Health Science

Types of Degrees Health Science Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many health sciences & services graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	19,276
Associate Degree	10,346
Basic Certificate	3,440
Master’s Degree	1,209
Undergraduate Certificate	1,134
Doctor’s Degree	256
Graduate Certificate	226

What Health Science Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to health science and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Health Science Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in health science 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.
• Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• 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.
• 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.

Skills for Health Science Majors

When studying health science, 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.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Health Science Majors

As a health science major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• 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.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Health Science Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with health science:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Community Health Workers	17.9%	$39,540
Health Educators	14.6%	$54,220

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science?

This is one of the most frequently chosen healthcare majors. It is the 4th most popular in the country with 18,821 students graduating with a bachelor’s in health science in 2021. The major attracts more women than men. About 78% of the recent graduates in this field are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of health science majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1,985
Black or African American	3,075
Hispanic or Latino	3,710
White	8,974
International Students	238
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,294

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Health Science. About 1.2% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Health Science

Some careers associated with health science 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 health science careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	5.4%
Some College Courses	1.5%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	40.2%
Bachelor’s Degree	42.9%
Master’s Degree	10.1%
Doctoral Degree	0.4%

Online Health Science 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)	59	7
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	336	52
Bachelor’s Degree	48	19
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	83	38
Post-Master’s	6	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	17	6
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	8	3
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	2	1

Majors Related to Health Science

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to health science.

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
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
Alternative Medicine & Systems	3,431
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.

• 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 Sandra M. Palumbo under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.