How do you become a certified medical technologist?

Many employers require candidates to have a bachelor's degree in medical technology or a relevant field (e.g., chemistry, biology). Some people also begin by first pursuing a two-year associate degree program in medical laboratory technology and then transferring those credits to complete a four-year program.

Regardless, the educational program that you decide on, all medical technologists must have clinical laboratory experience in blood banking, microbiology, chemistry, and hematology.

Once the educational requirements for a medical technologist (4-year degree) are completed, one is ready to begin earning certifications. It's a good idea to check with your state's board of health to learn about any licensing requirements. Some states will look for certification, for example, as part of their licensing criteria.

The next step is to earn an MLT certification once an applicant has at least two years (or 60 semester-hours) of courses earned from an institution accredited by a recognized regional or national accrediting agency.

Twenty-five of the aforementioned hours must be related to various subjects in clinical laboratory sciences (e.g., chemistry, biology, mathematics, or computer science).

Alternatively, another route of eligibility for the MLT exam is completing a 50-week U.S. military medical laboratory training program by an accredited institution.

As with the previous two options, to qualify for the exam, applicants must have completed their laboratory experience within the past five years and have a minimum of six months of full-time paid laboratory work experience.