Program Structure

Standards

Ascension St. Vincent Surgical Technology Program's curriculum is rigorous, academically challenging and labor-intensive. We have high academic expectations of our students. But the purpose of having high standards and a rigorous curriculum is to produce highly competent graduates ultimately to benefit those whom we serve; our patients! 

Students must take every Surgical Technology course in the sequence outlined on the program's Curriculum page. Students cannot drop or add courses. Course letter grades are earned based on academic and clinical performance based on the grading criteria below.

  • A+: 100% – 98.0% = 4 points
  • A: 97.99% – 96.0% = 4 points
  • A-: 95.99% – 93.0% = 3.7 points
  • B+: 92.99% – 90.0% = 3.3 points
  • B: 89.99% – 87.0% = 3 points
  • B-: 86.99% – 84.0% = 2.7 points
  • C+: 83.99% – 80.0% = 2.3 points
  • C: 79.99% – 75.0% = 2 points
  • F: 74.99% and lower = 0 points
  • Pass (Pass/Fail courses only)
  • Fail (Pass/Fail courses only)

Students are required to pass every Surgical Technology Program course with a letter grade of “C” or higher to graduate from the program. Failure to pass a course with a letter grade of “C” or higher will result in student dismissal from the program.

The Surgical Technology Program follows a mastery-based approach to academic and clinical education. In short, students are required to achieve a mastery-level performance of 80% on most written tests. In most cases, we require students to repeat lecture examinations until the mastery performance level is achieved. This approach is very different from student's experiences in traditional courses. But ultimately our mastery-based approach to education is what separates us from most other education programs .