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EMC Online FAQs

To enter the program, you must have a cumulative GPA of at least 2.5. You must also be a certified paramedic or SOCM/18D graduate.

Upon completion of all requirements for graduation, you will be awarded the Bachelor of Science degree in Emergency Medical Care. Students can select either the Clinical Sciences Concentration or the Health Services Management Concentration. 

No. The degrees are identical. In addition, the courses are taught by the same faculty who teach in the on-campus program.

The Health Services Management concentration is a series of courses designed to prepare the student to assume leadership and educator roles in EMS services. These courses will be offered by WCU through the online degree program.  

The Clinical Sciences concentration prepares students to enter paramedic education or research, or to continue their education through post-baccalaureate programs including medical school, PA school, or graduate school. Some of the natural science courses will need to be taken at your local community college or university. 

Yes. Although the AAS degree in EMS is not required, if you do hold that degree an evaluation of credits offered in transfer is completed after admission and after all official records are received directly from each institution previously attended. The applicability of transferred credits toward degree requirements is determined by the Registrar’s Office and the department head of the student’s major. 

Yes, but it may take additional course work to complete the requirements for the BS degree. This depends upon how the community college awarded you credit for your paramedic certificate. Some community colleges award credit for specific courses. Others merely waive course requirements. If you receive specific course credits, you will have more hours to transfer toward your BS degree. If your community college bridging program waived course requirements without awarding you credit for specific courses, you will have fewer hours to transfer. Consequently, it will take longer for you to complete your BS degree. However, it may still be possible for you to receive credit through credit-by-examination or credit by experience. Your advisor will assist you in obtaining college credit through this process.

The EMC distance learning program is structured such that students may be able to complete their degree in as few as 2 years.

Most students will transfer 60-70 hours toward their BS degree. These students must enroll in approximately 12 semester hours of course work each semester in order to complete the degree in 2 years.

The Distance EMC program is designed to enable working EMS professionals and military personnel to successfully complete their bachelor’s degree while meeting family and work commitments. Students create their course schedule each semester based upon their personal and professional time constraints. 

A new class begins every fall term, which starts in August. The deadline to complete an application is April 1st. The Distance Learning application opens approximately one year in advance of the term you wish to start.

In addition to the usual distance education tuition and fees, online EMC students must also purchase textbook(s) for each course which may cost as much as $150.00 each.
(Note:  Many of our courses are using open access texts and materials that do not require the purchase of textbooks) 

General education courses may be taken at any of the North Carolina community colleges. Transfer agreements are in place for this purpose. It may also be possible for you to take general education courses at another university or community college outside of North Carolina, but you will need to speak with your academic advisor before enrolling in such courses to ensure that they are transferable.

All EMC courses will be offered through the distance learning program. These courses will be offered through multimedia presentations available on the university supported learning management system (Canvas) and the World Wide Web.

If a course requires exams, they will be administered in an online format through the learning management platform. Some faculty may require students to use a lockdown browser with a camera that is accessed through the university’s learning management platform. 

Students will interact with faculty via the learning management system. Distance faculty are also available by various other means, including telephone, email, online voice chat, and real-time video using webcams. 

You should be able to:

1. Effortlessly navigate the Internet using an Internet browser.
2. Send/receive email.
3. Send/receive email attachments.
4. Download/upload files.
5. Use windows explorer to create folders, move and copy files, and find files.
6. Play multimedia using Windows Media Player and Flash files.
7. Comfortably use Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Adobe Acrobat Reader.
8. Comfortably use the Windows operating system.
9. Identify and use computer files of varying formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .htm, .mpg, .jpg, etc.)

Because the bulk of your coursework will be completed over the Internet, it is imperative you possess superb computer skills. If you feel you lack some of the skills listed above, you should enroll in computer courses at your local community college PRIOR to entering the EMC distance learning program.

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