Diploma and Dual Credential

Program acceptance has become very competitive and selective. In the last few years, there have been close to 400 applicants for only 80 seats. While the minimum educational requirements to apply for the Respiratory Therapy Diploma are high school, most of the successful applicants have undergraduate degrees or at least one to two years of post-secondary education. Only a handful of high school applicants are accepted into the program and these students had very high GPAs in the program’s educational requirements.

If you have any existing post-secondary education, transfer credits will be given to you when your course transcripts are reviewed. Course outlines may be required.

In the first two years of the diploma program—or first three years of the dual credential program—you will complete courses and practical labs. You will also take part in observational rotations at one or more hospitals with RT departments in your first year.

As a graduate of the three-year RT Diploma program, you will gain 90 credits that can be used toward a Bachelor of Health Science (BHSc) through Open Learning.

Alternatively, you can choose to apply for the dual credential stream in the winter semester of your first year. This allows you to complete both your RT Diploma and BHSc simultaneously in just four years.

As a graduate of the dual credential stream, you will gain 60 credits that can be applied to a Bachelor of Science (BSc). You will need to complete some lower level prerequisites in order to enter required upper level BSc courses.

BHSc template (outlines the credits/courses needed for BHSc)

BHSc Handbook (outlines choices of electives for the BHSc)

Courses for years one and two of the RT Diploma program option and courses for years one, two and three of the dual credential program option, are offered on the Kamloops campus. The upper-level BHSc required courses are offered through TRU, Open Learning. Courses required during the clinical year are delivered at clinical affiliate sites.

Differences in courses (full-time workload)