B.S.,
Clinical Laboratory Science
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
What You’ll Do
Students who like science and want a career with a strong job outlook are often drawn to the health care fields. As a Clinical Laboratory Science major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, you’ll get the academic foundation of college science courses as well as the practical, clinical courses that will lead to job opportunities following graduation.
At the IUP main campus, you’ll take courses such as chemistry, biology, physics, and math, as well as the Liberal Studies requirements. For the final year of your education, you’ll attend classes and clinical rotations at a fully accredited, affiliated school of clinical laboratory science.
The following programs maintain agreements of affiliation with IUP: Altoona Regional Health System, Altoona; Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Akron, Ohio; Memorial Medical Center, Johnstown; Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Lancaster; St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, North Philadelphia; St. Vincent Health Center, Erie; Williamsport Hospital and Medical Center, Williamsport; WCA Hospital, Jamestown, N.Y.; and York Hospital, York. Since IUP cannot guarantee admission to the competitive clinical programs, students are encouraged to maintain strong grades.
What You’ll Become
The Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Laboratory Science prepares graduates to work as clinical laboratory scientists (also known as medical technologists) or to pursue graduate studies. Those who work in this field analyze blood, tissue, cells, and other body fluids to provide crucial data. While clinical laboratory scientists traditionally have worked in hospital laboratories, jobs can also be found in doctors’ offices, private laboratories, clinics, government agencies, industry, pharmaceutical companies, private research facilities, and forensic science labs.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook is expected to increase by 14 percent from 2008 to 2018, with the number of job openings expected to continue to exceed the number of people seeking jobs in this field. Also contributing to strong job growth is an anticipated increase in the volume of laboratory tests due to population growth and the creation of new tests.
