Graduate Education in Clinical Laboratory Science Is the Glass Half Full Or Half Empty?(Research AND REPORTS‪)‬

Since 1990, the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) has published a Directory of Graduate Programs for Clinical Laboratory Practitioners to aid potential students in choosing an advanced program of study at the Master's or doctoral levels in CLS or its specialty areas. The fifth edition of the Directory was published in November 2007. With a seventeen-year record of chronicling the initiation and closing of programs, the authors looked at trends in numbers of programs, their requirements, and graduates. Li, et al., have evaluated career data and the perceived value of advanced CLS degrees. (1,2) They surveyed M.S. and B.S. graduates and concluded that M.S. degree respondents had more managerial level positions (62% to 36% as compared to B.S. graduates) and had authored more external publications (77% to 33%). CLS M.S. professionals also perceived a greater career enhancement value to their advanced degree. Each group (B.S. and M.S.) stated the most important perceived benefit of having a CLS M.S. degree as "enhanced self-esteem and confidence." The highest priority of M.S. degree recipients' motivation for obtaining a CLS advanced degree was personal satisfaction. Fenn and Knight looked at the value of graduate education (Master's level) in clinical laboratory science among M.S. graduates from the University of Utah between 1969 and 1994. (3) They concluded that among these graduates, who had completed a program requiring research and a thesis, the "major benefits of a graduate education are the skills gained that relate to communication through writing, ability to read and interpret scientific literature, acquisition of new technical skills, and improvement of one's ability to establish successful new technologies in the laboratory."