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Athletic Training Major

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Athletic Training

2,076 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
1,386 Master's Degrees Annually
#15 in Popularity
$49,280 Median Salary

Types of Degrees Athletic Training Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many athletic training graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree 2,076
Master’s Degree 1,386
Basic Certificate 136
Associate Degree 87
Doctor’s Degree 74
Undergraduate Certificate 6
Graduate Certificate 2

What Athletic Training Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to athletic trainer 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 Athletic Trainer Majors

Athletic Trainer majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

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  • 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.
  • Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Athletic Trainer Majors

When studying athletic trainer, 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:

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  • Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • 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.

Abilities for Athletic Trainer Majors

Athletic Trainer majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

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  • 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.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • 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.
  • Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a Athletic Training Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with athletic trainer:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
Athletic Trainers 22.7% $47,510

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Athletic Training?

2,076 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
63% Percent Women
29% Percent Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
The major attracts more women than men. About 63% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of athletic trainer majors is as follows:

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 48
Black or African American 143
Hispanic or Latino 307
White 1,403
International Students 29
Other Races/Ethnicities 146

Geographic Diversity

Athletic Trainer appeals to people across the globe. About 1.4% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Athletic Training Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Athletic Trainer majors often go into careers with median salaries of $49,280. 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.

Median Salary for an Athletic Training Major  49,280
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Median Salary for a High School Graduate  ( 30000 to 57900 )
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250K
Median Salary for a Bachelor's Degree Holder  ( 45600 to 99000 )
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250K
Median Salary for an Advanced Degree Holder  ( 55600 to 125400 )
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250K

Some careers associated with athletic trainer 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.

Find out what the typical degree level is for athletic trainer careers below.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
Bachelor’s Degree 23.9%
Master’s Degree 70.1%
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. 3.7%

Online Athletic Training Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 437 schools offered some type of athletic training program. 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) 7 0
Certificate (2-4 Years) 0 0
Associate’s Degree 30 1
Bachelor’s Degree 2 2
Post-Baccalaureate 0 0
Master’s Degree 199 3
Post-Master’s 0 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 1 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 5 3
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 0 0

Is a Degree in Athletic Training Worth It?

The median salary for a athletic trainer grad is $49,280 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 24% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $187,600 after 20 years!

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You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to athletic trainer.

Major Number of Grads
Emergency Medical Technology/Technician (EMT Paramedic) 26,641
Physician Assistant 11,351
Radiologic Technology 9,790
Surgical Technology 7,583
Respiratory Care Therapy 6,845
Diagnostic Medical Sonography/Sonographer and Ultrasound Technician 5,396
Medical Radiologic Technology/Science - Radiation Therapy 4,850
Other Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions 1,911
Cardiovascular Technology/Technologist 1,405
Nuclear Medical Technology/Technologist 619
Electrocardiograph Technology/Technician 568
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Technology 525
Electroneurodiagnostic/Electroencephalographic Technology/Technologist 379
Polysomnography 302
Perfusion Technology/Perfusionist 138
Mammography Technician/Technology 69
Radiation Protection/Health Physics Technician 51
Cardiopulmonary Technology 40
Hearing Instrument Specialist 32
Gene/Genetic Therapy 31
Orthopedic Technology 15

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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