Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
Clinical operations specialist education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a clinical operations specialist. Clinical operations specialists usually study nursing, business, or health care administration. 56% of clinical operations specialists hold a bachelor's degree, and 18% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 372 real clinical operations specialist resumes to see exactly what clinical operations specialist education sections show.
The most common colleges for clinical operations specialists are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.
There are also many online clinical operations specialist courses to help get the education required to be a clinical operations specialist.
What education do you need to become a clinical operations specialist?
What degree do you need to be a clinical operations specialist?
- Bachelor's, 56%
- Associate, 18%
- Master's, 14%
- High School Diploma, 6%
- Other Degrees, 6%
What should I major in to become a clinical operations specialist?
- Nursing, 19%
- Business, 16%
- Psychology, 8%
- Other Majors, 45%
Most common colleges for clinical operations specialists
| Clinical operations specialist common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Phoenix | 8.51% |
| Saint Joseph's University | 6.38% |
| Central State University | 6.38% |
| University of Louisville | 6.38% |
| California State University - Northridge | 6.38% |
Best majors for clinical operations specialists
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nursing | 18.7% |
| 2 | Business | 16.5% |
| 3 | Health Care Administration | 12.1% |
| 4 | Psychology | 8.2% |
| 5 | Biology | 7.1% |
Best colleges for clinical operations specialists
The best colleges for clinical operations specialists are University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Northwestern University.
A clinical operations specialist with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for clinical operations specialists. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become clinical operations specialists.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Enrollment
9,142
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
4. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
5. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
6. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
7. Maria College of Albany
Albany, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$15,140
Enrollment
876
8. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
In-state tuition
$14,760
Enrollment
31,451
9. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
10. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
In-state tuition
$26,756
Enrollment
6,166
20 best online courses for clinical operations specialists
Advertising disclosure
1. Clinical Trials Analysis, Monitoring, and Presentation
In this course, you’ll learn more advanced operational skills that you and your team need to run a successful clinical trial. You’ll learn about the computation of sample size and how to develop a sample size calculation that’s suitable for your trial design and outcome measures. You’ll also learn to use statistical methods to monitor your trial for safety, integrity, and efficacy. Next, you’ll learn how to report the results from your clinical trials through both journal articles and data...
2. Clinical Trials Data Management and Quality Assurance
In this course, you’ll learn to collect and care for the data gathered during your trial and how to prevent mistakes and errors through quality assurance practices. Clinical trials generate an enormous amount of data, so you and your team must plan carefully by choosing the right collection instruments, systems, and measures to protect the integrity of your trial data. You’ll learn how to assemble, clean, and de-identify your datasets. Finally, you’ll learn to find and correct deficiencies...
3. Good Clinical Practice ICH GCP for Clinical Research
Certification on ICH GCP E6 R2 Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research The Only Complete Course You Can Find Online...
4. Good Clinical Practice for Clinical Research Professionals
The Complete, Certified ICH GCP (R2 & R3) Course for Investigators, Study Coordinators, Sponsors, Monitors and Study staff...
5. Design and Conduct of Clinical Trials
In this course, you’ll learn how to design and carry out clinical trials. Each design choice has implications for the quality and validity of your results. This course provides you and your team with essential skills to evaluate options, make good design choices, and implement them within your trial. You’ll learn to control for bias, randomize participants, mask treatments and outcomes, identify errors, develop and test hypotheses, and define appropriate outcomes. Finally, a trial without...
6. Introduction to Clinical Data Science
This course will prepare you to complete all parts of the Clinical Data Science Specialization. In this course you will learn how clinical data are generated, the format of these data, and the ethical and legal restrictions on these data. You will also learn enough SQL and R programming skills to be able to complete the entire Specialization - even if you are a beginner programmer. While you are taking this course you will have access to an actual clinical data set and a free, online...
7. The Simplest Guide to Clinical Trials Data Analysis with SAS
Step into the world of Pharmaceutical industry Clinical Trials Clinical Research Biostatistics Clinical SAS SAS...
8. Basic of Clinical Data Management
Clinical Data Management...
9. Making Data Science Work for Clinical Reporting
This course is aimed to demonstate how principles and methods from data science can be applied in clinical reporting. By the end of the course, learners will understand what requirements there are in reporting clinical trials, and how they impact on how data science is used. The learner will see how they can work efficiently and effectively while still ensuring that they meet the needed standards...
10. Clinical Kidney, Pancreas and Islet Transplantation
Kidney transplantation is a major advance of modern medicine which provides high-quality of life for patients with end-stage renal disease. What used to be an experimental, risky, and very limited treatment option more than 50 years ago is now routinely performed in many countries worldwide. The number of renal transplants is expected to rise sharply in the next decade since the proportion of patients with end stage renal disease is increasing. Are you interested in clinical kidney, pancreas...
