Careers & Opportunities

Opportunities

A BSc in MLS degree from the University of Alberta offers graduates many opportunities. Potential employers include:

MLS graduates continue to have 100 percent employment one-year post-graduation in education-related fields. This is partly because MLS graduates have transferable skills that make them employable not only as medical technologists, but also as research technologists, biotechnologists, environmental technologists and food technologists. They can also proceed to post-graduate and other studies that require a four-year degree.

There are current and projected shortages of technologists across western Canada, where many training programs were closed.

Besides being qualified to work in traditional laboratory disciplines (clinical chemistry, hematology, clinical microbiology, transfusion medicine, and histotechnology), MLS graduates have significant research skills. In the University of Alberta curriculum, communication and research courses are compulsory. Depending on the topic for the latter, skills acquired could include current research techniques such as DNA analysis and PCR, flow cytometry, specialized chromatographic procedures and tissue culture.

Additionally, graduates of the BSc in MLS program at the University of Alberta attain international marketability through their eligibility to write the MLS certification examinations of the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. Many are currently working in several countries worldwide and in numerous states in the United States.

The BSc in MLS also makes graduates well qualified and prepared to do post-graduate degrees in a variety of areas. These include graduate programs in medicine (MD), clinical and basic medical science (MSc and PhD), business (MBA), public health (MHSA, or MPH), education (MEd), dentistry (DDS) and many more.

MLS graduates from the University of Alberta are very successful at finding employment and in pursuing advanced studies that lead to rewarding careers.