Allied Health Services

Types of Degrees Allied Health Services Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many allied health and medical assisting services graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	461
Graduate Certificate	1

What Allied Health Services Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, medical assisting majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Medical Assisting Majors

Medical Assisting majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.

Skills for Medical Assisting Majors

When studying medical assisting, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Medical Assisting Majors

A major in medical assisting will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Can You Do With a Allied Health Services Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with medical assisting:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Anesthesiologist Assistants	37.4%	$108,610
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians	14.0%	NA
Pharmacy Technicians	11.8%	$32,700
Radiologic Technicians	19.6%	$42,920
Surgical Technologists	11.7%	$47,300
Veterinary Technologists and Technicians	20.0%	$34,420

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Allied Health Services?

The major attracts more women than men. About 69% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of medical assisting majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	61
Black or African American	29
Hispanic or Latino	67
White	264
International Students	5
Other Races/Ethnicities	35

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Medical Assisting, too. About 1.1% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• Saudi Arabia
• Canada
• Jamaica
• China
• South Korea

How Much Do Allied Health Services Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

According to 2019-2020 data from the U.S. Department of Education, students who graduated with a master’s degree in medical assisting have a median salary of $108,537 during the early years of their career. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $93,551 (25th percentile) and $169,653 (75th percentile).

One thing to note here is that not all of these people may be working in careers related to medical assisting.

Salaries According to BLS

Medical Assisting majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $34,540 to $57,750 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Allied Health Services

Some degrees associated with medical assisting may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for medical assisting careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	14.3%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	15.5%
Some College Courses	6.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	41.8%
Bachelor’s Degree	10.3%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	2.3%
Master’s Degree	6.8%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.1%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.8%
Doctoral Degree	1.3%
Post-Doctoral Training	1.0%

Online Allied Health Services Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 1,644 schools offered some type of allied health and medical assisting services program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	1,339	36
Certificate (2-4 Years)	18	0
Associate’s Degree	1,330	60
Bachelor’s Degree	3	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	27	1
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Allied Health Services Worth It?

The median salary for a medical assisting grad is $47,450 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 19% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $151,000 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Allied Health Services

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to medical assisting.

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	66,964
Medicine	28,629
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	24,774
Public Health	19,473
Health & Medical Administrative Services	17,335
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	16,952
Mental & Social Health Services	16,815
Allied Health Professions	12,950
Communication Sciences	10,547
Dentistry	6,770
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	4,684
Chiropractic	2,658
Alternative Medicine & Systems	2,582
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	2,481
Optometry	1,822
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,762
Medical Illustration & Informatics	1,747
Health Sciences & Services	1,746
Other Health Professions	1,261
Health/Medical Prep Programs	1,122
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	954
Medical Science	909
Dental Support Services	122
Alternative Medical Support Services	80
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	55
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	37
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	11
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	4
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	0

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.