12 High Paying Medical Jobs for College Students and Graduates

If you are a medical student or if you graduated from a medical college or any other field related to medicine, pay attention to this article, since we bring you the list of 12 high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates.

The world is always in demand for qualified healthcare workers, being the reason why some of these jobs are enormously well paid, even in the situation when you still don’t have a degree. The best thing about this is the fact that you may start working while you are still a student, and once you graduate you will have a lot of experience and will probably be the first one to get the promotion. Sounds cool, right? Of course, not every country is the same regarding the conditions, so we will try to provide you the general situation, but if you happen to be from Canada, you might want to check the list of 11 Highest Paying Healthcare Jobs That are in Demand in Canada.

Working in the medical field will bring you more benefits than you can even imagine. Besides a good paycheck, you will have many social benefits, flexible working hours at times and especially if you work a night shift, you will be able to have more free days. However, what most of the people who work in healthcare claim is the fact that they love their job, because they are constantly aware they are saving lives, serving to people and that they bring smiles to their faces and give them the impression that someone cares about them.

In order to create the list, we were very much helped by the Forbes article, as well as the information that we found at College Choice and Best Medical Degrees. However, you need to be aware of the fact that though there are many jobs you can do without a college degree, you still need to have at least a high school education related to the certain job. Following all of these, we established a huge number of jobs within medical fields that may be done with or without a degree, that is, while you are still a student and once you graduate. We made sure to provide the equal number of possibilities for both of the cases, and made the final classification according to salaries, where the Pay Scale had a crucial role.

If you are interested in this, keep your eyes wide open, since the list of 12 high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates contains some cool ideas and may really help you to plan your future. We also included jobs such as veterinary technician, for example, although someone may not consider it a job in the medical field, but keep in mind that veterinarians also provide animals with MEDICAL treatment. In other words, our list is very broad offering a wide variety of healthcare-related jobs. So, let’s check it out!

10. Home Health Aide

Annual salary – $21,830

We are starting off our list of high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates with one of the jobs from the medical field that does not require any specific diploma or a degree, but is very appreciated and responsible at the same time. However, it may range from being very demanding to being very relaxed, including some basic things to perform. For example, your job may be just to take care of patients who have certain prescribed therapies, making sure they are taking it on time or checking blood pressure or temperature. On the other side, if you are dealing with disabled people, you will probably need to assist them in every possible segment of daily life, such as eating, dressing, helping them to reach the bathroom, etc. The job requires lots of patience and good will, but if you are constantly aware of the fact that you are helping people in need, it will be much easier.

9. Ambulance Paramedic

Annual Salary – $28,830

The first people to come to the place of an accident are ambulance paramedics, that rank  9th in our list of high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates. Also, this is one of the jobs that you may do though you don’t have a degree. It is very responsible, but yet very engaging, and it is one of those jobs where you need to react immediately, to save someone’s life. The main obligations of ambulance paramedic staff are to be able to provide the best possible care in emergency and risky situations, to be able to operate in teams, often working with police officers.

8. Phlebotomist

Annual salary – $30,910

If you have a medical high school and a postsecondary phlebotomy training, you will be eligible to apply for this job even if you don’t have a college degree yet. This is not a very demanding job, but it is definitely not for those people who are sensitive when it comes to blood. The main task that phlebotomist have is to draw blood from patients’ veins, for various purposes, such as different testing, donations or transfusions. Later on, the obligations may include marking them for the purpose of identification and taking them to a laboratory, or taking the final results from it. In general, this is a very engaging job, and you will have a quiet and organized workplace, so think about obtaining the certificate and becoming a phlebotomist.

7. Veterinary Technologist

Annual salary – $31,470

Being an assistant to veterinarians, vet techs do not need to have a college degree, though previous education regarding this issue is desirable. This is one of those jobs on our list of high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates that you may perform in the best possible way, if you are an animal lover since in that case, you will be able to combine work and pleasure. You will be expected to do things such as medical tests, helping veterinarian to diagnose illnesses in animals, as well as being at hand while some medical process is going on. Some of the technologists are also doing this job, until they become veterinarians themselves, which means it is possible to combine college and this job, being very helpful as well, since it provides experience and expands knowledge in every way.

6. Dental Assistant

Annual Salary – $34,900

This is a very popular job among those students who will be dentists themselves once they graduate from the college. It is very useful in getting more experience, especially if you get to work with someone who is working in this field for a very long time. There are many responsibilities that are expected from dental assistants, such as preparation of patients before they undergo the procedure, or simply registering them and fulfilling administrative jobs. With an annual salary of $34,900, working as a dental assistant takes the 4th place on this list of high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates.

5. Occupational and Physical Therapist Assistant

Annual Salary – $57,000

If you would like to work in hospitals, long-term care facilities or rehabilitation centers, becoming an occupational therapist assistant that tanks 5th in our list of high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates is probably one of the best options for you. The main task to perform in this case will definitely be to help patients recover from injury and various difficult states that may occur after strokes or other illnesses. Occupational and physical therapists provide all sorts of therapies and support to those patients in need, in order to help them improve muscle function, work on building strength, at the same time taking care of their immune system, since it is one of the most important components in the process of healing. Overall, this is a quite demanding job that may be done while you are still at college, or if you are an associate of science in physical therapy.

4. Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technologist

Annual salary – $65,410

This is a very well paid job, and in order to do it, you will need to have a trade school or technical college training, which makes it quite convenient to perform even when you are still a student. People who work in this field are shortly known as MRI techs, and they usually operate the machines that are crucial in this field, eventually presenting test results to physicians, who are of a huge importance within the whole process. It may be freely said that this is not a very demanding job, but it may be highly stressful due to the fact you will probably come across terminally ill patients and very hard cases. And now, let’s see the top three entries in our list of high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates.

3. Speech-Language Pathologist

Annual salary – $72,730

This is one of those jobs where you definitely need to have a degree, but it is completely worth it, since it is very well paid and overall not very demanding and stressful. The main job of speech-language pathologists is to deal with patients who have certain communication issues or disorder, in terms of establishing the proper diagnosis and later on treating in the best possible way. Patients are usually children, but there may also be adult patients who are born with certain difficulties. It is important to note that hospitals and other healthcare facilities are not the only places where speech-language pathologists may work, since there is also a possibility of working at elementary schools.

2. Medical Perfusionist

Annual Salary – $93, 500

In simple words, a perfusionist is the one in charge of operating the cardiopulmonary bypass machine while a heart surgery is ongoing. However, this is not the only task that perfusionists have, since they also need to make sure that the machine is properly functioning, so they are able to follow the patient’s metabolic and physiologic state during the surgery. In order to become eligible to do this job, you must get a degree in cardiovascular perfusion or perfusion technology, which will take you four years. Overall, this is a very appreciated and very well paid job.

1. Physician Assistant

Annual salary – $98,180

In order to become a physician assistant, you need to have a degree in medicine or equivalent, since this is very responsible job. The main job in this case is to diagnose and treat patients, but, of course, it can’t be done alone, since physician assistants need to be supervised by a physician, surgeons or other relevant doctors. Besides the degree, physician assistants need to be licensed as well, so it is important to note that a degree itself is not enough in this case. Because of an annual salary of $98,180, it takes the first position on this list of 12 high paying medical jobs for college students and graduates.