Health and Wellness

Types of Degrees Health and Wellness Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	3,392
Associate Degree	800
Basic Certificate	600
Master’s Degree	348
Graduate Certificate	160
Undergraduate Certificate	77
Doctor’s Degree	18

What Health and Wellness Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, health and wellness 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 Health and Wellness Majors

Health and Wellness 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Health and Wellness Majors

When studying health and wellness, 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.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• 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.

Abilities for Health and Wellness Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a health and wellness student include the following:

• 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.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Health and Wellness Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with health and wellness:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Community Health Workers	17.9%	$39,540
Health Educators	14.6%	$54,220

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Health and Wellness?

The major attracts more women than men. About 76% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of health and wellness majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	228
Black or African American	622
Hispanic or Latino	607
White	1,681
International Students	44
Other Races/Ethnicities	210

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Health and Wellness, too. About 1.3% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Health and Wellness

Some degrees associated with health and wellness may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. 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 health and wellness careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.4%
Some College Courses	1.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	40.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	42.9%
Master’s Degree	10.1%
Doctoral Degree	0.4%

Online Health and Wellness 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)	8	2
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	39	12
Bachelor’s Degree	27	10
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	36	21
Post-Master’s	4	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	5	2
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	2	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Health and Wellness

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to health and wellness.

Major	Number of Grads
General Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences	30,492

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 Sandra M. Palumbo under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.