BS Bio graduate, qualms about becmoing a MT.

Hey everyone, I recently graduated from the University of California- Irvine, and I am totally lost right now. My main goal from my college career was to become a pharmacist, but as of right now things are not looking to good with me getting into pharmacy school. Money is tight, and I really would like to start doing something with my BS bio, and I remembered that those microbio labs were pretty interesting so I thought MT would be a good fit for now.

I graduated UCI with a GPA of 2.95 but my science GPA is around a 2.2 to 2.3. Now my question is, how hard will it be to get into a 1 or 2 (preferably 1) year program to become a MT?

Also if anyone has any other suggestions about another career path I can take with a BS bio degree please feel free to chime in, as long as it is not too competitive to be accepted into the program. And yes I have considered nursing, but the prereqs to get into that program are pretty high as well, and I am not to big on cleaning up vomit for a living.

Thanks so much.

Your science GPA is HORRIBLE. You will never get into any post professional health care degrees with that. Even RN at a community college have to keep alteast a 2.5 to get into the professional phase. What I suggest is RETAKE a bulk of ur science course and get it up to atleast a 3.0. Then you can apply to pharmacy, OT, PT, ETC. The MT profession is horrible, they pay is very low, you get no respect, you have foreigners that work here as cheap labor for a VISA. You have MLT that reduce wages. This is not a career I would recommend anyone doing. If this profession paid well, I would suggest it.

If you really need to find work I would suggest go to a vocational school and get ur LPN degree. From there when you do clinicals you can eventually get ur RN. Then from there you have alot of options. You do not necessarly have to work med surge, you can do Rehab which is pretty clean or if your really ambitious go to a nurse practioner program and you can start ur own clinic without having a MD look over things like a PA. Nurses have alot of avenues, you can even be a nurse anesisist <they make bank> over $100,000 per year. When you get a nursing degree skies is the limit. Its not all about cleaning vomit and wiping asses unless you want it to be.

Hi Ryan. Your career path is similar to mine and I live in CA. I graduated from a UC with a Bio degree then went to a CLS program. I've been working as a CLS for a few years.

You have a few options. There is the Loma Linda CLS program which is expensive, about 50K for 2 years but having a BS degree will help you get in. Half their students already have BS degrees and some don't. It's kind of easy to get in since not too many apply, no interview, etc. The first year is classes and the second is rotations.

The second option is Cal St. Dominguez hills. I like this option since it's the cheapest (around 2k a year), but first you have to get into the school, take prereqs and then apply to get into the rotations, interview, and so forth. There is no guarantee you will get into the CLS portion. The disadvantage is that it may take you 3 to 4 years to complete it, but the advantage is the cost.

A third option is the UCI program which accepts bachelor degree students for their CLS program which is 1 year of training. You have to apply, interview, have good grades, and they only accept like 2 or 3 people a year. It may be hard given your grades but since you graduated from their who knows. Continued on the next post...

Pharmacy is a great profession, but EVERYONE wants to get into it, you need a GPA of atleast 3.0 or above. They pay so well coming out of school that there is a overflow of applicants in EVERY pharmacy school. I applied to one this year, they have 120 seats and they had 4,000 applicants. If pharmacy did not pay well, and paid like MT coming out of school, they would be a shortage as well.

A fourth option is applying to a training program at Quest or another reference lab for a limited CLS license specializing in micro or molecular genetics. The advantage is that you do get paid like $11 an hour, but you don't get trained in hematology, bloodbank, chemistry, and other departments since it's limited.

That means you can only work in your specialty. I am not sure how hard it is to get into one of these programs and you may need lab technician experience.

So there are your options in terms of working in a lab. The pay starting here in southern CA is $28 to $29 an hour depending on the lab and can go as high as $45 with experience. The pay is good here so if you do decide to go to Loma Linda with the cost of that loan, you can still pay it off and live comfortably.

Also, you can get a per diem job or a part time job to supplement your income, easily hitting 80K to 100K depending how much you work. In fact, most techs do that around here and it's not that bad if you're willing to work more hours.

The job itself, is a piece of cake really, and not that stressful at all. At least that's my opinion since I like to critically think and a lot of challenges. It's the type of job where if you're smart, it should be easy for you. Hope that helps.

Ryan,

This is a ok career, but if you want to make some $$ look else where. All the hospitals here hire MLT or overseas AMT that work for next to nothing. So if a clinical lab will chose between a MT that could make 20-25, MLT that could make 15-18, or a AMT that will just be happy with a job b/c they are working for a VISA. Its the new graduates that are getting screwed.

