Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many histologic technician graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Associate Degree	129
Basic Certificate	53
Undergraduate Certificate	44
Bachelor’s Degree	19

What Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, histologic technician 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 Histologic Technician Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• 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.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• 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.

Skills for Histologic Technician Majors

When studying histologic technician, 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:

• 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.
• 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Science - Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.

Abilities for Histologic Technician Majors

Histologic Technician majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• 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.

What Can You Do With a Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with histologic technician:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians	14.0%	NA

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

The major attracts more women than men. About 74% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of histologic technician majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1
Black or African American	3
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	11
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	1

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some careers associated with histologic technician 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 histologic technician careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	4.2%
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)	0.4%
Some College Courses	0.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	30.4%
Bachelor’s Degree	45.1%
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.	10.3%
Master’s Degree	6.7%
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.	0.3%

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)	4	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	18	1
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	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

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to histologic technician.

Major	Number of Grads
Phlebotomy Technician/Phlebotomist	8,296
Laboratory Sciences & Medical Technology	3,966
Laboratory Technician	3,429
Sterile Processing Technology/Technician	1,193
Other Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science and Allied Professions	822
Blood Bank Technology Specialist	319
Renal/Dialysis Technologist/Technician	184
Histologic Technology/Histotechnologist	147
Cytotechnology/Cytotechnologist	101
Ophthalmic Laboratory Technology/Technician	72
Hematology Technology	66
Cytogenetics/Genetics/Clinical Genetics Technology/Technologist	44

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
• Image Credit: By Staff Sgt. Jerilyn Quintanilla under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.