Medical Assisting

Types of Degrees Medical Assisting Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many allied health & medical assisting services graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	41,426
Basic Certificate	19,412
Associate Degree	16,805
Bachelor’s Degree	949
Master’s Degree	561
Graduate Certificate	36

What Medical Assisting Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to medical assisting 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 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

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

• 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

As you progress with your medical assisting degree, there are several abilities you should pick up that will help you in whatever related career you choose. These abilities include:

• 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 Medical Assisting Major?

People with a medical assisting degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Ambulance Drivers and Attendants, Except Emergency Medical Technicians	22.0%	$25,750
Anesthesiologist Assistants	37.4%	$108,610
Health Specialties Professors	25.9%	$97,370
Healthcare Support Workers	11.7%	$37,830
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians	14.0%	NA
Medical Assistants	29.0%	$33,610
Occupational Therapy Assistants	29.0%	$60,220
Pharmacy Technicians	11.8%	$32,700
Physical Therapist Assistants	31.1%	$58,040
Radiologic Technicians	19.6%	$42,920
Speech-Language Pathology Assistants	11.7%	$37,830
Surgical Technologists	11.7%	$47,300
Veterinary Technologists and Technicians	20.0%	$34,420

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Medical Assisting?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 795 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in allied health & medical assisting services in 2021, making it rank #177 in popularity. This major is dominated by women with about 79% of recent graduates being 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	87
Black or African American	102
Hispanic or Latino	101
White	591
International Students	11
Other Races/Ethnicities	57

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Medical Assisting. About 1.2% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Medical Assisting

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 Medical Assisting 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)	1,257	43
Certificate (2-4 Years)	15	0
Associate’s Degree	1,291	53
Bachelor’s Degree	7	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	33	3
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Medical Assisting

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

Major	Number of Grads
Nursing	308,114
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	88,809
Allied Health Professions	85,413
Health & Medical Administrative Services	85,302
Public Health	42,551
Health Sciences & Services	35,887
Mental & Social Health Services	31,550
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	29,934
Medicine	29,206
Dental Support Services	25,040
Communication Sciences	23,288
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	19,017
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	18,729
Somatic Bodywork & Therapeutic Services	10,516
Health/Medical Prep Programs	9,413
Other Health Professions	7,387
Dentistry	6,961
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	5,644
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	5,056
Alternative Medicine & Systems	3,431
Chiropractic	2,698
Medical Illustration & Informatics	2,689
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies	2,244
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	1,845
Optometry	1,789
Medical Science	1,090
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services	760
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies	468
Alternative Medical Support Services	136
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies	116

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.