How To Become A Medical Laboratory Technologist (Med Tech)
Traditional Route:
The traditional route to becoming a medical laboratory technologist (MLT) involves formal education through a post-secondary school - a college or university. Not all universities offer a program that will get you there, but there are some in most states.
The program you may be looking for is Medical Laboratory Science (MLS) or something of that nature. It is a specific program that directly leads to getting a medical laboratory job. This program consists of various classes (depending on the program) dealing with human anatomy and physiology, mathematics, pathogens (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc), laboratory testing, and more.
After completing a number of generals and completing the medical laboratory science program, you will have achieved enough credits to graduate - except for one thing. The internship. Med Tech programs require a 6-month unpaid internship to give you hands-on experience in the different parts of the lab.
Once you complete the program, credit hours, and the internship, you can graduate with the bachelor’s degree you’ve worked so hard for. But the journey isn’t over yet. Next comes the certification exam.
Fortunately, the degree covers all the requirements ASCP has established to be able to sit down for the certification exam. After studying a lot, you will hopefully pass the two to three hour exam which then certifies you as a Medical Laboratory Scientist, or Medical Laboratory Technologist, for three years.
Every three years you are required to complete 36 hours of continuing education credits through ASCP. Recertification is good for another three years.
Here is a snapshot of the ASCP website describing the requirements to sit for the certification exam:
The NAACLS accredited program is a Medical Laboratory Scientist program that is tied to a school and has passed a series of requirements with NAACLS to prove accreditation. Most universities will bundle these two requirements together. But note that according to ASCP, the university degree and the MLS program are two different requirements.
Thoughts about the Traditional Route:
Route 1 - as shown in the image above - is great if you know that Medical Laboratory Science is the path you want for your career. However, there are a couple of issues with this:
If you attend a college that doesn’t offer this program, then you don’t have a direct path to the laboratory.
How do you know you want to work in the lab without first working in the lab? At best it’s a guess. And hopefully you guess right because the cost of a degree prohibits easy change to another career.
MLS Programs are bundled with a bachelor’s degree - which means a minimum number of hours must be met in order to qualify. This means there is a lot of historical context and outdated techniques learned and practiced that will NEVER be used by a tech to simply fill hours. There is value understanding the theory behind it, but practically most of that information is forgotten within a year of working in the lab.
Cost of the Traditional Route:
The average cost for a four-year degree starts at about $30,000. That doesn’t include housing. If you want to include that, over four years the average cost is $108,584.
Private schools are more expensive on average.
If you don’t work through college, you also incur a lost income expense. If you didn’t go to college and made $15/hr…
$15/hr x 40 hours/week = $600/week
$600/week x 52 weeks/year = $31,200
$31,200/hr x 4 years/degree = $124,800 lost due to not working for 4 years.
$124,800 (lost income) + $108,584 (degree) = $233,384 total cost
Do you wonder why people don’t change their careers? Or why people don’t like their jobs but won’t change?
(Figures found on Average Cost of College [2024]: Yearly Tuition + Expenses)
About ASCP Certification
When you go online to search for a medical laboratory technologist job, you’ll likely see a requirement of ASCP certification. This is the certification the traditional route will get you. But is it really required?
According to federal law, there is no requirement to be certified to work in the medical laboratory. There are certain education requirements to perform certain testing, or certification requirements to hold certain positions in the laboratory. However, to work as a tech in the medical laboratory, you don’t need ASCP certification.
With that, there are some state laws to be aware of. There are eleven states (and one territory) that DO REQUIRE ASCP certification. Those states include:
California
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Louisiana
Montana
Nevada
New York
North Dakota
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
Tennessee
West Virginia
So if I live in Texas, and I’m not certified, can I work in the medical laboratory? With a high school diploma, you can work as a lab assistant. With a bachelor’s degree, you can work as a med tech.
There are some costs associated with this. If you aren’t ASCP certified, you may not get paid the higher wage a certified tech will likely get. Without certification, you will not likely become a supervisor over a lab or be promoted beyond a technologist.
So how else can I become certified if I didn’t get my degree in Medical Laboratory Science?
Route 4:
ASCP credentialing has six routes listed for becoming eligible to take the ASCP certification exam. This article isn’t meant to go deep into each one. Instead, we’ll cover Route 1 (which we’ve already covered above) and Route 4.
Route 4 states two requirements to be eligible for the exam:
Bachelor’s degree in a life science
5 years of clinical experience within the last 10 years
Five years is daunting when you first see this. But this tells me one important thing:
ASCP acknowledges that you can work in the lab without certification.
How else can you get 5 years of experience to qualify to become certified if a certification is required to get 5 years of experience? Don’t think about it too much. It might hurt.
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in [insert life science degree here]. How can I work in the lab?
In 39 states you already qualify! Congratulations, you can start applying.
But why is it so hard to get a lab job?
Training someone without lab experience is very difficult to do. It can take months to train because of the lack of laboratory education. Hiring supervisors understand the cost of training, and that cost goes down the more qualified and experienced a tech is.
However, finding the right person is a huge value add - even if it means paying more to train.
A Change For The Better
What if…?
What if there was a way you could discover the job you love without committing years and tens of thousands of dollars to find out?
What if you could come out of high school with a certificate and take on a junior position in the job you want to work?
Students would find their passion and be motivated to perform the best.
Employers could fill a position for a fraction of the cost while shaping them to the best tech possible.
Once committed, the student would then complete a bachelor’s program in Medical Laboratory Science, understanding the material better because they have experience in the field.
If the student didn’t love the job, the cost to change careers is minimal. A certificate of $3,000 is much easier to recoup than a degree of $40,000+.
This is where LabTechify can help.
LabTechify is a 100% online training course to teach you how to work in the medical laboratory. We are NOT NAACLS accredited - which means we cannot get you an ASCP certificate. That means if you live in any of the states listed earlier, LabTechify is not for you.
If you live in any of the other states, then LabTechify can help you get into a medical laboratory job. Whether that is as a lab assistant or a med tech. As long as you have a high school diploma, our training can prepare you to work in the lab.
Beyond that, we practice interviewing techniques to help you build confidence for that day. We work with you on your resume to build something attractive and impressive. Our job isn’t done until you get a higher paying job than what you have right now.
And to help alleviate the fear of paying for a program, we have incredibly flexible payment plans. We charge $3,000 if you pay upfront, but you can get started for as little as only $400! And with that $400, you don’t have to make another payment until after you get a new job. If you don’t get a job, you don’t pay the rest.
Apply Now and start the path to be a medical laboratory technologist.
