My B.S. was in Exercise Science and Wellness and my minor was nutrition. I got special permission to have the cooking classes switched to Dietetics classes. I received straight A's in every class related to my major and minor. The classes were so much fun it was hard not to make an A. My internships included cardiac rehab, physical therapy, and corporate wellness. I also took about a dozen nursing classes and attended clinicals in the orthopedics, oncology, and the emergency room. After graduation I was certified as an ACSM HI/FI.
I then went on countless interviews for about two years. My interviews included sports medicine clinics, hospitals, gyms, corporate wellness centers, sports related training centers etc...
No one that interviewed me had ever heard of the ACSM! Can you believe that a common question was, "So what exactly is Exercise Science?".
My search was from Atlanta to Birmingham to Nashville, because I wanted to stay in the south east.
After that money was running out and I needed a full time job. At that point I realized the only work I could get was temp work picking up trash, sweeping floors, or some other degrading job where I couldn't do what I loved. I ended up working in factories for minimum wage.
The Exercise degree was a LOT of fun. It was awesome taking all those classes. But to me it was worthless as being necessary for employment.
Maybe if fitness was treated more professional like physical therapy or nursing, where a person was required to have a degree and be certified to teach there would be a need for degrees.
Whoever reads this, please don't take it completely serious if you really want the degree. I am just a bit sour and disgruntled not getting to work in an industry that I love. I am only typing this to say that degrees and certs are not required. They may be a wastes of time and money.
I would assume a certification like ACE, being in good shape (so you look like you know what your talking about), a friendly attitude, really caring about the people you work with and as time goes on, word of mouth is all you need.
On one positive note there was a guy in my class that on his first interview, got a job as head of a physical therapy department. There was another that got a job in pharmaceutical sales. Most people I spoke with either were there for fun only, or went on to further there career in other medical professions.
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