Laboratory Degrees

Overview

It is always wise to focus on the services and industries that are in demand during an economic recession. Out of all the vast choices, laboratory degrees offer a safe opportunity for professional success. If you hold a laboratory degree, your role would be to perform specialized chemical, microscopic, and bacteriologic test of blood, tissue, and fluids under the supervision of a physician. You can pursue the laboratory degrees either in clinical laboratory sciences or medical laboratory sciences. You have undergraduate certifications to PhD programs in this field.

The curriculum of the laboratory degree includes clinical chemistry, hematology, microbiology, immunohematology, immunology, medical and clinical genetics, anatomy, and physiology. Apart from the lectures and practical classes, the students are also given clinical internships in each area at the local hospital. Certain colleges also insist their students to take up national certification examinations in clinical laboratory sciences or medical technology offered by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the National Certifying Agency for Medical Laboratory Personnel (NCA). After pursuing laboratory degrees, you can specialize in cytotechnology, molecular techniques, phlebotomy, genetics, or any other of your choice.

Benefits

According to a survey, the medical laboratory technicians held around 302,000 jobs in 2004. This job assurance makes this profession a unique one. Almost all the jobs are associated with the health care services. If you have pursued a laboratory degree, you can work at hospitals, offices of physicians, diagnostic laboratories, government services, and even educational institutions. You can also become an entrepreneur by starting your own laboratory. The designation includes laboratory manager, laboratory technician, associate research scientist, senior research scientist, specialty laboratory assistant, postdoctoral appointee, postdoc research fellow, and scientific lab technician laboratory director.

Costs

The cost of the laboratory degree varies depending on the college or university you choose. The average tuition fees ranges from $17,000 to $26,000 per annum for clinical laboratory sciences and for medical laboratory sciences it ranges from $8,000 to $35,000 per annum. The tuition associate degree in laboratory sciences costs $1,200 to $8,000 on an average per semester. If you wish to reduce your financial burden try looking out some scholarship or financial aid either from your college or from other sources.

Schools

There are many colleges in the United States of America which offers laboratory degrees. There are also some colleges which provide online certification degrees. Virginia Commonwealth University, American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, and Michigan State University are some of the colleges which offer bachelor's degree in laboratory sciences.

Testing & Preparation

The basic requirement to join the laboratory degree is that the students must have completed high school graduation with a curriculum which includes English, chemistry, mathematics, medical technology, and biological science. They must have ability to judge analytically, work under pressure, pay close attention to details as small as a change in test substances that can be crucial for patient's treatment, manual dexterity, and normal color vision. Knowledge to operate the laboratory equipments and computer skills are also equally important. They should have a minimum grade point average of 2.5. You also should have an eligible Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, and if you are an international student, Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required with a reasonable score.

Financial Aid

The colleges themselves have a program to offer financial aid and scholarships to their students. You may contact the colleges you have chosen for more details on their financial aid programs. Federal Student Aid also provides scholarships to the deserving students. Apart from these scholarships, you may also avail the student loans from several banks. The Student Loan Network is another source to procure a wide range of loans for students.