A T Still University of Health Sciences Online Master of Science in Athletic Training (Post-Professional)

This is a master's for people who already work as athletic trainers and want deeper clinical study in orthopaedics, rehabilitation or concussion care without leaving their jobs. It's 30 credits, entirely online, with four starts a year. It can't make you an athletic trainer, and the requirements list no thesis or capstone. Its strongest use is as the first stretch of ATSU's doctorate, since those credits carry forward.

A.T. Still University is a private nonprofit osteopathic health-professions school in Kirksville, Missouri, and this program sits in its Arizona School of Health Sciences. Of the 30 credits, 18 are core and 12 belong to the concentration you pick. ATSU says you can plan the coursework to take one year or two, which matches the 12 to 24 months on the program page.

Applicants need a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school, Board of Certification (BOC) credentials as an athletic trainer, and a state license where one is required. The page also lists a 2.75 graduate GPA and one recommendation form.

ATSU describes the program as 100% online. Intakes are in July, September, January and March, and your application materials are due two months before the course block you want to start. You can take it fast in a year or spread it across two.

The faculty include Dr. McLeod, whose research has focused on sport-related concussion in pediatric athletes and who founded ATSU's Athletic Training Practice-Based Research Network. ATSU says students apply lessons immediately in their work settings, which is the point of studying while you work.

Who It Fits

• Working athletic trainers who want a clinical specialty. You choose orthopaedics, rehabilitation, or sport neurology and concussion. The orthopaedics track includes imaging and surgical considerations, and the concussion track has four courses on neurologic conditions and traumatic head injury.
• Athletic trainers who plan to go on to a doctorate. ATSU says finishing this master's puts you 24% of the way toward its Doctor of Athletic Training (DAT), and several core research courses are marked as eligible for advanced standing.
• Athletic therapists and rehabilitators trained abroad. ATSU accepts credentials from bodies in Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom as equivalents to BOC certification, so an international background doesn't rule you out.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who wants to become an athletic trainer. ATSU says the degree doesn't lead to eligibility for the BOC exam, and it points entry-level students to a separate hybrid Master of Athletic Training with clinical rotations.
• People aiming for credentials from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) or the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). Those bodies work from exercise science degrees, so the online master's degrees in exercise science are the better place to shop.
• Anyone who wants a final project to show off. The graduation requirements are finished courses, a 3.0 GPA and a seven-year completion limit.

The core builds evidence-based habits. ATRN 7110 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety teaches process diagrams, run charts and plan-do-study-act cycles. ATRN 7130 Patient-Oriented Outcomes covers measuring how patients rate their own function and quality of life. ATRN 8010 Research Methods and Design and ATRN 8020 Methods of Data Analysis round it out.

The rehabilitation track runs ATRN 7210 Foundations of Tissue Healing, 7230 Assessment of Movement Dysfunction, 7240 Corrective Techniques for Movement Dysfunction and 7250 Rehabilitation Considerations for Sport Performance. Orthopaedics runs ATRN 7410 through 7440, and concussion runs ATRN 7310 through 7340. Every course is 3 credits.

Courses the School Names

• ATRN 7210 Foundations of Tissue Healing
• ATRN 7250 Rehabilitation Considerations for Sport Performance
• ATRN 7430 Orthopaedic Imaging and Labs
• ATRN 7440 Orthopaedic Surgical Considerations
• ATRN 7340 Assessment and Management of Complex Patients with Concussion
• ATRN 7110 Quality Improvement and Patient Safety

Standout Features

• Post-professional only: does not lead to eligibility for the BOC exam

For 2026-27 ATSU charges $690 per credit and adds a $44 per credit technology fee. Thirty credits comes to $20,700 in tuition plus $1,320 in fees, or $22,020.

That rate isn't cheap. Our cost score for this degree is 3.1 out of 10 among online master's programs, so most charge less per credit. The trade is a program built for athletic trainers, taught by athletic training faculty.

30 credits at $690 a credit comes to $20,700 in tuition, before fees.

A.T. Still University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The program page lists no programmatic accreditation, and nothing on it ties the degree to ACSM, NSCA or any exam. It's advanced study for people who already hold their BOC credential.

You'll see two deadlines quoted for exercise science degrees, and neither reaches you. ACSM-EP and ACSM-CEP candidates (American College of Sports Medicine exercise physiologist certifications) need a CAAHEP-accredited program from August 15, 2027. U.S. CSCS candidates (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist) need a CASCE-accredited bachelor's from January 1, 2030. Both belong to a different profession.

Where this degree can lead: Exercise Science Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page. A factor marked Peer Median had no published input, so it counts at half weight.

• ATSU lists a minimum 2.75 graduate GPA even though the only degree required is a bachelor's, so applicants who haven't done graduate work should ask how the rule applies to them.
• The doctorate discount is modest. The master's is 30 credits, but ATSU credits it as 24% of the DAT.
• The $44 technology fee adds $1,320 to a $20,700 tuition bill.
• There's no thesis, capstone or practicum listed, so you finish with transcripts rather than a portfolio piece.

• Which six courses make up the 18 core credits, given that ATSU marks Health Information Technology as part of its certificate but not its master's?
• How does the 2.75 graduate GPA requirement work for someone with only a bachelor's degree?
• Are courses fully asynchronous, or do any have live sessions or fixed weekly deadlines?
• If I continue to the doctorate, which courses transfer, and is there a time limit between finishing the MS and starting the DAT?
• Is there an application fee for the master's, and what does it cost?
• Can I switch concentrations after I start?

ATSU is a private osteopathic health-professions university with campuses in Kirksville (MO), Mesa (AZ) and San Luis Obispo (CA); its online athletic training and kinesiology programs are offered through the Arizona School of Health Sciences and College of Graduate Health Studies. Its mission cites 'osteopathic heritage and focus on whole person healthcare'.

• Best Online Exercise Science Degrees Rank 69 of 99, master's
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