You might be interested in exploring health and wellness degrees if you’re looking for a career path that helps empower individuals and communities to live healthier lives.
A health and wellness major could provide you with a broad knowledge of subject matter related to health in order to prepare you for diverse career opportunities in the wellness field.
Whether you’re interested in nutrition, fitness, disease prevention, or health psychology, this degree could help set you on the path toward a career in the health sphere.
“Online Health and Wellness Degrees”
Many students looking to pursue a health career outside of the traditional patient-care settings choose to earn a health and wellness degree.
The overarching focus of health and wellness degree programs is to equip you with the knowledge and skill sets to help individuals and communities live healthier lives. This is why many programs cover a diverse range of health and wellness topics, such as:
- Health and fitness
- Disease prevention
- Behavioral issues
- Nutrition
You can also be exposed to research methods that help you evaluate research in nutrition, exercise, stress management, health psychology, and complementary medicine.
A bachelors program in health and wellness also covers major concepts and theories across several health and wellness domains, including:
- Exercise and nutrition science
- Alternative medicine
- Psychology
- Health promotion
- Integrative and alternative medicine
You’ll learn strategies for designing health programs for these domains as well. Many programs also explore global health issues and policies, including how economics and geopolitics affect nutrition and access to health measures.
Overall, this degree provides foundational competencies in health and wellness that may lead to careers in public health, health coaching, community health, and more. It may also serve as a base for continuing education in leadership fields in health and healthcare.
Students who want to become medical practitioners can go on to complete medical school or to earn their masters in a clinical field.
Health and Wellness Careers & Salaries
The broad and comprehensive health knowledge provided in health and wellness degree programs can help prepare graduates for a variety of career paths.
Graduates choose to be involved in public health, where they could help design and implement health programs within communities. Others choose to work in communities as community health workers, where they may help marginalized groups have access to health services.
Becoming a health or wellness coach is another avenue that some graduates pursue. They may help clients improve their lifestyle through altering their nutrition intake, mindset, fitness routine, or a combination of these. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here are the median salaries of potential career paths related to health and wellness.
| Careers | Annual Median Salaries |
| Medical and Health Services Managers | $101,340 |
| Social and Community Service Managers | $74,000 |
| Nutritionists and Dieticians | $61,650 |
| Healthcare Social Workers | $60,840 |
| Health Education Specialists | $60,600 |
| Exercise Physiologists | $47,940 |
| Recreational Therapists | $47,940 |
| Community Health Workers | $46,590 |
| Fitness Trainers and Instructors | $40,700 |
| Social and Human Service Assistants | $37,610 |
Professionals with a bachelors in health and wellness online degree may be found in medical offices, corporate wellness centers, university health services, fitness centers, pharmaceutical companies, community centers, and more. This degree path can also serve as a foundation for graduates looking to further their studies in health administration or a clinical profession.
Employment of healthcare occupations overall is expected to grow by 13% over the next ten years (Bureau of Labor Statistics). This is considered faster than the average for all occupations.
Health and Wellness Bachelor’s Curriculum & Courses
Health and wellness degree programs can have varied curriculums, but many core courses are similar. You may encounter courses similar to the following:
- Complementary and Integrative Medicine: This course dives into the theories and capacities of complementary and integrative medicine practices, and it also explores the multifaceted meanings behind the term “holistic.”
- Contemporary Diet and Nutrition: This course overviews current dietary trends, geopolitical impacts on food and nutrition, genetic engineering, foodborne illnesses, and more.
- Models for Health and Wellness: This course investigates the influences of religion, philosophy, science, and psychology on health, healing, and wellness in the modern era and throughout history.
- Current Trends in Exercise and Fitness: This course overviews the current trends and challenges in health and wellness across age groups, and it also teaches you how to design and tailor health and wellness plans to various age groups.
- Stress: Critical Issues in Management and Prevention: This course investigates research and approaches to identify, manage, and prevent stress.
- Health and Wellness Programming: Design and Administration: This course overviews the strategies and components useful in designing effective health and wellness programming.
- Psychological and Spiritual Aspects of Healing: This course overviews concepts and practices related to mindset in the healing process, such as meditation, transpersonal psychology, and mindfulness.
- Anatomy and Physiology: This course dives into the anatomical structure of the human body, alongside physiological processes.
- Epidemiology: This course overviews concepts relating to infectious disease transmission and prevention from a global standpoint.
- Wellness Coaching Theory and Practice: In this course, you’ll learn behavioral strategies for implementing positive, healthy behavior change in individuals.
The coursework for this degree path centers on furthering your knowledge of physical and psychological health.
Online Degree in Health and Wellness Admissions Requirements
Admissions for health and wellness degrees online tend to vary depending on the school, but many have similar core requirements. Here are a few of the common admissions essentials:
- High school diploma or GRE equivalent
- Minimum GPA of 2.5, on average
- Letters of recommendation
- SAT or ACT scores (only some schools require them)
A growing number of schools no longer require SAT or ACT scores for admissions. You can contact your prospective school’s admissions office with any questions you may have about their admissions requirements and the overall application process.
Degrees in Health and Wellness Accreditation
Determining whether your potential school or university is accredited is an important step to take before you apply.
Accreditation is essentially quality assurance that your university meets certain professional education standards. These accreditation standards could affect the credibility of your degree. This, in turn, could impact your employability in the future as well as your ability to receive financial aid.
Regional accreditation is considered the most prestigious and widely recognized accreditation. You can visit the website of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) to verify your school’s accreditation status.
Universities Offering Online Bachelor in Health and Wellness Degree Programs
Methodology: The following school list is in alphabetical order. To be included, a college or university must be regionally accredited and offer degree programs online or in a hybrid format.
Abilene Christian University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
ASU is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Asbury University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
Eastern Oregon University is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities.
Excelsior University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Keuka College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
The New York Institute of Technology is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Ohio State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
PennWest is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Purdue University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Rasmussen University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
SUNY Oswego is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Thomas Edison State University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Tulane University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The University of Arizona is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Louisiana at Lafayette is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.
The University of Missouri is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
The University of Wisconsin – River Falls is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Walden is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Winona State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
