The Dean of the School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) has announced our program's closure. Our last graduation class is set for May 2012.

CLS Application

The PCL classification does not ensure continuation into the professional program. Space limitations may prevent the program from accepting all applying students into the final two years of academic study. Student selection for the professional program is made annually. All of the required pre-professional courses should be completed prior to admission to the professional program.

Application must be submitted to the Clinical Laboratory Science Program by February 1, in order to be considered for admission into the professional program the following semester. Application forms are available in 6175 Medical Sciences Center, 1300 University Avenue.

To be eligible and considered for admission to the professional program, the third and fourth year of this major, UW-Madison students and transfer applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Completion of CLS 310 and a minimum of 54 credits by the end of the Spring semester preceding admission to the professional program.
• An overall cumulative grade-point average of 2.5.
• Completion of the required pre-professional courses.

(Chemistry 341, MM&I 341 or Path 404 need not be completed prior to acceptance; these can be taken during the junior year.)

Selection for the professional program will be made annually by the Clinical Laboratory Science Admissions and Retention Committee. Available spaces in the professional program will be assigned to eligible students with the best academic records as reflected by their cumulative grade-point average. Students are continually advised by a faculty member of the Clinical Laboratory Science Program as to their progress in the program.

The Clinical Laboratory Science Program does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability. Students must have the ability to master information disseminated in a variety of forms--lectures, written and self-instructional materials, demonstrations, projected images, etc.--at a level deemed appropriate by the faculty. The CLS curriculum requires students to perform delicate manipulations safely and accurately on patient specimens and instruments for valid diagnostic tests. Students must:

• work with a wide variety of chemical reagents
• discriminate structural elements and fine lines with minimal contrast
• have sufficient upper body muscle coordination to practice safe specimen handling
• perform moderately taxing, continous physical work
• have touch discrimination to discern veins and arteries and perform veinpuncture
• have dexterity to dispense liquids from bulbs, calibrate pipettes, and make dilutions
• streak agar plates for colony isolation
• load glass chambers for cell counts
• work under time restraints
• read and record numbers

Students also are expected to communicate effectively in order to transmit information, be dependable, show respect, and tolerance for others.

Students begin professional clinical laboratory science course work in the junior year with completion of CLS course work and clinical practice during the senior year. Both junior and senior years consist of classroom instruction, clinical activities in the student laboratory, and clinical experiences at the UW Hospital and Clinics and the William S. Middleton Memorial Veteran's Medical Center in Madison. Professional courses follow the regular UW-Madison teaching semesters. Clinical practicum experiences are offered between semesters and during the fall or spring semesters. Molecular Diagnostics, CLS 570, is offered during the summer session, or immediately prior to or after the Spring semester as a one week modular course.

Upon satisfactory completion of the required courses of the professional program and a minimum of 120 credits, the Bachelor of Science-Clinical Laboratory Science degree is awarded by UW-Madison.