Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many oral/maxillofacial surgery graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Graduate Certificate	33
Master’s Degree	2

What Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, oral/maxillofacial surgery 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 Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery Majors

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

• 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.
• 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.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

Skills for Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery Majors

A major in oral/maxillofacial surgery prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
• 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.
• 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.

Abilities for Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a oral/maxillofacial surgery student include the following:

• Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
• Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• 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.
• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.

What Can You Do With a Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with oral/maxillofacial surgery:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons	19.1%	$208,000

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery majors often go into careers with median salaries of $242,370. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

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

Some careers associated with oral/maxillofacial surgery require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. 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 oral/maxillofacial surgery have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
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.	8.1%
Doctoral Degree	20.3%
Post-Doctoral Training	73.8%

Online 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	2	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	3	0
Post-Master’s	16	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a oral/maxillofacial surgery grad is $242,370 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 507% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $4,049,400 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to oral/maxillofacial surgery.

Major	Number of Grads
General Dental Clinical Sciences	382
Orthodontics/Orthodontology	295
Advanced General Dentistry	189
Pediatric Dentistry/Pedodontics	148
Oral Biology & Oral & Maxillofacial Pathology	140
Periodontics/Periodontology	139
Endodontics/Endodontology	131
Other Advanced/Graduate Dentistry & Oral Sciences	124
Dental Public Health & Education	118
Prosthodontics/Prosthodontology	92
Implantology/Implant Dentistry	2
Dental Materials	1

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.