My Life as a former Cytologist Student (Currently working as a Cytologist/Cytotechnologist)

[@cytopath1951]

Congratulations on becoming a cytologist! Welcome to the field!

[@Geminitwins247]

Thank you very much!!! I truly appreciate it!😁😁

[@nadiacopeland1634]

I am starting a Cytology program in VA this Fall! Thanks for your awesome video, Informative and also serves as inspiration :)

[@Geminitwins247]

@@nadiacopeland1634 Congratulations on getting accepted into your program! Please let me know how it goes when you have time but overall best of luck, future cytologist. 😊👍🏾👍🏾 Thank you for tuning into the video.

[@nadiacopeland1634]

@@Geminitwins247 will do, thank you so much! 🙏🏽

[@goodgirlvicki]

Hey! I'm a Cytologist too! I'm also a Histotechnologist.

[@Geminitwins247]

Aww nice to meet you. I feel like it’s so rare to find others lol

[@goodgirlvicki]

@Geminitwins247 nice to meet you too! Yes it is rare!

[@Heaven7671]

This is what I'm interested in! I just started learning about histology this year and I think cytology is fascinating. What do you recommend majoring in for this kind of job?

[@Geminitwins247]

@@Heaven7671 Well if you are interested in histology or cytology. I would recommend looking up and seeing which programs you are interested in and looking to see their requirements for admission into their program. For me, cytology wasn’t the first thing I was looking into straight out of high school. So I got my undergraduate degree in biology and then I knew I wanted to get a second degree and I discovered my cytology program and it was a Masters program. Therefore since I already had my undergraduate degree in biology I had most of the pre requisites in order to apply for the masters program.

[@Heaven7671]

​@@Geminitwins247That's helpful thank you!

[@Geminitwins247]

@@Heaven7671 Anytime!! Comment again if you have any other questions. Best of luck 😊

[@Heaven7671]

@@Geminitwins247 Thank you so much! I was also curious, as a cytologist do you prepare the slides yourself? (e.g staining them)

[@Geminitwins247]

@@Heaven7671 So yes when you are in a cytology program, you will learn how to do cytoprep. Which is preparing the slides and etc. Now, depending on where you work, you may not do it often because lab assistants will do it. For instance, in a reference lab, you probably won’t have much exposure to doing cytoprep because big labs normally have lab assistants that will prep your slides so your main focus is just to screen slides. But I will admit even at my job. I’ve been asked a few times to go run thin prep in the cytoprep area which is basically a machine that puts the specimen on the slide. Cytologist who probably do more cyto prep such as staining and etc are cytologist who work in hospitals. Cytologist in hospitals tend to have more responsibilities.

[@angelicamacias4586]

I’m currently a bio student , and have been super interested in cytology , but I have no idea where to start , how would you say job stability is right now ? And where do you apply ? Do I have to major in cytotech?

[@Geminitwins247]

Hello!! So I have two degrees. I got my bachelors of science in biology. Then I got some lab experience working as a lab technician, in a raw material department and then after that I worked as a medical technologist. I knew I wanted to get a masters and near where I live there is a program at Rutgers called diagnostic cytopathology. I’m not sure where you live so you would have to check to see if there are programs in your area. Most cytotechnologist/cytologist programs are master level programs now or they are transitioning into becoming Master programs. Before you could of gotten an bachelors in this field but now they changed things. In my area the job stability seems to be good. But of course we don’t know where half our jobs will be with technology and etc. But there is a shortage of cytotechnologist because a lot of the cytotechs now are older and are retiring. Some other good news is all my classmates have jobs. None of us struggled looking for work. Most of us got offers from our clinical sites during our clinical rotations. One of my classmates came to this program from California and went back to Cali and got a job right away. The starting salary in my opinion is good. But of course it depends on where you are located and where you would want to live in the future. I suggest looking up cytotechnologist openings in your area to see if there are many openings and see if they say the salary. Maybe look at indeed or other job recruitment sites.

[@marymoore1712]

So are you still working as a cytologist/cytopathologist? Do you like it?

[@Geminitwins247]

Hello!! Yes, I’m still currently working as a cytologist/cytotechnologist. I’ve been in the field for about 12 months now. I would say I’m still enjoying it for the most part.

[@haaay_leee]

What made you switch from sonography if you don’t mind me asking? I was just accepted into the cardiac sonography program at my school. ☺️

[@haaay_leee]

Omg! Just got to the 5 minute mark & realized you all were TWINS! 😂 Sorry lol

[@Geminitwins247]

@@haaay_leeehaha all good!!! Yes Breanna my twin is still a cardiac sonography. This at one point was my KZbin but now we share it. So she post stuff and I post stuff. Haha 😂😊