Application Submission Guidelines

APPLICATION SUBMISSION PROCESS

Each fall semester, a cohort group will be selected to begin the two-year sequence of coursework in the RT Program. No student may enroll directly into the RT Program; students must first submit an application, then be formally selected BEFORE they may enroll into any Respiratory Therapy course, except for Respiratory Therapy 101 (RT Introductory Class.) A complete application must be received by the RT Program BEFORE the student will be considered for possible admission.

All applicants will be notified via email within a month of their application being submitted to the RT Program on whether the application is incomplete or complete. If the application is determined to be incomplete, the applicant will be notified what is required to complete the application. Incomplete applications will be held for only one year; after the one-year period ends, the applications will be discarded. Completed applications are placed into the cohort applicant pool.

Applications must be submitted with:

  1. Transcripts to verify the completion of the required prerequisite coursework; for students utilizing classes taken within the nine-campus LACCD system, unofficial transcripts from the Student Information System (SIS) are permitted. Students who wish to use courses taken outside LACCD must first transfer those courses to ELAC for acceptance; please refer to the section below regarding the process for Transfer Students.
  2. Student Resume, to which you should include any volunteer work, college degrees, any type of licensure, or hospital training cards (Eg: BLS card, Fire card, etc.)

    A. Please write a Life Experience or Special Circumstances section on your resume or RT Application.
  3. If you are a veteran or the spouse of a veteran, you will want to include Defense Department Form 214 (DD214)

The annual application period will run from the start of the fall semester until April 15, of the following year; this time may be extended at the discretion of the RT Program Director, Chairperson and/or Department Dean if the cohort capacity has not been reached. Pre-clinical clearances such as the health examination, drug screening, background check and CPR certification are not required at the time of application. Please Note: Do NOT submit the RT application to the College Admissions Office.

Transfer Students

For Respiratory Therapy applicants, if any portion of the prerequisite courses have been taken outside of the nine campus LACCD system, you will provide unofficial transcripts when submitting the RT Application online. If you get accepted into the RT Program Cohort; you will need to submit two sets of “Official Transcripts,” one to the RT Department and another set to the ELAC Admissions and Records Department.

If any of your outside course work deals with the Respiratory Therapy Prerequisites, you will need to meet with an ELAC Student Services Academic Counselor to review all of your coursework (except Respiratory Therapy Courses.) If you are transferring Respiratory Therapy Courses to ELAC, you will need to meet with the ELAC Respiratory Therapy Program Director and provide the following documentation:

  • Syllabi of the RT Coursework petition to transfer over.
  • Copy of the College Catalog for the Outside RT Program, which provides a description of all courses.
  • A challenge petition form for the Program Director to review and sign (if approved.)

For the College to accept this outside course work in satisfaction of any program or degree requirement, the student must submit both a “General Petition” to the campus Admissions Office AND a “Challenge Petition” to the Department Chair for approval; all documentation in support of both petitions must be attached at the time of submission.

For those veterans or active services members that wish to receive military credit for clinical or academic training taken during their time in the military will need to speak to the Respiratory Therapy Program Director who will guide you in the process to submit this challenge petition.

IN-PROGRESS APPLICANTS

Students who are in the process of completing the last of the prerequisite requirements may submit an application to the program, provided they include proof of enrollment in all outstanding classes at the time of submission. Any applicant who does not provide proof of the satisfactory completion of all remaining prerequisite class (es) by the RT Application Submission deadline will not be considered for admission.

PRIORITY APPLICANT STUDENTS

The RT Program offers priority admission status to active-duty military members, veterans and their (current) spouses provided they meet all other existing admission requirements. Priority enrollment status is also granted to any alternate from a prior cohort year who was not able to enroll into that cohort. Priority applicants are not subject to the applicant lottery process.