Hmm thanks a lot for the advice everyone I'll definitely look around these options. You were all of great help.

Hey Ryan
I think becoming a MT(cls) is a good move. I graduated from cal state hayward, and went to the san jose state program. My GPA was about a 2.9 and I got in on the first try. It only took 1 year for me to complete the cls training program. The pay for a starting MT
(CLS) in the bay area ia about $40. I know my hospital pays a level 1 MT for $41.75, i know northern california MT make a little more then MT in southern cali. The hospital i work for do not have any MLT yet.

K,CLS in the bay area in Sunnyvale, California said: Hey Ryan
I think becoming a MT(cls) is a good move. I graduated from cal state hayward, and went to the san jose state program. My GPA was about a 2.9 and I got in on the first try. It only took 1 year for me to complete the cls training program. The pay for a starting MT
(CLS) in the bay area ia about $40. I know my hospital pays a level 1 MT for $41.75, i know northern california MT make a little more then MT in southern cali. The hospital i work for do not have any MLT yet.

Out of curiousity, what experience did you have prior to getting into the CLS program?

K,CLS in the bay area in Sunnyvale, California said: Hey Ryan
I think becoming a MT(cls) is a good move. I graduated from cal state hayward, and went to the san jose state program. My GPA was about a 2.9 and I got in on the first try. It only took 1 year for me to complete the cls training program. The pay for a starting MT
(CLS) in the bay area ia about $40. I know my hospital pays a level 1 MT for $41.75, i know northern california MT make a little more then MT in southern cali. The hospital i work for do not have any MLT yet.

Wow $40 an hour in northern CA? That's ridiculous. Starting here is at best $32 an hour. That seems a bit high to me.

K,CLS in the bay area in Sunnyvale, California said: Hey Ryan
I think becoming a MT(cls) is a good move. I graduated from cal state hayward, and went to the san jose state program. My GPA was about a 2.9 and I got in on the first try. It only took 1 year for me to complete the cls training program. The pay for a starting MT
(CLS) in the bay area ia about $40. I know my hospital pays a level 1 MT for $41.75, i know northern california MT make a little more then MT in southern cali. The hospital i work for do not have any MLT yet.

I see why they pay high. They do not have any MLT yet and only hire MTs. Here in Florida they hire both MLT and MTs and they can do the same duties but the pay for MT is not even close to 40 per hour. Reguardless of the cost of living in CA, this is the way the rest of the country would pay if they got rid of all the MLT programs. This state requires a license but still pays low b/c they hire MLTs

Hey check it out, childrens hospital, pays 38/hour starting, and will be 41.75 starting in feb. this year. We are hiring two full time techs right now, one for pm shift and one for a pm superviser.

I had no experience after i got my degree, i just applied to the cls program at san jose state, and was lucky to get in. I did have a bio degree, specializing in bio medical sciences, which meant i fulfilled all the requirements to get in to cls program.

Also, CLS in the bay area hospitals make starting in the high 30 to the low 40s. Just check out the hospitals like Stanford, John Mueir , there the top paid, also UCSF and washinghton hospital are just a few. The pay really depends if the hospital has a union or not. Places like clinics and reference labs dont make as much, i think there in the low to mid 30/h. Currently Stanford i know have mlt, but they only do limited amount of work, like they cant verify results.

Well I looked at the UC Davis medical center website and it said the starting was $33.99/hr. www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/hr/jobs/jobs_online.html

If it is true that the starting can be up to the low 40s, then maybe southern CA is lagging behind too much and will soon catch up.

I think with the introduction of licensed MLTs, they may eventually halt the increase of pay of CLSs. However, I don't see this happening for a long time as most hospitals are weary to hire MLTs because as you said they cannot release results and most lab directors simply understand that at this time MLTs in CA do not have the knowledge to do the job as competently as CLSs.

Yea, the Sacremento area hospitals do pay less, then the Bay area because there cost of living is really low. There houses are around 150,000, whereas in the bay area its about 600,000. So you see there a big difference in cost of living, which mean the pay would be higher. So you realy cant compare UC Davis with the Bay area hospitals. I think its a even trade, beacuse of the cost of living, actually Sacremento might be a better option. Yea LA does seem a little low, since the housing prices are a bit high there also. You should bring it up in the next meeting at your lab.

Hi Guys,
I'm applying for the CLS program at San Jose State right now, and I recently got an invitation for the interview. I know that the interview part is like the most important part for this program. Do you guys by any chance have any suggestions for me? I'm freaking out right now because I have no ideas of what they will be asking and stuff. Thanks

Hello,Yea I went through the interview process about 4 1/2 years ago at san jose state. They make you sit at the middle of the table and all the people from the hospitals around you, it was kindda scary. Then they just ask you a bunch of interview type of questions, like why you choose the cls program to get into. Why does this field interest you? I honestly think some of those interviewers have their mind already made up,before you take the interview. They like to go by the gpa you got in college and also previous work experience. Then they make you rate your 10 top hospitals you would like to intern at. Also I suggest you go to the hospitals that are coming for the interview and tour them before you interview. So that way you know the people beforehand, which might increase your chances of getting in.

Hi,
Oh gee, that is scary! I have never really ever had any interview that formal before. Do you know how long was interview? Also I think there is a written part to it too, do you still remember what kind of questions that asked you? Thanks

Hi, I am currently a cls intern at ucla looking to move back home (bay area) once I'm finished. Does anyone know of a generalist position at Kaiser NorCal? If so, would you happen to know the starting pay?

Thanks!

CLS4 in Milpitas, California said: Hi,
Oh gee, that is scary! I have never really ever had any interview that formal before. Do you know how long was interview? Also I think there is a written part to it too, do you still remember what kind of questions that asked you? Thanks

I'm not too sure about SJ State's interview, but with my interview for the cls program, it was more like a job interview. They asked me situational questions like "What would you do if a Dr can into the lab and demanded test results for their patients?" Just remember to be calm and you'll do fine.

Hi... I went to the SJSU CLS interview 3 years ago. The interview was no more than 20 minutes. You will be seated in front of 10-15 interviewers and they will randomly asked you 5-6 questions. The questions are very general,nothing technical. However, due to the increased numbers of applicants that they had received recently, I heard that they only asked 3 questions now. I think that they have already made up their minds before the interview. It will most likely be based on your GPA. I also suggest that you go visit all the possible hospitals that you can be trained in because 1)you have to choose which hospital you would like to train and 2)it allows the education coordinators, which will most likely be your interviewer on the day of the interview, to get to know you better. It is really hard for them to know you with only 10- 15 minutes of interview.

I have a Biology degree and after working as a CLS for years I got my MHA. working in the lab sucks it would be better to get an RN degree and move into mgt. the pay is better the hours is better and you can move up faster if I had to do it over again becoming an MT would have been my last choice. We have so much education and yet we're treated like S--T! I just got out of the lab and I'm working for a company where I can use my biology degree/my masters and it's the best choice I've made in years. Don't Become A Medical Tech. the pay stucks, and your co-workers will stab you in the back in the blink of an eye. I thank GOD every night for being able to move out of this field!

i think being a CLS in california is better than other states. if you just google 'cls salary' you'll already see that the pay for a cls in CA is almost double that of a cls anywhere else. i am working at guest diagnostics as a lab associate while trying to finish the pre reqs for a generalist cls program. i work under a lot of cls's and the atmosphere here is just great. everyone i work with makes the job fun and quest itself is such a great company. they are one of the 2 programs in CA that offer a limited license program and they guarantee a job after you finish their program started at 30 an hour. work there for 2 years then move up to the bay area and make 40 an hour to start. my plan is to apply for a cls program whether it be limited or generalist, work as a cls for a couple of years then move my way up into the management positions. pay for cls's is not an issue in CA

Quest lab associate in Irvine, California said: i think being a CLS in california is better than other states. if you just google 'cls salary' you'll already see that the pay for a cls in CA is almost double that of a cls anywhere else. i am working at guest diagnostics as a lab associate while trying to finish the pre reqs for a generalist cls program. i work under a lot of cls's and the atmosphere here is just great. everyone i work with makes the job fun and quest itself is such a great company. they are one of the 2 programs in CA that offer a limited license program and they guarantee a job after you finish their program started at 30 an hour. work there for 2 years then move up to the bay area and make 40 an hour to start. my plan is to apply for a cls program whether it be limited or generalist, work as a cls for a couple of years then move my way up into the management positions. pay for cls's is not an issue in CA

You are right, states like new york, where the cost of living is equiv or more than Cal, the tech rates are VERY LOW even though they are licensed. The reason is b/c AS MLT can perform the same job as BS MT therefore lowering the pay. Where as Cal, only uses BS MT the pay is well, once they start using MLT's the pay will decrease and the MT's in Cal will start complaining like the MT's in all the other states.

Ricky in Lewisville, Texas said: You are right, states like new york, where the cost of living is equiv or more than Cal, the tech rates are VERY LOW even though they are licensed. The reason is b/c AS MLT can perform the same job as BS MT therefore lowering the pay. Where as Cal, only uses BS MT the pay is well, once they start using MLT's the pay will decrease and the MT's in Cal will start complaining like the MT's in all the other states.

Yes so MTs in CA must keep MLTs from releasing results. Inevitably, that is where it might go unless we unionize and protect the standard that has been put into place.

What the pay like for MT's in Michigan? I looking into a career change.

cls in San Jose, California said: Hey check it out, childrens hospital, pays 38/hour starting, and will be 41.75 starting in feb. this year. We are hiring two full time techs right now, one for pm shift and one for a pm superviser.

Dont work for CHO In OACLAND CA, they are very unfair to there veteran techs. They will hire 2 new techs, and take all the hours
from the per-diem techs. Then they make rules that are inpossible to
follow, their is some raceism there, and if you are white, and experienced, they really dont want you. I have been there for many years, and it never get;s any better. There are better jobs to apply for good luck. The 2 new techs have no experience and are replaceing
about 4 per-diem techs. The PM supervisor moved to days, thats why the position is open. They do tend to gang up on you here.

RANDY BSMT (ASCP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania said: Your science GPA is HORRIBLE. You will never get into any post professional health care degrees with that. Even RN at a community college have to keep alteast a 2.5 to get into the professional phase. What I suggest is RETAKE a bulk of ur science course and get it up to atleast a 3.0. Then you can apply to pharmacy, OT, PT, ETC. The MT profession is horrible, they pay is very low, you get no respect, you have foreigners that work here as cheap labor for a VISA. You have MLT that reduce wages. This is not a career I would recommend anyone doing. If this profession paid well, I would suggest it.

The MT's get paid great here in San Antonio and in TX period. That's why I can't wait to get my Bachelor's in Clinical Lab Sci.
MLT are already making $28/hr in Houston (still pretty good although cost of living is a little higher than SA), think of what MT's are making! MT's here are starting at about $40,000/yr, more at the military bases, all of which are ready and willing to hire certified lab professionals.

You have a dismal view of our profession and you may want to consider another career if you're going to have that kind of attitude. Some MT's I know aren't that great at Science, but they have excellent leadership qualities and a willingness to learn and grow with the job.

Bad advice to the original poster. Shame on you.

The only thing I'd warn you about is if you have a 2.2 to 2.3 GPA in your science coursework you may find CLS very hard, perhaps even too hard. I'm not saying you need 3.5 to 4.0, but you need the depth of understanding that might be shown with those grades. If you fall between 2.5 and 3.2, you can probably hang with the program if you were one of those students who really loved and understood the material but just couldn't always put it together for the exam. The easiest science class I've had in my CLS program so far was immunology, and that was because I was comfortable with the instructor's teaching and testing styles. It was the kind of science I'm accustomed to. I also had the vocabulary and background to understand the material easily. I won't say that clinical chemistry, hematology or microbiology are alien to me, but I definitely knew less about those subjects than about immunology and I had to study harder.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I'm finding the CLS coursework very challenging but doable. On a relative difficulty scale, I'd put CLS right up there with Chemical Engineering. If you want an "easy" program, I don't know what I'd suggest other than "not CLS". But hey--just because it's hard doesn't mean you won't love it.

I graduated UCI with a GPA of 2.95 but my science GPA is around a 2.2 to 2.3. Now my question is, how hard will it be to get into a 1 or 2 (preferably 1) year program to become a MT?

Also if anyone has any other suggestions about another career path I can take with a BS bio degree please feel free to chime in, as long as it is not too competitive to be accepted into the program. And yes I have considered nursing, but the prereqs to get into that program are pretty high as well, and I am not to big on cleaning up vomit for a living.

Thanks so much.

Hi There Ryan,

I'm pleased to meet you. Those science courses are no joke. I would not retake them. Somebody else with a higher grade point average is not going to get any higher pay than you. You graduated and need a job. Finding employment is an 8 hr job. Get your one page resume together and post it on careerbuilder,hotjobs, monster and collegerecruiter.com just to name few.

Your probably working by now but if you aren't then start applying for Medical Technologist jobs. You already have a BS in Biology. With a BS in Biology you can become a biology teacher, researcher, medical technologist,pharmaceutical sales representative, health educator and pharmacist. While searching for employment keep applying for pharmacist programs. Don't take any of those science courses over again because it's a waste of money and you don't have to. Your grade point average enabled you to earn the BS degree. Use the BS to get a job now!

Richard is sooo right.

Most of the MT jobs here that I found (although I'm not qualified) only ask that you have a Bachelor's in a related field and some experience in the laboratory setting. And yes, Biology is a related field! I've even heard that some are even taking MT's that only have a Bachelor's in Management or Business along with experience in the lab...but don't hold fast to that...I only *heard* from a few MT's.

