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THE “PETITION” PROCESS

Qualified applicants must follow a selection procedure in which specific academic information is submitted to the Director of the Respiratory Therapy Program via the Health, Wellness and Public Safety Administrative offices located in JS 310.  Petitions are accepted each May and the first three weeks in June for the admission into the following fall term.  Selection is based on the highest number of completed or in-progress Arts & Science courses needed for the Associate of Science Degree in Respiratory Therapy.

 Should there be more petitioners with the same number of completed Arts & Science courses than there are spaces, petitioners will be ranked first by the date that they declared respiratory therapy a major and then by date of completion of eligibility requirements. The date of completion will be the last day of the semester in which the course was successfully completed.

A petition score of 0 to 6 is the possible range.  You are given one point for each of the degree-requirement classes that is completed and half a point for each class that is in progress at the time of petition.  Classes that have a theory and lab component are scored as half a point for each component if completed and a quarter of a point if in progress. 

Petitions that are handed in after the deadline will be accepted up until the start of fall classes.  They will not be considered for the selection of the original 25 students that begin each fall, but they will be placed on the alternate list where they would normally be placed according to total points and date of declaration of RT as a major. 

PETITION MATERIALS

Petition materials are accepted each year from May 1st thru the first three weeks of June at CNM's Main Campus in the School of Health, Wellness, and Public Safety Administrative offices located in JS 310 from 8:30am-5:00pm Monday - Friday.  Petitioning materials that the student needs to submit are:

1. One current "unofficial student copy" of their CNM transcripts from the records office.  They cannot be transcripts printed off the CNM website. The transcripts should be requested after any courses taken in that spring semester have been completed.  If you have transfer credit from other post-secondary schools the transcripts must have the transfer equivalency worksheet from each institution you have transfer credit from.  Make sure you request official transcripts be sent from other schools well in advance of beginning the rest of this  process.  It is your responsibility to follow up on the processing of transfer credit.  In general it takes several weeks for transfer credit to arrive and be processed by the CNM records department.

2.  A copy of the admissions form and/or "change of major" form that indicates the date that respiratory therapy was declared a major.  If you have not already declared respiratory therapy a major (you can claim more than one major), do so at your earliest convenience if there is any chance you are going to petition for the RT program.

3.  A copy of your summer schedule of classes if you are taking any courses during the summer term that are pre-requisite or degree requirement non-RT courses.     

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

 Complete the following courses with a grade of C or better or prove current enrollment in them:

BIO 1410/1492        Biology for Health Sciences with Lab (or) General Biology with Lab

CHEM 1410/1492    Introduction to Chemistry with Lab

HLTH 1001              Clinical Preparation

See Math and English requirements below

Cumulative TVI GPA of 2.0 or higher.

                              
REQUIRED GENERAL EDUCATION COURSES. These are degree-requirement courses.  With the exception of Math and English, the rest of these courses may be taken along with the respiratory therapy program curriculum; however, selection is based on the highest number of completed required classes listed below. 

MATH 1210*      Methods of Problem Solving (or Math 1310 or 1315)

ENG 1101*         College Writing

PHIL 2247           Biomedical Ethics

BIO 2210/2292   Human Anatomy & Physiology I with Lab

BIO 2310/2392   Human Anatomy & Physiology II with Lab  

BIO 2110/2192   Microbiology with Lab

* Program pre-requisites which are also degree requirements...these need to be completed or in progress when you petition and also count toward the petitioning scoring process. 

 RT COURSES TO BE COMPLETED FOR ASSOCIATE OF SCIENCE DEGREE

You may not register for any respiratory therapy courses until you have been selected to enter the RT program through the petition process.

If you have further questions, please contact:

John Blewett, BUS, RRT, RCP
Director, Respiratory Therapy Program

Interim Associate Dean

School of Health, Wellness and Public Safety
Central New Mexico Community College
525 Buena Vista SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
(505) 224-4138 (office)
(505) 224-4120 (fax)
jblewett@cnm.edu

All interested students are strongly encouraged to attend a Respiratory Therapy Program Information Session.  Call 224-4161 for dates, times and locations of orientation sessions offered each semester or click the link at the top of this page.