What Can I Do with a Radiation Science Degree?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Grad­u­ates find roles in health­care, includ­ing posi­tions like radi­og­ra­phers and radi­a­tion ther­a­pists who assist in diag­nos­ing and treat­ing patients.
• Pro­fes­sion­als may work with sophis­ti­cat­ed imag­ing tech­nolo­gies and play a key role in med­ical diag­nos­tics and ther­a­peu­tic process­es.
• Advanced edu­ca­tion and cer­ti­fi­ca­tions can lead to spe­cial­ized roles in med­ical dosime­try or mag­net­ic res­o­nance imag­ing.

Among the most remark­able med­ical break­throughs that hap­pened in the 20th cen­tu­ry was the sci­en­tif­ic har­ness­ing of radi­a­tion as a viable way to diag­nose, treat and even cure dis­eases, espe­cial­ly can­cer. Scan­ning pro­ce­dures – that use x‑rays, gam­ma rays (and oth­er ion­iz­ing radi­a­tion pro­ce­dures) offer incred­i­ble med­ical insight and effec­tive treat­ment but can also put pro­fes­sion­als and patients at risk dur­ing radi­ol­o­gy scans if done incorrectly.

Med­ical Radi­a­tion Sci­en­tists (MRS) find reward­ing careers in health­care with pro­fes­sion­al respon­si­bil­i­ties that include per­form­ing diag­nos­tic imag­ing on patients. In addi­tion, radi­a­tion sci­ence pro­fes­sion­als may also par­tic­i­pate in stud­ies that are relat­ed to imag­ing tech­nol­o­gy or admin­is­ter radi­a­tion to can­cer patients. Most radi­a­tion sci­ence or ther­a­py degrees train stu­dents to diag­nose & treat patients in a clin­i­cal or health care setting.

If you are seri­ous­ly invest­ed in pur­su­ing a reward­ing career in the field of med­ica­tion radi­a­tion as a Med­ical Radi­a­tion Sci­en­tist (MRS), it is essen­tial to first answer this essen­tial query – What is med­ical radi­a­tion science?

Before com­mit­ting to any pro­gram or school, it is crit­i­cal to under­stand why to get a degree in radi­a­tion ther­a­py. This analy­sis leads to your best oppor­tu­ni­ty of select­ing a pro­gram that meets your career and edu­ca­tion­al objec­tives — with the best bang for your tuition buck.
School/Program Accred­i­ta­tion

Decid­ing on which of the many radi­a­tion ther­a­py accred­it­ed schools avail­able in the mar­ket­place is an impor­tant and far-reach­ing edu­ca­tion­al deci­sion. But how would some­one with an inter­est in radi­a­tion sci­ence decide which of the avail­able non-accred­it­ed and accred­it­ed radi­a­tion ther­a­py pro­grams would be a good fit?

The most effec­tive & direct way to decide which of the accred­it­ed radi­a­tion ther­a­py pro­grams would help you reach your career goals is to inves­ti­gate if the pro­gram has received region­al or spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion. Accred­i­ta­tion is per­formed as an accu­rate barom­e­ter of high­er edu­ca­tion that has been used for more than a century.

There are two pri­ma­ry accred­i­ta­tion types grant­ed in the Unit­ed States. Both region­al and spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tion is dis­cussed below.

Regional Accreditation

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion, the old­est of accred­i­ta­tions, is man­aged by an agency with­in the Unit­ed States Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment. CHEA-over­seen agen­cies are tasked with the respon­si­bil­i­ties of eval­u­at­ing a school or col­lege to deter­mine if the sub­ject school or pro­gram meets the cri­te­ria estab­lished by the agency. The fol­low­ing map reveals how the region­al accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies are divid­ed across the country.

Region­al accred­i­ta­tion plays an impor­tant role, espe­cial­ly for stu­dents who plan to pur­sue fur­ther edu­ca­tion, as most pro­grams require master’s degree can­di­dates to have com­plet­ed a region­al­ly accred­it­ed degree program.

Specialized Accreditation in Radiation Therapy Science

When search­ing for avail­able cam­pus-based or online accred­it­ed radi­a­tion ther­a­py schools, it is best to select a radi­o­log­ic or radi­a­tion sci­ence school that has received accred­i­ta­tion from the JRCERT – which is an acronym for the Joint Review Com­mit­tee on Edu­ca­tion in Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gy. JRCERT — the Joint Review Com­mit­tee on Edu­ca­tion in Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gy accred­i­ta­tion process requires pro­grams and schools to meet/exceed the stan­dards set forth by JRCERT and must be renewed every 18 months to 36 months, con­tin­gent on the exact type of program.

