional courses during your subscription period if you finish the first one early. In this case, you must wait until your next subscription period to add additional courses.

You can switch back and forth between these tuition options with each new subscription period. For example, perhaps over the summer you do the Single Course option because your family is home on summer break, but once the kids go back to school in the fall you switch to the All-You-Can-Learn option.

Are there any additional fees?

There are no segregated fees with this program, which saves you hundreds of dollars per credit hour. However, your tuition does not include the cost of textbooks or other special materials that may be required for individual courses.

Finishing your degree is closer than you think! Schedule an advising call at 608-800-6762 or contact us at flex@uwex.wisconsin.edu.

Minimum Academic Requirements

Candidates for the Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Sciences Diagnostic Imaging degree must have an Associate Degree in a related field (e.g. diagnostic imaging, medical sonography, radiography) OR a hospital-based diagnostic imaging training program. You must also have an electronic copy of an active ARRT, ARMRIT, ARDMS, or CCI registry card.

• Note to students applying to the Diagnostic Imaging program – It is not necessary for graduates of a hospital-based training program to acquire a transcript for admission.  For associate-degree holders, transcripts are still needed for transfer-credit assessment.

Transfer credit will be awarded from degree-granting colleges or universities with institutional accreditation from an accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).  Non-CHEA approved institutional accreditors recognized by the Department of Education will be considered on a case-by-case basis and transfer credit allowed if appropriate based on the quality, comparability, and applicability of the coursework.  Schools with programmatic accreditation may be evaluated for transfer if the accreditor is recognized by CHEA and the relevant coursework falls within the accreditor’s area of specialization.

How to Apply

• You may apply up to five months in advance of your desired start date. See Steps to Apply.
• If previously enrolled in Flex, please review our returning student admissions process.

Transfer Credit Evaluations

• Transfer credit is awarded for college-level coursework completed at regionally accredited institutions.  See Transfer Credit Evaluations for more information.
• Learn more about how credit by exam and military coursework may apply towards your degree.

Still have questions?  Check out our Admission FAQ page.