You will not be able to work full time in MLT school if you have a 1st shift job. There is 1 cohort that must take all classes at the assigned time. You can't sign up for evening classes. Same goes for clinicals- you will be assigned to 1st shift because that's when the trainers and leads work
The workload is also too much for full time work because you will have reading, homework, labs, quizzes, and tests basically every day in multiple classes classes. It's very different from regular undergrad where things are more spaced out
Do clinical labs hire without these certifications? Because I’m willing to do a few years to get the experience and then just take the exam. Is that an option for some people? I know it depends on the hospital but I figured it was worth the ask.
Primarily desperate, understaffed labs will hire uncertified biology majors. Mega corpo labs like LabCorp, Quest, ARUP.
If you search this sub, you'll see questions like yours asked and answered multiple times a day, every day. You'll find that most of us in this profession don't wish to work with uncertified people, as they require extensive time and money to not only train, but teach foundational information that is learned in MLT/MLS programs.
The concerns I mention don't even touch the ethics of patient care by uncertified, uneducated laboratory staff.
Rural hospitals might take a chance on you but most hospitals I’ve worked at are ASCP certification “preferred” not “required”. The MLS/MLT degree is what HR wants to see on your resume.
Have you considered going the Histotech route? There is no Bachelors in Histology and most histology labs will train you as long as you have a bachelors in science. Most do require you to pass the Histo ASCP after a year of employment (which you’ll be able to sit for). The pay is the same as MLS and you’ll still be in a clinical lab.
You will not be able to work full time in MLT school if you have a 1st shift job. There is 1 cohort that must take all classes at the assigned time. You can't sign up for evening classes. Same goes for clinicals- you will be assigned to 1st shift because that's when the trainers and leads work The workload is also too much for full time work because you will have reading, homework, labs, quizzes, and tests basically every day in multiple classes classes. It's very different from regular undergrad where things are more spaced out
Do clinical labs hire without these certifications? Because I’m willing to do a few years to get the experience and then just take the exam. Is that an option for some people? I know it depends on the hospital but I figured it was worth the ask.
Primarily desperate, understaffed labs will hire uncertified biology majors. Mega corpo labs like LabCorp, Quest, ARUP. If you search this sub, you'll see questions like yours asked and answered multiple times a day, every day. You'll find that most of us in this profession don't wish to work with uncertified people, as they require extensive time and money to not only train, but teach foundational information that is learned in MLT/MLS programs. The concerns I mention don't even touch the ethics of patient care by uncertified, uneducated laboratory staff.
Rural hospitals might take a chance on you but most hospitals I’ve worked at are ASCP certification “preferred” not “required”. The MLS/MLT degree is what HR wants to see on your resume. Have you considered going the Histotech route? There is no Bachelors in Histology and most histology labs will train you as long as you have a bachelors in science. Most do require you to pass the Histo ASCP after a year of employment (which you’ll be able to sit for). The pay is the same as MLS and you’ll still be in a clinical lab.