Stu­dents are encour­aged to select an accred­it­ed school as the school/program’s aca­d­e­m­ic stan­dards required for accred­i­ta­tion pro­motes excel­lence in patient safe­ty and qual­i­ty health­care in these programs –

• Radi­og­ra­phy
• Radi­a­tion Therapy
• Mag­net­ic Resonance
• Med­ical Dosimetry

Types of Radi­a­tion Sci­ence Degree Options

If you are won­der­ing – Can you get a radi­a­tion ther­a­py degree online? — you are not alone. With the advent and pop­u­lar­i­ty of online degree and cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, stu­dents inter­est­ed in earn­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree in radi­a­tion ther­a­py now have great cam­pus-based or online radi­a­tion ther­a­py degrees from which to choose – most of which will offer pro­gram options to meet the time con­straints and edu­ca­tion­al needs of most students.

A radi­a­tion ther­a­py online degree allows stu­dents to explore the use of advanced radi­o­log­ic tech­nol­o­gy equip­ment that gen­er­ates dig­i­tal images of var­i­ous parts of the body. These Radi­o­log­ic images are then used in the diag­no­sis and treat­ment of many med­ical con­di­tions. Course­work includ­ed in a radi­a­tion ther­a­py online degree pro­gram will also teach degree can­di­dates how to pro­vide com­pe­tent med­ical care to their patients.

While there are avail­able cer­tifi­cate or asso­ciate degree pro­grams to begin a career, those who wish to move towards man­age­r­i­al and lead­er­ship pro­grams should seri­ous­ly con­sid­er earn­ing their bach­e­lor’s degree in radi­a­tion ther­a­py – on-cam­pus or online.

Avail­able majors for those inter­est­ed in radi­a­tion ther­a­py degrees online (or on-cam­pus) are as follows.

• Radi­og­ra­phy
• Radi­a­tion Therapy
• Nuclear Med­i­cine Tech­nol­o­gy (NMT)
• Sonography/Ultrasound
• Mag­net­ic Res­o­nance Imag­ing (MRI)

These online radi­a­tion ther­a­py degrees often appeal to stu­dents with a math and sci­ence affin­i­ty as the course load includes heavy sci­ence. But note, there is a prac­ti­cal ele­ment to the course­work, with a need to under­stand how to oper­ate a vari­ety of Radi­o­log­ic diag­nos­tic and treat­ment equip­ment. Stu­dents should expect to com­plete course­work and clin­i­cal train­ing in the areas of –

• Ethics
• Image Eval­u­a­tion
• Anato­my
• Patient Care
• Radi­a­tion Physics & Pro­tec­tion, to name a few.

A Bach­e­lor’s degree in Radi­a­tion Ther­a­py earned from a top accred­it­ed school is a great spring­board to reward­ing career oppor­tu­ni­ties across med­ical and man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tors. An on-cam­pus or online radi­a­tion ther­a­py degree can also open oth­er careers relat­ed to the Radi­o­log­ic tech­nol­o­gy industry.

A radi­a­tion ther­a­py online degree can also open doors and oth­er pro­fes­sion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties to relat­ed careers – like a career in res­pi­ra­to­ry ther­a­py and nurs­ing. A radi­a­tion ther­a­py degree online offers stu­dents a flex­i­ble edu­ca­tion option as the pro­gram com­bines sci­en­tif­ic prin­ci­ples with patient care. Radi­a­tion sci­ence degrees online or on-cam­pus are offered in a vari­ety of degrees, such as a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Radi­a­tion Sci­ence Degree, Bach­e­lor of Applied Sci­ence Radi­a­tion Sci­ence Degree, or Bach­e­lor of Radi­og­ra­phy, to name a few.

With radi­a­tion ther­a­py degrees online, earned from a rep­utable and accred­it­ed pro­gram school, degree hold­ers can pur­sue reward­ing careers in physician’s offices, clin­ics, hos­pi­tals, clin­ics & oth­er health care settings.

With online radi­a­tion ther­a­py degrees, grad­u­ates are very like­ly deal­ing with patients on a direct basis. As such, it is essen­tial to have a full under­stand­ing that many patients may be in crit­i­cal con­di­tion or even have a ter­mi­nal con­di­tion, which is not some­thing every stu­dent will be able to man­age. Attend­ing physi­cians pro­vide super­vi­sion for a radi­a­tion therapist.

Many grad­u­ates from accred­it­ed on-cam­pus and online radi­a­tion ther­a­py degrees choose to obtain cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. This is dis­cussed in the next section.

Certifications/Licenses for Radiation Science Degree Holders

Accord­ing to ARRT — the Amer­i­can Reg­istry of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gists, more than ¾ of the states have enact­ed licens­ing laws regard­ing Radi­o­log­ic tech­nol­o­gy prac­tice, with many states hav­ing can­di­dates com­plete exams admin­is­tered by ARRT. In these states, a license (inde­pen­dent of an earned radi­a­tion ther­a­py cer­tifi­cate) is required to work with­in state law. The Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gists (ASRT) offers spe­cif­ic guid­ance for each state’s leg­is­la­tion, reg­u­la­tions & advo­ca­cy, plus a sum­ma­ry of these issues with regard to radi­a­tion con­trol pro­grams in the Unit­ed States.

ARRT – the Amer­i­can Reg­istry of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gists is the pri­ma­ry accred­i­ta­tion agency with regard to pro­gram­ming, schools, and radi­a­tion ther­a­py cer­tifi­cate options and relat­ed fields. Many states man­date that radi­ol­o­gy techs also earn the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion as a Reg­is­tered Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gist (RT), which requires earn­ing a degree from an accred­it­ed pro­gram and pass­ing a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion exam.

To main­tain ARRT cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in radi­a­tion ther­a­py, rad techs must meet a min­i­mum of 24 hours of con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion every two years — relat­ed to the cer­tifi­cate in radi­a­tion ther­a­py. This can be com­plet­ed by tak­ing online class­es, lec­tures at net­work­ing meet­ings, as well as class­room learn­ing, as long as the select­ed con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion meet the pre-approval from the Amer­i­can Reg­istry of Radi­o­log­ic Technologists.

A cer­tifi­cate in radi­a­tion ther­a­py can be earned on-cam­pus and online — at the under­grad­u­ate lev­el, post­grad­u­ate lev­el, or even as a stand­alone pro­gram. the Amer­i­can Reg­istry of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gists offers these radi­a­tion ther­a­py cer­ti­fi­ca­tion options –

• Radi­a­tion Ther­a­py (T) 
• Radi­og­ra­phy ®
• Breast Sonog­ra­phy (BS)
• Mam­mog­ra­phy (M) 
• Nuclear Med­i­cine Tech­nol­o­gy (N) 
• Mag­net­ic Res­o­nance Imag­ing (MR) 
• Sonog­ra­phy (S)
• Vas­cu­lar Inter­ven­tion­al Radi­og­ra­phy (VI) 
• Vas­cu­lar Sonog­ra­phy (VS) 
• Car­diac Inter­ven­tion­al Radi­og­ra­phy (CI) 
• Reg­is­tered Radi­ol­o­gist Assis­tant (R.R.A.) 
• Bone Den­sit­o­m­e­try (BD)
• Com­put­ed Tomog­ra­phy (CT), to name a few avail­able radi­a­tion ther­a­py cer­ti­fi­ca­tion options.

Fol­low this link to ARRT guid­ance regard­ing the ways to main­tain cer­ti­fi­ca­tion and reg­is­tra­tion. As you build your radi­o­log­ic career, it is impor­tant to con­sid­er which of the avail­able radi­a­tion ther­a­py cer­ti­fi­ca­tion options may help advance your career to meet your pro­fes­sion­al objec­tives. With so many cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in radi­a­tion ther­a­py options, there is usu­al­ly one that meets a student’s pro­fes­sion­al inter­ests and goals.

Careers in Radiation Science and Therapy

Once you have con­sid­ered the var­i­ous edu­ca­tion radi­a­tion ther­a­py career path options, it is essen­tial to review the under­stand the many avail­able radi­a­tion ther­a­py career options. This begins by answer­ing ques­tions like –

• What types of jobs to get with radi­a­tion ther­a­py degree asso­ciate program?
• What kind of jobs can I get with a radi­a­tion ther­a­py degree earned on cam­pus? Online?
• Where can I find a career coun­selor who can offer sol­id radi­a­tion ther­a­py career information?
• Are there radi­a­tion ther­a­py career oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able near my home?
• What jobs do a bach­e­lors degree in radi­a­tion get for entry-lev­el work?
• Where can I find radi­a­tion ther­a­py career infor­ma­tion that helps describe radi­a­tion ther­a­py career pros and cons?

The radi­a­tion ther­a­py career out­look is antic­i­pat­ed to be quite pos­i­tive because, as the baby-boomer age, the need for med­ical per­son­nel (i.e., radi­a­tion ther­a­py as a career) will grow cor­re­spond­ing­ly. But to attain the edu­ca­tion for one of the many reward­ing radi­a­tion ther­a­py tech­nol­o­gist careers, stu­dents must com­mit to a sig­nif­i­cant path of study. But, as not­ed above, jobs with radi­a­tion sci­ence degree can span sec­tors – with careers in radi­a­tion therapy

As not­ed above, radi­a­tion ther­a­py careers span many indus­tries and can lead to careers in relat­ed radi­a­tion ther­a­py and relat­ed fields.

The real­i­ty is that grad­u­ates will find a vari­ety of reward­ing radi­a­tion sci­ence degree jobs avail­able – across the coun­try. Most entry-lev­el jobs with radi­a­tion ther­a­py degree hold­ers are avail­able in doctor’s offices, urgent care facil­i­ties, local clin­ics, or hospitals.

Pro­fes­sion­als who wish to find non-clin­i­cal radi­a­tion ther­a­py careers may choose to pur­sue radi­a­tion sci­ence careers in tech­nol­o­gy repair or imag­ing sales. Those who wish to pur­sue radi­a­tion ther­a­py as a career in research or acad­e­mia will like­ly need to com­plete a master’s lev­el or doc­tor­al pro­gram to meet those career objectives.

Radiation Therapy Careers — What Careers Can I Have With A Bachelors Degree In Radiation Science?

The pros and cons of radi­a­tion ther­a­py career choic­es will depend on your edu­ca­tion and career objec­tives. Here are a few rel­e­vant con­sid­er­a­tions when seri­ous­ly con­sid­er­ing radi­a­tion ther­a­py as a career –

• Radi­a­tion ther­a­py career oppor­tu­ni­ties gen­er­al­ly include admin­is­ter­ing med­ica­tion and/or the oper­a­tion of some sort of med­ical equip­ment that deliv­ers the med­ica­tion to the patient. Due to the risk of radi­a­tion expo­sure (that may lead to unfore­seen con­se­quences over time), radi­a­tion tech­nol­o­gy careers do involve some risk.
• Radi­a­tion ther­a­py careers also involve work­ing with many vul­ner­a­ble can­cer patients, which can be quite reward­ing, but also emo­tion­al to watch patients endure the treat­ment and its side effects as they work to beat can­cer. If you would like to work with can­cer patients, this is a great, well-pay­ing choice. Con­verse­ly, patients who go into remis­sion due to the impact of your Radi­o­log­ic treat­ment can be incred­i­bly rewarding.
• A career in radi­a­tion ther­a­py is also quite a lucra­tive career choice. This is dis­cussed below in the next section.
• A career as a radi­a­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­fes­sion­al can be com­pet­i­tive. As such, it is impor­tant to thor­ough­ly research the indus­try and the spe­cial­ty tracks that may be of inter­est. Check out the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS), a fed­er­al agency that offers top­i­cal data on radi­a­tion sci­ence (and all oth­er) occu­pa­tions in the Unit­ed States. The good news is that there is a tremen­dous amount of radi­a­tion ther­a­py career infor­ma­tion avail­able online and through high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tions and pro­fes­sion­al train­ing schools.

But, in the end, what is among the most impor­tant ques­tions to answer is as fol­lows ‑Is radi­a­tion ther­a­py a good career choice for some­one with my skills and interests?

Speak with coun­selors at poten­tial radi­a­tion sci­ence schools about their pro­grams and exist­ing poten­tial employ­ers. Con­tin­ue gath­er­ing radi­a­tion ther­a­py career infor­ma­tion as you move towards your final deci­sion. Radi­a­tion ther­a­py careers offer pro­fes­sion­als com­pet­i­tive salaries – even from the outset.

Radiation Science Salary & Wage Data

Accord­ing to the sta­tis­ti­cians cre­at­ing the Occu­pa­tion­al Out­look Hand­book from the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics — BLS, there were near­ly 18,000 radi­a­tion ther­a­pists work­ing in the Unit­ed States in 2020. The medi­an annu­al med­ical radi­a­tion sci­ences salary for 2020 for radi­a­tion ther­a­pists was $86,850 or $41.76 per hour. The antic­i­pat­ed job growth over the next ten years is 9%, with is a bit faster than the cal­cu­lat­ed aver­age of all oth­er US occu­pa­tions. One’s radi­a­tion ther­a­py start­ing salary will like­ly depend on the individual’s skill, edu­ca­tion, expe­ri­ence, and loca­tion of the job.

Radiation Therapists Salary Data

The top-pay­ing states for radi­a­tion sci­ence salaries are as follows –

The sec­tors that offer the high­est Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in radi­a­tion ther­a­py salary are as follows –

The fol­low­ing indus­tries rep­re­sent those that offer the high­est employ­ment lev­els for those in the logis­tics and sup­ply chain field -

Radiologic & MRI Technologist Salary Data

The medi­an 2020 salary for the more than 250,000 radi­o­log­ic and MRI tech­nol­o­gists work­ing in the Unit­ed States was $63,710.

The high­est pay­ing states for radi­o­log­ic tech­nol­o­gists or tech­ni­cians include the following -

The high­est pay­ing states for MRI (Mag­net­ic Res­o­nance Imag­ing) tech­nol­o­gists or tech­ni­cians include the following -

Medical Sonographer and Cardiovascular Technologists/Technicians

Accord­ing to the OOH from the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, there were approx­i­mate­ly 134,100 med­ical sono­g­ra­phers and car­dio­vas­cu­lar tech­ni­cians work­ing in the US, earn­ing a 2020 medi­an salary of $70,380.

The high­est pay­ing states for Car­dio­vas­cu­lar Techs or tech­ni­cians include the following -

The states that offer diag­nos­tic med­ical sono­g­ra­phers the high­est salaries include the following –

Professional Organizations

Pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions are cre­at­ed with sup­port­ive func­tions across indus­tries and sec­tors. They are com­prised of the finest, most expe­ri­enced experts in the indus­try to help pro­mote ide­al stan­dards as professionals.

Many pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions in radi­a­tion sci­ence pro­vide mem­ber­ship ben­e­fits designed to help new grad­u­ates locate their pro­fes­sion­al foot­ing, and expe­ri­enced pro­fes­sion­als con­tribute to the indus­try in which they work. Many pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tions offer net­work­ing events, men­tor­ships, and edu­ca­tion opportunities.

Amer­i­can Reg­istry of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gists (ARRT)
Head­quar­tered in St. Paul, Min­neso­ta, the ARRT is a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion that seeks to sup­port the Radi­o­log­ic tech­nol­o­gy indus­try. The Amer­i­can Reg­istry of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gists pro­vides cre­den­tial­ing exams and con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion options, plus resources and net­work­ing events.

Amer­i­can Soci­ety of Radi­o­log­ic Tech­nol­o­gist (ASRT)
Locat­ed in Albu­querque, New Mex­i­co, the ASRT rep­re­sents radi­a­tion ther­a­pists, mam­mo­g­ra­phers, radi­og­ra­phers, and nuclear med­ical tech­nol­o­gists (among oth­ers) by offer­ing resources, edu­ca­tion, net­work­ing, and men­tor­ships oppor­tu­ni­ties and the pub­li­ca­tion of a newslet­ter bi-month­ly and an annu­al journal.

Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)

Head­quar­tered in Oak Brook, IL, the Radi­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety of North Amer­i­ca was devel­oped to pro­mote high ideals and stan­dards in radi­ol­o­gy and relat­ed ser­vices through research & edu­ca­tion. The Radi­o­log­i­cal Soci­ety of North Amer­i­ca pro­vides allied health and Radi­o­log­ic sci­en­tists with net­work­ing, edu­ca­tion, and research oppor­tu­ni­ties and seeks to improve research in health care.

The Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA)

Locat­ed in Sud­bury, Mass­a­chu­setts, the Asso­ci­a­tion for Med­ical Image Man­age­ment oper­ates as a non­prof­it pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion designed to sup­port indus­try pro­fes­sion­als, firms, and edu­ca­tion in the field of radi­o­log­i­cal sciences.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Radi­a­tion Science

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Radi­a­tion Science

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Radi­a­tion Science

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Radi­a­tion Science