2 answers
Juliana
Student
Dalton, Massachusetts
1
Question
Updated
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How do I know if Diagnostic Medical Sonography is a good college major for me?
I'm a 16 year old junior in high school, my goal is to be an ultrasound tech but I'm not sure if it's the right fit for me. I want to go into the medical field and being an ultrasound tech seems the most interesting to me. Are there things I can do to make sure this is what I want to have as my profession and to see if I would work well as one?
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2 answers
Gurpreet Lally
CareerVillage.org TeamSr. Community Manager at CareerVillage
159
Answers
Austin, Texas
Updated
Gurpreet’s Answer, CareerVillage.org Team
Hey Juliana,
I'm not an ultrasound technician but I totally understand how it can be difficult to know if a path is for you without trying it. My suggestion would be the following:
1. Call up your local hospital (in this case, it might be Berkshire Medical Center) and see if they have any opportunities for shadowing ultrasound technicians. Explain your situation and see if there is a way for you to come in and follow someone for day. If they are unable to accommodate your request, see if they have any suggestions on places you can reach out to that might do this type of thing.
2. Try contacting local community colleges with diagnostic sonography programs and asking for any of the following:
- Can I sit in on a class to see what its like?
- Can I talk with a professor to see what their experience in the field has been like?
- Can I talk with students to see what their experience has been like?
I see that Springdale Community College (about an hour from Dalton) has a program and the program coordinators email is listed on their website (link: https://www.stcc.edu/explore/programs/dmis.as/program-personnel/). Give it a shot and see what they say!
I'm not an ultrasound technician but I totally understand how it can be difficult to know if a path is for you without trying it. My suggestion would be the following:
1. Call up your local hospital (in this case, it might be Berkshire Medical Center) and see if they have any opportunities for shadowing ultrasound technicians. Explain your situation and see if there is a way for you to come in and follow someone for day. If they are unable to accommodate your request, see if they have any suggestions on places you can reach out to that might do this type of thing.
2. Try contacting local community colleges with diagnostic sonography programs and asking for any of the following:
- Can I sit in on a class to see what its like?
- Can I talk with a professor to see what their experience in the field has been like?
- Can I talk with students to see what their experience has been like?
I see that Springdale Community College (about an hour from Dalton) has a program and the program coordinators email is listed on their website (link: https://www.stcc.edu/explore/programs/dmis.as/program-personnel/). Give it a shot and see what they say!
Téa C.
Diagnostic Medical Sonographer
18
Answers
Salt Lake City, Utah
Updated
Téa’s Answer
Hello!
The best thing to do is to look for job shadowing or "observership" opportunities. You can also ask if they have any volunteer opportunities for the radiology department (they probably wouldn't have ultrasound-specific volunteer opportunities). If they don't have job shadowing or volunteer opportunities available for you, you could ask about setting up "informational interviews" instead. You'd make a list of questions to ask an ultrasound tech/techs. The nice thing about informational interviews is that you're not limited by distance like you are with job shadowing or volunteering. So, if your local hospital doesn't have opportunities for you, then you can search farther out.
For example, Brigham and Women's hospital offers an observership program. While you probably can't do that program, you could ask them if they'd allow virtual informational interviews for someone just interested in ultrasound, whether that's done over the phone, by email, or a virtual meeting (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc.). I'll put a link where I found that program below; there, you can see their phone number for general information & who you can email specifically related to that program. If they're not the exact people you'd talk to about this, they can at least point you in the right direction!
Ask your school's counselor or career counselor for help with any of the above if needed! They could help you think of questions to ask for those informational interviews, too.
Off the top of my head, here are some things to consider for yourself:
~ Would the job pay enough to support the lifestyle you'd want in the future?
~ Would it give you the kind of work-life balance you'd want?
~ How good is your attention to detail & interpersonal skills? Sure, not all ultrasound techs have these qualities, but I think 'good' techs do (or learn to).
~ Could you (professionally) handle rude, uncooperative, or very "unsanitary" people? You meet all kinds of people while working in health care...
~ How much of a "people person" are you? We definitely don't spend as much time with the same patient as nurses do, but we're directly next to & touching them the whole time while scanning. Compared to something like CT or MRI, where they're scanned in a separate room.
~ If you had this class before: How'd you do with Anatomy/Physiology (A&P)? Knowing anatomy is a big part of our job & you'll continue learning A&P in college.
Contact your local hospital, Berkshire Medical Center (413-447-2000).
Check out Brigham and Women's observership program link for phone # & email: https://www.brighamandwomens.org/radiology/education-and-training/observerships
About informational interviews: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/informational-interview
The best thing to do is to look for job shadowing or "observership" opportunities. You can also ask if they have any volunteer opportunities for the radiology department (they probably wouldn't have ultrasound-specific volunteer opportunities). If they don't have job shadowing or volunteer opportunities available for you, you could ask about setting up "informational interviews" instead. You'd make a list of questions to ask an ultrasound tech/techs. The nice thing about informational interviews is that you're not limited by distance like you are with job shadowing or volunteering. So, if your local hospital doesn't have opportunities for you, then you can search farther out.
For example, Brigham and Women's hospital offers an observership program. While you probably can't do that program, you could ask them if they'd allow virtual informational interviews for someone just interested in ultrasound, whether that's done over the phone, by email, or a virtual meeting (Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, etc.). I'll put a link where I found that program below; there, you can see their phone number for general information & who you can email specifically related to that program. If they're not the exact people you'd talk to about this, they can at least point you in the right direction!
Ask your school's counselor or career counselor for help with any of the above if needed! They could help you think of questions to ask for those informational interviews, too.
Off the top of my head, here are some things to consider for yourself:
~ Would the job pay enough to support the lifestyle you'd want in the future?
~ Would it give you the kind of work-life balance you'd want?
~ How good is your attention to detail & interpersonal skills? Sure, not all ultrasound techs have these qualities, but I think 'good' techs do (or learn to).
~ Could you (professionally) handle rude, uncooperative, or very "unsanitary" people? You meet all kinds of people while working in health care...
~ How much of a "people person" are you? We definitely don't spend as much time with the same patient as nurses do, but we're directly next to & touching them the whole time while scanning. Compared to something like CT or MRI, where they're scanned in a separate room.
~ If you had this class before: How'd you do with Anatomy/Physiology (A&P)? Knowing anatomy is a big part of our job & you'll continue learning A&P in college.
Téa recommends the following next steps: