undergradly.
Major · Health Professions

Front-desk medicine, clipboards, calendars, and claims.

Medical Administrative Assistant programs train you to keep clinics running — scheduling, charting, insurance follow-up, and patient communication. The labor-market entry bar is lower than the credential, so the path you pick matters more than the diploma.

Schools offering
179
Annual completions
3,317
Typical degree level
Associate's
Median earnings (5yr)
$50k

About this major

Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary (CIP 51.0716) trains students to support physicians, nurses, and health-care administrators with the operational backbone of a clinic: scheduling, medical records, insurance verification, patient communication, and compliance. Coursework typically covers medical terminology, healthcare law and HIPAA, electronic health records, billing fundamentals, business and medical communications, and office software. It is one of the most administratively focused programs in the broader health professions concentration — closer to office management than to clinical practice.

The major suits people who like structured workflows, communicate clearly under pressure, and are comfortable spending the day in front of a screen and a phone. It rewards organization, discretion (you handle protected health information constantly), and patience with insurance bureaucracy. It does not require the science load of a clinical track.

A grounded note on scale: 179 colleges award this credential, but a single for-profit school — Ultimate Medical Academy — accounts for 2,103 of roughly 3,317 annual completions, or about 63%. That concentration matters when you compare programs. Community-college certificates and associate’s pathways exist in most states and typically cost a fraction of for-profit tuition while preparing you for the same entry-level roles. The credential alone won’t differentiate you; the institution, the cost, and the certifications you stack on top will.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Medical secretaries and administrative assistants $45k +4.2% High school diploma or equivalent
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$50k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$41k

Bachelor's

$61k

Who this major is for

Green-flag signals are practical and concrete. You stay organized when six things are happening at once. You are comfortable on the phone and patient with people who are stressed, confused, or in pain. You like the idea of working inside healthcare without the science prerequisites, the clinical hours, or the on-your-feet shifts. You see a credential as a starting point and intend to stack billing/coding, EHR, or registrar certifications on top — that is where this major’s ROI actually lives.

Red flags are worth taking seriously. The primary career — medical secretary (SOC 43-6013) — lists "high school diploma or equivalent" as the typical entry credential. That means the labor market does not require a college degree for most of these roles, and the ROI on a full two-year associate’s deserves scrutiny before you enroll. A 6–12 month certificate from a community college often opens the same door at a fraction of the cost. The earnings ceiling is also modest: median wages sit around $44,640, and the bachelor’s premium in this field generally appears only when graduates pivot toward health information or healthcare management, not when they stay in front-office work. If you are considering a high-tuition for-profit program, price out the community-college alternative in your state first.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Ultimate Medical Academy Clearwater, FL 2,103 0 2,103
Santa Ana College Santa Ana, CA 172 0 172
South University-Savannah Online Savannah, GA 100 0 100
Bryant & Stratton College-Online Orchard Park, NY 50 0 50
Swedish Institute a College of Health Sciences New York, NY 48 0 48
Arkansas Tech University Russellville, AR 27 0 27
Merced College Merced, CA 25 0 25
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College Bowling Green, KY 25 0 25
NUC University Bayamon, PR 24 0 24
Ventura College Ventura, CA 23 0 23
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Health/Health Care Administration/Management

13,592 completions/yr

Medical Insurance Specialist/Medical Biller

5,266 completions/yr

Health Information/Medical Records Technology/Technician

3,421 completions/yr

Hospital and Health Care Facilities Administration/Management

2,279 completions/yr

Health and Medical Administrative Services, Other

1,950 completions/yr

Medical Insurance Coding Specialist/Coder

1,539 completions/yr

Health Information/Medical Records Administration/Administrator

1,511 completions/yr

Medical Office Management/Administration

1,034 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Medical Administrative/Executive Assistant and Medical Secretary worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

Do I need an associate’s, or is a certificate enough?
For most medical secretary and front-office roles, a certificate (typically 6–12 months) opens the same door as a two-year associate’s. BLS lists "high school diploma or equivalent" as the typical entry for SOC 43-6013, with on-the-job training. The full associate’s adds general-education credit and a slightly stronger résumé, but the wage gap between certificate and associate’s completers is narrow. Run the cost-versus-time math honestly before enrolling in the longer path.
What does a medical administrative assistant actually do?
Schedule appointments, manage patient records, handle phone triage and intake, process insurance verifications and referrals, post charges, and coordinate between clinical staff and patients. Strong EHR fluency (Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth) and HIPAA discipline are baseline expectations. The work is steady, paperwork-heavy, and patient-facing.
What does it pay?
BLS reports a median wage of $44,640 for medical secretaries and administrative assistants (SOC 43-6013), with associate’s completers averaging around $40,663 in early-career earnings per College Scorecard. The ceiling is modest; specialty stacking lifts it.
How do I raise the earnings ceiling?
Stack credentials. Medical billing and coding (AAPC’s CPC, AHIMA’s CCS) is the most common move and pays measurably better than front-desk work. Patient registrar, EHR specialist, practice management, and prior-authorization specialist roles also lift earnings. Bachelor’s completers in this field land closer to $60,828 median, but most go that distance only after pivoting toward health information management.
Where do most graduates come from?
The completion data is heavily concentrated in for-profit and online schools — Ultimate Medical Academy alone produces 2,103 of the roughly 3,317 annual completions. Community colleges (Santa Ana, Merced, Ventura) and a few technical schools follow. The institutional mix matters: cost, transferability, and employer recognition vary widely between a community-college certificate and a for-profit associate’s.
Is the job outlook stable?
BLS projects 4.2% growth for medical secretaries through the decade — slower than average, but the base of healthcare administrative work is large and aging-demographics keep clinic volume steady. Hiring is geographically broad: hospitals, physician offices, urgent care, dental practices, and specialty clinics all need coverage.