Exercise science may be right up your alley if exercise and physical fitness excite you and you have a strong desire to help others achieve optimum health. Exercise science majors study how humans move and learn how exercise and physical rehabilitation can improve people's lives. Although exercise science careers function on the same general principle, they have different focuses.
Career Characteristics
Exercise science professionals work with a number of people in a number of settings. If you begin a career in exercise science, you might work with exercise physiologists, clients with health issues, healthy individuals who want to improve their levels of fitness or a combination of different populations. You might work in a corporate environment, a clinical environment, a commercial fitness center or a community setting such as a school.
Types
Exercise science is a foundation for many careers that involve working directly with patients or clients. These positions include athletic trainer for a school or team, personal trainer, cardiopulmonary rehabilitation specialist, group exercise trainer, physical therapist, occupational therapist, physician's assistant and physician. However, if you are interested in sales, you might use an undergraduate degree in exercise science to enter a career in pharmaceutical or medical sales. Alternatively, you might want to pursue product development, in which case you could use your degree to eventually become a biomechanist.
Salary Range
Careers for someone with an undergraduate degree in exercise science have a broad salary range, depending on factors such as location, employment setting, years of experience and market demand. However, you might expert to start in the range of $25,000 to $35,000 per year, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. Other factors that will influence your pay scale are certification, advanced degrees and professional licensure.
Background Requirements
Most careers in exercise science require at least a four-year bachelor's degree, but some -- such as group exercise instructor -- may only require that you take some courses. You might be able to become a pharmaceutical sales representative with a bachelor's degree, and a biomechanist or cardiopulmonary rehabilitation specialist with at least a master's degree, but to become a physician you would need to be in school for at least eight years past high school, plus spend three to seven years in residency at a hospital. Sometimes certification is required in addition to the degree and experience. This might be the case, for example, if you wanted to become a personal trainer or group exercise instructor.
Considerations
Being interested in exercise may not be enough of a motivator to get through the schooling you would need to begin a career in exercise science. You also need to be able to invest the time and money in schooling and any necessary professional preparation. Volunteer in the career environment that most interests you, observe professionals in their environment and ask them questions to get a sense of what your future career might look like.
References
- American Medical Association: Health Care Careers Directory 2010-2011
- American College of Sports Medicine: Careers in Sports Medicine and Exercise Science
- University of Tennessee Knoxville: Exercise Science Major Guide for 2008-2009
- American College of Sports Medicine: Sports Medicine and Exercise Science Careers
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