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Alternative Medicine Major

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Alternative Medicine

348 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
1,282 Master's Degrees Annually
#16 in Popularity

Types of Degrees Alternative Medicine Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many alternative medicine & systems graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level Number of Grads
Master’s Degree 1,300
Doctor’s Degree 978
Basic Certificate 368
Bachelor’s Degree 354
Undergraduate Certificate 257
Graduate Certificate 95
Associate Degree 79

What Alternative Medicine Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to alternative medicine 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 Alternative Medicine Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • 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.

Skills for Alternative Medicine Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to alternative medicine:

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  • 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.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Alternative Medicine Majors

Alternative Medicine 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.
  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

What Can You Do With a Alternative Medicine Major?

People with a alternative medicine degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title Job Growth Rate Median Salary
Acupuncturists 13.3% $73,960
Health Diagnosing and Treating Practitioners 13.3% $73,960
Midwives 12.5% $54,620
Naturopathic Physicians 13.3% $73,960
Orthoptists 13.3% $73,960

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Alternative Medicine?

354 Bachelor's Degrees Annually
83% Percent Women
43% Percent Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
This is one of the most frequently chosen healthcare majors. It is the 16th most popular in the country with 348 students graduating with a bachelor’s in alternative medicine in 2021. This major is dominated by women with about 83% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of alternative medicine majors is as follows:

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Race/Ethnicity Number of Grads
Asian 16
Black or African American 52
Hispanic or Latino 66
White 186
International Students 5
Other Races/Ethnicities 29

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Alternative Medicine. About 1.4% of those with this major are international students.

Some degrees associated with alternative medicine 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 alternative medicine have obtained the following education levels.

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Education Level Percentage of Workers
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) 3.3%
Some College Courses 4.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree) 7.1%
Bachelor’s Degree 7.1%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master. 26.4%
Master’s Degree 20.8%
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. 5.0%
Doctoral Degree 25.8%
Post-Doctoral Training 2.6%

Online Alternative Medicine 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) 18 5
Certificate (2-4 Years) 2 0
Associate’s Degree 8 1
Bachelor’s Degree 17 6
Post-Baccalaureate 0 0
Master’s Degree 64 7
Post-Master’s 9 0
Doctor’s Degree (Research) 3 0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice) 28 0
Doctor’s Degree (Other) 5 0

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to alternative medicine.

Major Number of Grads
Nursing 308,114
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 88,809
Allied Health Professions 85,413
Health & Medical Administrative Services 85,302
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services 79,189
Public Health 42,551
Health Sciences & Services 35,887
Mental & Social Health Services 31,550
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 29,934
Medicine 29,206
Dental Support Services 25,040
Communication Sciences 23,288
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science 19,017
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 18,729
Somatic Bodywork & Therapeutic Services 10,516
Health/Medical Prep Programs 9,413
Other Health Professions 7,387
Dentistry 6,961
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services 5,644
Bioethics/Medical Ethics 5,056
Chiropractic 2,698
Medical Illustration & Informatics 2,689
Health Aids/Attendants/Orderlies 2,244
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences 1,845
Optometry 1,789
Medical Science 1,090
Ophthalmic & Optometric Support Services 760
Movement & Mind-Body Therapies 468
Alternative Medical Support Services 136
Energy & Biologically Based Therapies 116

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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