If u have a BS in Biology u shouldn't hesitate to apply 4 medical technologist positions. Those sciences r hard and don't u dear take them over again. Achieving a higher GPA is not necessary 4 u 2 find work. U can even become a biology teacher at the grade or high school level. If u wanna c a lot of medical technologist ads just log on to www.collegrecruiter.com, careerbuilder.com or www.advanceweb.com. U should try and apply 4 certification through AMT, ASCP or NCA. The Fed r looking 4 college grads with a BS n Biology.4

RANDY BSMT (ASCP) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania said: Your science GPA is HORRIBLE. You will never get into any post professional health care degrees with that. Even RN at a community college have to keep alteast a 2.5 to get into the professional phase. What I suggest is RETAKE a bulk of ur science course and get it up to atleast a 3.0. Then you can apply to pharmacy, OT, PT, ETC. The MT profession is horrible, they pay is very low, you get no respect, you have foreigners that work here as cheap labor for a VISA. You have MLT that reduce wages. This is not a career I would recommend anyone doing. If this profession paid well, I would suggest it.

Regarding MT or Clinical laboratory Scientist wages and respect. When I first graduated with a BS and a CLS license, my starting wage was approximately $40/hr at Kaiser, California. In addition, they have great benefit. It’s so worth to look into it. I have no regrets, and love my job so much. And also, you get the respect from the doctors and personal gratification from helping the doctors diagnose the patient’s illness.

Sylvia ur in California, they have a license tere and have not started using MLTs yet. The other 49 states it's a whole different story, no standards, no licensure, they hire MLTs hence schools closing down in most of the country except the CLS schools in Cali.

Standards increase wages and keep students interested in the field, that leads to keeping schools open.

$40 an hr for new grads is just sick. You must be working on a pm or graveyard shift and are including the differential. Even so, I need to move to northern CA. My classmate that works up there with the same experience as me is getting $3 more an hour.

Kaiser pays high, but I hear that they work you like a dog & that it's hard to get in without any experience... is that true? I'm currently in my last year of CLS school in So Cal with a whole LOT of loans! So, I'm looking for a good paying place to work at with loan forgiveness programs if possible...

You must be going to loma linda. Hospitals usually don't have loan forgiveness programs for CLSs. Your best bet is to get a full time and per diem job. With the per diem job, you can get an extra 1K a month for working maybe 4 extra days and use that to pay just toward your loans. That's why when people ask me about CLS around this area, I tell them to go to Dominguez hills and not loma linda because it's the same education for 40K less and you get paid the same afterwards.

Kaiser in Fontana is pretty laid back. I have heard that the rest of the Kaisers are really busy though like you said.

TFarnon in Sparks, Nevada said: The only thing I'd warn you about is if you have a 2.2 to 2.3 GPA in your science coursework you may find CLS very hard, perhaps even too hard. I'm not saying you need 3.5 to 4.0, but you need the depth of understanding that might be shown with those grades. If you fall between 2.5 and 3.2, you can probably hang with the program if you were one of those students who really loved and understood the material but just couldn't always put it together for the exam. The easiest science class I've had in my CLS program so far was immunology, and that was because I was comfortable with the instructor's teaching and testing styles. It was the kind of science I'm accustomed to. I also had the vocabulary and background to understand the material easily. I won't say that clinical chemistry, hematology or microbiology are alien to me, but I definitely knew less about those subjects than about immunology and I had to study harder.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I'm finding the CLS coursework very challenging but doable. On a relative difficulty scale, I'd put CLS right up there with Chemical Engineering. If you want an "easy" program, I don't know what I'd suggest other than "not CLS". But hey--just because it's hard doesn't mean you won't love it.

I think you're mapping of GPA to ability is remarkably ignorant. I think it's unfortunate so much emphasis is put on such a flawed number. It's certainly possible that this individual is weak academically, but a low GPA on it's own definitely does not reliably imply such a conclusion. There's simply too many variables that go into play (e.g., many classes are graded on a bell curve, so if you happen to be in an above average class your grade will be weighted negatively).

Stop the bullcrap,grade point average means nothing. Quit making more out of the job than it really is. It's not rocket science in becoming a medical lab technician or medical technologist. It's obtaining a national certification and then obtaining "on the job training". New analyzers and tests are constantly being created. Therefore even the most experienced techs or technologists will have to be re-trained. It's no wonder that there is a shortage of medical clinical laboratorians. The current laboratorians create unneeded hiring preferences and are very selfish/stubborn.