Clinical/Medical Social Work

Types of Degrees Clinical/Medical Social Work Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many clinical/medical social work graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	2,462
Graduate Certificate	399
Doctor’s Degree	13

What Clinical/Medical Social Work Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to clinical/medical social work were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Clinical/Medical Social Work Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.

Skills for Clinical/Medical Social Work Majors

A major in clinical/medical social work prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• 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.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• 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.

Abilities for Clinical/Medical Social Work Majors

Clinical/Medical Social Work majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

What Can You Do With a Clinical/Medical Social Work Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with clinical/medical social work:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Healthcare Social Workers	20.1%	$56,200
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers	19.4%	$44,840
Mental Health Counselors	23.1%	NA
Social Work Professors	9.4%	$68,300
Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors	23.2%	NA

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Clinical/Medical Social Work?

This major is dominated by women with about 89% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of clinical/medical social work majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	52
Black or African American	386
Hispanic or Latino	648
White	1,202
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	162

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Clinical/Medical Social Work, too. About 0.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Clinical/Medical Social Work

Some careers associated with clinical/medical social work require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for clinical/medical social work careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	1.3%
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)	1.6%
Some College Courses	1.8%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	4.7%
Bachelor’s Degree	15.8%
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.	2.5%
Master’s Degree	52.7%
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.	5.2%
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.	4.1%
Doctoral Degree	9.6%
Post-Doctoral Training	1.7%

Online Clinical/Medical Social Work Programs

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)	5	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	9	2
Bachelor’s Degree	7	3
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	29	3
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	4	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Clinical/Medical Social Work

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to clinical/medical social work.

Major	Number of Grads
Mental Health Counseling/Counselor	9,563
Substance Abuse/Addiction Counseling	5,724
Marriage and Family Therapy/Counseling	3,908
Other Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions	3,475
Psychiatric/Mental Health Services Technician	2,648
Community Health Services/Liaison/Counseling	2,378
Genetic Counseling/Counselor	361
Clinical Pastoral Counseling/Patient Counseling	177
Trauma Counseling	108
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy	12
Medical Family Therapy/Therapist	5
Hospice and Palliative Care	2

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.