Admissions:
Your Path to ITEA
Announcing the Hybrid Track –
Accessible, Accelerated Acupuncture Education
Inquire Here – Start Your ITEA Journey
With full ACAHM distance education accreditation, and as a NC-SARA member school recognized by the Colorado Department of Higher Education, ITEA proudly introduces a new low-residency Hybrid Track starting in the fall of 2025.
This innovative program combines the flexibility of online learning with the enriching experience of in-person classes, offering a unique educational path tailored to the needs of adult learners.
The Hybrid Track (HT) is designed for students who:
- Have completed all prerequisite and corequisite requirements by enrollment.
- Value flexibility and creativity in learning.
- Prioritize personal connection and hands-on, experiential processes of in-person classes.
- Seek an advanced pace and balanced approach to a world-class education in Classical Five Element Acupuncture.
Requirements for Admission
ITEA seeks students who are flexible and willing to do things in a different way. Applicants demonstrate maturity, commitment, motivation, passion and integrity necessary to become caring practitioners and instruments of nature.
Studying Classical Five-Element Acupuncture is for students who take personal responsibility for learning in great depth.
ITEA is dedicated to upholding a standard of education which ensures serving the public with the highest level of competence, knowledge, quality and professionalism.
Additional Admissions Information
Fall 2025 Hybrid Track
- Early Application Timeline: November 1, 2024 – January 31, 2025, $200
- Applicants receive a complimentary intake or treatment in our Clinic and access to special admissions resources
- Priority Application Timeline: March 1, 2025 – July 15, 2025, $275
- Expedited Deadline: July 16, 2025 – August 1, 2025, $425
- If enrollment is at capacity, the applicant is added to the waitlist for the following intake
- Online Orientation: begins in mid-August, with in-person attendance in mid-September
- Admissions Interviews
- In-person interviews are held at ITEA
- After applications are received and fully processed, the Director of Admissions coordinates interview scheduling
- Interviews are with the ITEA President or other Admissions staff
Track Schedule
Year 1: September 2025 – May 2026 (9 months)
No travel in mid-April 2026 to mid-June 2026
Year 2: June 2026 – March 2027 (10 months)
No travel mid-December 2026 to April 2027
Residency required by April 2027
Year 3/ Clinical Internship 1: April 2027 – December 2027 (9 months)
Year 3/ Clinical Internship 2: January 2028 – September 2028 (9 months)
Student and Graduate Success
State Regulations and Licensure
Effective July 1, 2024, applicants residing in or planning to practice in certain states may not be eligible to attend ITEA. Please speak with Admissions if you reside in or plan to practice in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont.
Your ITEA
Journey:
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
– Lao Tzu
Transform Yourself and the World with Nature
Applicants need to have a willingness to work to explore and expand their connection with themselves. They need to:
- be willing to forsake pure intellectualism and be open to energetic training which at times bypasses the mind.
- be able to persevere in studies where not everything is yet fully known.
- want to learn how to leave personal problems and personal critical judgment behind, to truly listen in peace and stillness.
- practice continually in order to be able to create rapport with a diverse range of people, and to correctly assess sensory cues leading to diagnosis.
Veteran Students
ITEA welcomes veterans as students and coordinates with the VA to ensure eligibility.
Student Information
Licensure
- Talk with Admissions to learn about important guidelines to consider if you are interested in practicing acupuncture in a state other than Colorado
- Learn more about Licensure Eligibility starting on page 35 of our Catalog
Transfer Credits and Prior Learning
ITEA will evaluate previous education and training, and when applicable, transfer or give prior learning credit.
- Advanced Standing students receive transfer credits for all coursework satisfactorily tested upon entry into the program.
- It is the responsibility of the student to fulfill or obtain transfer credits for other necessary courses which are part of the ITEA program.
- Students in the Traditional Track may enter the program no later than the beginning of the second year.
- ITEA does not guarantee transferability of credits to another institution unless there is a written agreement with that institution.
- Non-matriculated students are not accepted into the core Classical Five-Element Acupuncture program.
Internationally Educated Students
U.S. Citizens who have studied outside the United States must have the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree that documents at least three full years of post-secondary education from a nationally or regionally accredited (or otherwise approved or recognized) institution.
- ITEA recognizes that most non-U.S. institutions of higher education often cannot provide academic transcripts in the standard U.S. credit hour format. In such cases applicants may be required to submit original course descriptions to verify the actual content and hours of prior training.
- Non-English language credentials equivalent to a U.S. Bachelor’s degree must be demonstrated prior to admission via a report from an approved credentialing translation and evaluation organization only. It is the student’s responsibility to arrange for this documentation to be sent to ITEA.
Advanced Standing
For Traditional Track students, ITEA does not generally recognize advanced standing. Course work from other acupuncture schools typically does not have emphasis on Classical Five-Element Acupuncture and point location. Even CF-EA schools have diverse instruction sequences because the discipline is an oral tradition.
- In exceptional cases, students may be admitted to the program with Advanced Standing within the first year of Intensives. Applicants must agree to test out of basic coursework and point location with an 80% passing grade to enter a class already in session.
- Advanced Standing applicants must fulfill all other admissions requirements listed above as for a regular application process.
- Tuition will be equal to that of the class the applicant joins.
For Practitioner Track students, individual applicants are evaluated for Advanced Standing in all prior coursework at the discretion of ITEA, and admitted into the program with an established plan for fulfilling all requirements of the program.
English Proficiency
Instruction of the ITEA curriculum is in English only.
- Applicants whose native language is not English must demonstrate English-language proficiency.
- Scoring at least 61 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language internet-based test (iBT)
- Minimum speaking exam score of 26 and a minimum listening exam score of 22, or a level 6 on the International English Language Testing System (TELTS) exam
Commitment
to
Non-discrimination