Medical/Clinical Assistant

Types of Degrees Medical/Clinical Assistant Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many medical/clinical assistant graduations there were in 2021-2022 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	38,705
Basic Certificate	10,225
Associate Degree	5,617
Bachelor’s Degree	6

What Medical/Clinical Assistant Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, medical/clinical assistant 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 Medical/Clinical Assistant Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in medical/clinical assistant should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• 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.
• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

Skills for Medical/Clinical Assistant Majors

When studying medical/clinical assistant, 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:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• 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.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Medical/Clinical Assistant Majors

A major in medical/clinical assistant will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• 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.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Can You Do With a Medical/Clinical Assistant Major?

People with a medical/clinical assistant degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Medical Assistants	29.0%	$33,610

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Medical/Clinical Assistant?

The major attracts more women than men. About 94% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	305
Black or African American	1,205
Hispanic or Latino	1,491
White	2,042
International Students	92
Other Races/Ethnicities	482

How Much Do Medical/Clinical Assistant Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Medical/Clinical Assistant majors often go into careers with median salaries of $34,540. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Medical/Clinical Assistant

Some careers associated with medical/clinical assistant 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 medical/clinical assistant careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	10.6%
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)	66.9%
Some College Courses	7.1%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	18.4%

Online Medical/Clinical Assistant 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)	901	23
Certificate (2-4 Years)	8	0
Associate’s Degree	454	24
Bachelor’s Degree	1	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Medical/Clinical Assistant Worth It?

The median salary for a medical/clinical assistant grad is $34,540 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to Medical/Clinical Assistant

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

Major	Number of Grads
Pharmacy Technician/Assistant	7,327
Physical Therapy Assistant	6,499
Occupational Therapist Assistant	4,508
Other Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services	4,145
Emergency Care Attendant (EMT Ambulance)	3,373
Radiologist Assistant	1,360
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Assistant	571
Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant	375
Anesthesiologist Assistant	371
Speech-Language Pathology Assistant	299
Pathology/Pathologist Assistant	157
Lactation Consultant	49

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.