Animal Services

Types of Degrees Animal Services Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many animal services graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	366
Bachelor’s Degree	359
Basic Certificate	231
Associate Degree	213
Master’s Degree	48

What Animal Services Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, animal services 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 Animal Services Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these 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.
• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• 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 Animal Services Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to animal services:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• 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.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Animal Services Majors

As a animal services major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• 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.
• 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.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Animal Services Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with animal services:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Agricultural Sciences Professors	7.9%	$84,640
Animal Trainers	11.1%	$29,290
Nonfarm Animal Caretakers	24.2%	$23,760

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Services?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 302 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal services in 2021, making it rank #235 in popularity. The major attracts more women than men. About 96% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of animal services majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	5
Black or African American	7
Hispanic or Latino	26
White	295
International Students	6
Other Races/Ethnicities	20

Geographic Diversity

Animal Services appeals to people across the globe. About 1.7% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Animal Services

Some careers associated with animal services 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.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to animal services have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	12.4%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	41.2%
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)	3.0%
Some College Courses	6.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	8.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	6.1%
Master’s Degree	3.4%
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.	0.2%
Doctoral Degree	13.3%
Post-Doctoral Training	6.5%

Online Animal Services 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)	19	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	38	2
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1	1
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Animal Services

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to animal services.

Major	Number of Grads
Animal Science	8,396
Veterinary/Animal Health Technologies/Technicians	8,257
Agricultural Economics & Business	8,085
Horticulture	3,932
Veterinary Medicine	3,555
Agricultural Production	3,522
Plant Sciences	3,307
General Agriculture	3,256
Food Science Technology	2,181
Agricultural Mechanization	1,402
Veterinary Biomedical and Clinical Sciences	954
Agricultural Public Services	866
Other Agriculture	700
Agriculture/Veterinary Preparatory Programs	486
Soil Sciences	439
International Agriculture	215
Food Processing	198
Veterinary Administrative Services	113

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
• Image Credit: By Corey Hensley under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.