Health/Medical Psychology

Types of Degrees Health/Medical Psychology Majors Are Getting

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

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	219
Basic Certificate	96
Master’s Degree	35
Doctor’s Degree	31
Graduate Certificate	15

What Health/Medical Psychology Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to health/medical psychology and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Health/Medical Psychology Majors

Health/Medical Psychology majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
• 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.
• 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.

Skills for Health/Medical Psychology Majors

A major in health/medical psychology 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Health/Medical Psychology Majors

Health/Medical Psychology majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• 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.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• 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 Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

What Can You Do With a Health/Medical Psychology Major?

People with a health/medical psychology degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Counseling Psychologists	14.2%	$76,990
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Health/Medical Psychology?

The major attracts more women than men. About 82% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	18
Black or African American	19
Hispanic or Latino	38
White	125
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	18

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Health/Medical Psychology. About 0.5% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Health/Medical Psychology

Some degrees associated with health/medical psychology 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.

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

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	2.9%
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)	2.2%
Some College Courses	0.4%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	3.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	48.9%
Master’s Degree	18.0%
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.	1.4%
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.	3.8%
Doctoral Degree	7.3%
Post-Doctoral Training	12.0%

Online Health/Medical Psychology 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)	0	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	0	0
Bachelor’s Degree	5	1
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	7	3
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	8	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Health/Medical Psychology

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to health/medical psychology.

Major	Number of Grads
Counseling Psychology	11,005
Applied Behavior Analysis	6,810
Clinical Psychology	5,823
School Psychology	3,646
Industrial & Organizational Psychology	2,785
Forensic Psychology	2,601
Applied Psychology	2,536
Educational Psychology	2,114
Other Psychology & Counseling	638
Community Psychology	544
Performance and Sport Psychology	210
Clinical Child Psychology	126
Family Psychology	56
Transpersonal/Spiritual Psychology	28
Environmental Psychology	8
Geropsychology	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.