Advance Your Imaging Career with the Online B.S. in Radiologic Sciences

Date: September 25, 2026

Operating the equipment is only part of the job today. You work with AI-supported tools, complex imaging protocols, enterprise imaging, and a steadily growing volume of clinical data. As technology advances, expectations rise, and a growing share of supervisory, educational, and administrative positions now prefer or require a bachelor’s degree.

As a credentialed imaging professional, you may find that a bachelor’s degree is the one thing standing between you and your next move. Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts built its online Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Sciences (BSRS) for exactly that point in your career: when you’re ready to advance and want to build on what you already know rather than start over.

A degree-completion program, not a starting point

The BSRS is a degree-completion program for professionals who already hold an approved imaging credential. It’s built for you if you’ve completed a two-year or equivalent program and passed a registry exam through the ARRT, ARDMS, ARMRIT, or an equivalent body in radiography, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine, diagnostic medical sonography, cardiovascular sonography, or radiation therapy. It isn’t an entry point into imaging, and it won’t earn you a first credential.

That focus shapes everything about the program. Instead of repeating foundational training, you draw on the education and clinical background you already have and use your degree to move toward a specific goal.

“There is not one track that is best for everyone, and students do not need to leave their current modality for the degree to be valuable,” says Elizabeth Rosebrock, MBA, R.T.(R) (ARRT), Executive Director of the BSRS program. The aim, she explains, is to choose a direction that reflects your current work and the role you eventually want.

Eight specialty tracks for nearly every imaging path

The range is wider than most. Rosebrock says she doesn’t believe many other BSRS programs offer eight specialty tracks. Because imaging professionals come from different modalities and want different things, that breadth means there’s a track for you, whatever your imaging background. Here’s who each track fits and where it can lead.

The Advanced Nuclear Medicine and Advanced Radiation Therapy tracks serve a different purpose. If you came into one of those fields through an associate-level pathway, these tracks give you a way to complete a bachelor’s while taking advanced coursework that stays relevant to your specialty. “The goal is not to retrain them in a new modality, but to help fill that bachelor’s-level education gap and support continued advancement within the field they are already practicing in,” Rosebrock notes.

Two tracks Rosebrock thinks people overlook are Education and Imaging Informatics. Imaging departments need qualified instructors, and every specialty now depends on picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), enterprise imaging, workflow, and data, which makes informatics a practical path if you want to advance while still using the imaging experience you already have.

Where the degree leads

With the degree, you become eligible or more competitive for roles that a staff-level credential alone may not open: lead technologist, supervisor, manager, clinical instructor, educator, applications specialist, and PACS or imaging informatics positions. It won’t guarantee a promotion, but it removes a common barrier.

“A technologist may already have 10 or 15 years of excellent clinical experience, but the degree can be the piece they are missing when they are ready for the next level,” Rosebrock says.

You can see those outcomes in Gurnick’s own graduates. Several now teach in the Academy’s imaging programs, helping train the next generation of technologists, and one has gone on to become the Imaging Director at a local clinical facility.

Built around a working professional’s schedule

The program is 100 percent online and asynchronous, so you’re not expected to log in at a set time every day for a live lecture. A typical week might include assigned reading, a discussion, an assignment, a quiz, or progress on a larger project. You still have real deadlines, but you meet them around your shifts, call schedule, and family life.

You have two timelines to choose from. The accelerated track runs 12 months across three consecutive semesters, which works if you’re ready to make the degree a priority and finish quickly. The part-time track spreads the same coursework over 24 months, making it a better fit for a demanding schedule. If you receive employer tuition assistance or have VA education benefits, the longer timeline can also help you stretch that funding across two years.

What makes either timeline realistic is the degree-completion model. The full program is 121 semester credit hours, and you can receive up to 70 credit hours of advanced standing for coursework and credentials you already hold. You complete the remaining coursework instead of repeating what you’ve already done, which keeps the path far shorter than a traditional four-year bachelor’s and means paying for far fewer credits. Textbooks are delivered electronically, and new sections start every May, September, and January.

You also receive support focused on professional growth and career advancement. Through the Capstone course, you will refine your resume and build a professional portfolio featuring projects and assignments that showcase your knowledge, experience, and accomplishments to future employers.

Your coursework can also pull double duty. Like every credentialed professional, you have to complete continuing education (CE) to keep your credentials current, and eligible college-level courses in the program may help satisfy some of those CE requirements.

Open to imaging professionals across the country

Because it’s fully online, the BSRS is open to you in approved states well beyond California, with no need to relocate or come to campus. If you’re outside California, Rosebrock encourages you to keep your own state’s licensing rules and long-term credentialing goals in mind, since requirements can differ by state and specialty, and to choose a track that makes sense for both where you live and where you want to go.

Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts holds national institutional accreditation from the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). It is a private institution approved to operate by the California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education.

“I love that the BSRS gives experienced imaging professionals a practical way to keep moving forward without having to step away from their careers to do it,” Rosebrock says.

If you already hold an imaging credential and have been thinking about finishing your bachelor’s, the next step is a short conversation with Gurnick admissions to talk through which specialty track fits your goals, what advanced standing you may qualify for, and how the program can work with your schedule.

Categories:

• Radiologic Sciences