1. An Honorable Profession: As a health care professional, the MLT is recognized as a contributor to the overall improvement of the quality of life within our community.


2. Personal Reward: Knowing that your knowledge and skills make a significant difference in the health of other persons can provide great job satisfaction.


3. Demand: Statistics show many current employers indicate a distinct shortage of qualified laboratory personnel, including MLTs. The current national supply of clinical laboratory science graduates will be unable to fill the available positions.


4. Compensation: A new MLT can expect a salary in the $32,000-$40,000 per year range, and employers of MLTs traditionally offer good benefit packages. Experienced MLTs earn more as they advance in their profession.


5. Career Flexibility: An MLT acquires skills applicable to a wide variety of fields beyond the clinical laboratory such as chemical, pharmaceutical and food science research, manufacturing quality control, forensic science, and computer applications.


6. Career Ladder: An MLT can easily work an associate's degree into a bachelor's degree through a variety of transfer programs. The ease of transfer, plus the benefit of a vocational program and a nationally recognized credential, makes the program in medical laboratory technology particularly attractive to the student who desires the stepping stone approach to attaining career objectives.


7. Dynamic Workplace: The MLT works in an environment where technological and scientific advances occur regularly. Because of this, the job never becomes stale or boring.


8. Technological Advances: A position in medical laboratory technology puts you in touch with the latest in "high tech" equipment such as lasers, optics, biotechnology, and computerized electronics.


9. Teamwork: The MLT is an important member of the health care team. Working on the investigative end of the process, the MLT provides the data necessary for a physician to diagnose and properly treat a patient.


10. Training: In as little as two years, a student can acquire all of the skills necessary to become a certified MLT.

1. General education and related science courses, which prepare the student with necessary basic skills in writing and communication and provide a natural and social science foundation upon which other courses in the program build.
2. Professional technical courses in Medical Laboratory Technology designed to train the student to work with laboratory equipment and techniques and to provide a thorough background of theory and rationale upon which to base decisions and judgments.
3. A professional clinical course in which the student applies knowledge and gains practice in laboratory skills, learning and working under the close supervision of experienced medical technologists and technicians. This course, taken the last semester of the program, is an 18-week, full-time experience rotating through all areas of a clinical laboratory.
   

The on-campus laboratory is very well equipped for student practice of laboratory techniques. Because most Medical Laboratory Technology classes have relatively small numbers of students, there is significant one-on-one time spent with the instructors.

Financial Aid information may be obtained by writing or calling the Financial Aid office on campus. (Ext. 2617).

For an estimate of program costs and other costs to consider click here.