11. Certificate Course in Clinical Research (CCCR)
A Clinical Research Course-ICH-GCP E6(R2), Clinical Trials, Essential Documents, Sponsor, Investigator, Pharmaceuticals...
12. Good Clinical Practice (GCP)
Key features of the GCP guideline, roles and responsibilities involved and the requirements of essential documentation...
13. Predictive Modeling and Transforming Clinical Practice
This course teaches you the fundamentals of transforming clinical practice using predictive models. This course examines specific challenges and methods of clinical implementation, that clinical data scientists must be aware of when developing their predictive models...
14. Clinical Natural Language Processing
This course teaches you the fundamentals of clinical natural language processing (NLP). In this course you will learn the basic linguistic principals underlying NLP, as well as how to write regular expressions and handle text data in R. You will also learn practical techniques for text processing to be able to extract information from clinical notes. Finally, you will have a chance to put your skills to the test with a real-world practical application where you develop text processing...
15. The Beginners Course for Clinical Research
The Essentials of Clinical Trials - Clinical Research for Beginners...
16. Pharmaceutical Industry Drug Regulatory Affairs (DRA)
Empowering Professionals in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Comprehensive Online Course in Drug Regulatory Affairs...
17. Clinical Research for beginners
The Art of Publishing - Master Pub Med, Study design, Biostatistics, Journal choice, Manuscript writing & Referencing...
18. Certificate Course in Drug Regulatory Affairs (DRA)
Pharma course (NDA, ANDA, CTD, DMF, USFDA, Regulatory strategy, GMP, Clinical Research, Orange Book, Pharmaceuticals)...
19. Medical Device Regulation 2017/745 EU regulatory affairs.
Understand regulations for medical devices in simple terms to gain market approval of a medical device in the EU...
20. Practical Regulatory Affairs 2020 - US FDA Medical Devices
A practical course discussing the US FDA Medical Device regulations for real-world situations...
Top 10 most affordable universities for clinical operations specialists
The most affordable schools for clinical operations specialists are California State University - Bakersfield, suny farmingdale, and baruch college of the city university of new york.
If the best universities for clinical operations specialists are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for clinical operations specialists.
1. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Cost of attendance
16,714
2. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$8,306
Cost of attendance
16,091
3. Baruch College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,262
Cost of attendance
14,046
4. University of Florida
Gainesville, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,381
Cost of attendance
21,034
5. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,942
Cost of attendance
14,469
6. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,798
Cost of attendance
18,306
7. California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,749
Cost of attendance
14,823
8. Florida International University
Miami, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,556
Cost of attendance
19,434
9. Lehman College of the City University of New York
Bronx, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,210
Cost of attendance
14,359
10. Clayton State University
Morrow, GA • Private
In-state tuition
$5,419
Cost of attendance
17,697
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for clinical operations specialists
The hardest universities for clinical operations specialists to get into are University of Pennsylvania, Stanford University, and Northwestern University.
Some great schools for clinical operations specialists are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for clinical operations specialists based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
2. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
Admissions rate
4%
SAT average
1,497
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,508
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
13%
SAT average
1,445
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
20%
SAT average
1,419
6. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Admissions rate
10%
SAT average
1,514
7. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions rate
11%
SAT average
1,513
8. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
Admissions rate
42%
SAT average
1,380
9. Yale University
New Haven, CT • Private
Admissions rate
6%
SAT average
1,517
10. University of Rochester
Rochester, NY • Private
Admissions rate
29%
SAT average
1,422
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for clinical operations specialists
The easiest schools for clinical operations specialists to get into are D'Youville College, mount saint mary's university, and gwynedd mercy university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a clinical operations specialist without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for clinical operations specialists.
1. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
100%
SAT average
1,072
2. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,031
3. Gwynedd Mercy University
Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private
Admissions rate
92%
SAT average
1,031
4. Felician University
Lodi, NJ • Private
Admissions rate
81%
SAT average
999
5. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,006
6. Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, OK • Private
Admissions rate
68%
SAT average
964
7. AdventHealth University
Orlando, FL • Private
Admissions rate
87%
SAT average
1,016
8. Presentation College
Aberdeen, SD • Private
Admissions rate
97%
SAT average
1,050
9. Ottawa University
Ottawa, KS • Private
Admissions rate
78%
SAT average
1,024
10. Saint Joseph's College of Maine
Standish, ME • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,069
Average clinical operations specialist salary by education level
| Clinical operations specialist education level | Clinical operations specialist salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $102,526 |
| High School Diploma or Less | $67,562 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $89,349 |
| Doctorate Degree | $111,177 |
| Some College/ Associate Degree | $71,928 |
Clinical operations specialist education FAQs
Have more questions? See all answers to common executive management questions.
Search for clinical operations specialist jobs
Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025