Master of Science in Athletic Training

Earn your M.S.A.T. on the coast of Maine with the University of New England — recognized as a top university by The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report, and others. The UNE AT master’s degree prepares you for a fascinating, successful career in athletic training. UNE grads go on to work with sports teams, in physician’s practices, and beyond.

Earn Your Master of Science in Athletic Training at Maine’s Leading Health University

The UNE master’s of Athletic Training combines the study of health-related sciences with the art of preventing, managing, and rehabilitating athletic and orthopedic injuries.

Imagine yourself working with elite athletes, providing care under the supervision of world-class health professionals, or treating patients in an athletic injury clinic — all while you’re still a student.

Expert athletic training faculty will guide you through a two-year journey of classes and hands-on learning in our state-of-the-art facilities.

The UNE AT program will help you become a leader in every aspect of improving individual and team wellness.

In addition to the traditional 24-month Athletic Training master’s degree, UNE also offers a 3+2 B.S./M.S.A.T., for students seeking to complete their undergraduate and graduate work within an integrated five-year track.

An athletic training student assists a baseball player out on the field

Why UNE for your Master of Science in Athletic Training

Gain vital experience collaborating by studying at a leading health professions university, right on the coast of Maine.

  • Learn alongside students from UNE’s medical school, studying in gross anatomy lab and providing side-by-side patient care in our on-campus Injury Care Clinic.
  • By studying with other aspiring health professionals including students of nursing, PT, OT and other programs, you'll learn to collaborate in today’s team-based health care.
  • Experience wide-ranging clinical opportunities in areas such as pro sports, college athletics, orthopedic clinics, primary care medicine, and graduate research.
  • Learning happens in state-of-the-art teaching and research laboratories. The AT program sits in the center of UNE’s 105,000 square-foot athletics complex, providing access to facilities and teams.
  • UNE’s world-class instructors lead you through a rigorous, forward-thinking curriculum.

15:1

student-to-instructor ratio in all clinical coursework

100%

of students passed the BOC exam on the first attempt

Three-year aggregate

What will you study? Athletic Training Curriculum Overview

Our curriculum combines the study of anatomy and other health-related sciences with the art of preventing, managing, and rehabilitating athletic and orthopedic injuries. 

Tracks and Degrees

UNE offers a two-year M.S.A.T. degree for those with a B.S. who meet all prerequisites, as well as a 3+2 Athletic Training track for high school graduates seeking to earn their B.S. and M.S. degrees in five years.

UNE opened my eyes to so many new opportunities. I had diverse clinical rotation opportunities and athletes/patients and communities that helped form our basis for communication with people from all walks of life.” 

Lindsey Dutton ’19

Read what our students say about our Master of Science in Athletic Training

Clinical Education

One of the most important aspects of your education is clinical experience. We have successfully expanded our clinical affiliations to include those settings that are representative not only of the traditional setting for athletic trainers but also those that represent practice advancement and ever-changing employment opportunities. In the final year of the program, you will have the opportunity to complete an immersive clinical experience in the fall or spring semester.

An athletic training student practices icing a foot injury on themself during class
One athletic training student sits upright in a machine that tests leg strength while another student looks at the results on a computer monitor
A group of athletic training students in a classroom with skeletomuscular portraits hanging on the wall
A professor and two students talking in the athletic training lab
Three U N E students practicing on a patient simulator

Potential Career Paths for Athletic Training Grads

Through your coursework, labs, clinical field experiences, and internships, you will be well on your way to an exciting career in athletic training. Athletic trainers are employed by physicians’ offices and sports teams and in military settings.

You may also work in related fields, including:

  • Strength Coaching
  • Injury Prevention
  • Performing Arts/Dance Medicine
  • Public Safety
  • Occupational Health

Our AT graduates have landed jobs with major league franchises, such as:

  • Boston Red Sox (MLB)
  • Atlanta Hawks (NBA)
  • Connecticut Sun (WNBA)

With support from UNE faculty, and the work ethic and adaptability that was ingrained in me at UNE, my dream to work as a Division 1 athletic trainer was much closer than I originally thought.” — Taylor Hopkins ’22

Athletic Training in Action at the 2022 Winter Olympics

Alumni Spotlight

Zander Kosmala went from graduating from UNE to landing a job as the head athletic trainer for an ANL team in just 4 years.

Athletic Training Facilities

As an Applied Exercise Science or Athletic Training major, you enjoy extensive modern facilities for the study of exercise and sport performance. In addition to the discipline-specific equipment and training spaces in the Harold Alfond Forum, Campus Center, and Harold Alfond Center for Health Sciences, you also benefit from the cutting-edge computer resources, modern labs, and classrooms UNE has to offer.

The Alfond Forum

The Harold Alfond Forum, which opened in 2012, includes a 105,000-square-foot athletics complex featuring: an ice hockey rink with 900 seats; a basketball court with 1,200 seats; classroom space; a fitness center; and multi-purpose indoor practice courts that can also be used for performances and other events, with a combined seating capacity of 3,000. It also houses the Athletic Training and Applied Exercise Science programs, which have custom-designed teaching and laboratory spaces.

Take a virtual tour of Alfond Forum

The Campus Center

Opened in 1989, the 55,000-square foot Campus Center houses a sports complex that includes a 25-yard/six-lane handicapped-accessible swimming pool, an eight-person hot tub, and a fully-equipped fitness center with two racquetball courts and a free weight area. It also contains a 12,100-square-foot gym with a 1/12-mile balcony track, showers, a sauna, and locker rooms. The Campus Center is also home to BodyWISE, a UNE and community-at-large resource designed especially for people who have specific physical performance objectives, ranging from rehabilitating physical limitations to enhancing peak athletic performance. BodyWISE is an extension of UNE's educational mission and serves as a clinical training program for exercise and sport performance students as well as students in other allied health professions programs.

Take a virtual tour of the Campus Center

The Harold Alfond Center for the Health Sciences

The Harold Alfond Center for Health Sciences is a state-of-the-art laboratory and educational facility. Located at the center of our scenic shoreside campus in Biddeford, this three-story building houses labs and lecture halls. It places UNE at the national forefront of health and life sciences education. The Center's gross anatomy lab is used by medical, health professions, and Exercise and Sport Performance students.

Take a virtual tour of the Alfond Center for Health Sciences

Motion Analysis Lab

The Motion Analysis Lab on UNE's Portland Campus allows you to observe and measure human motion that cannot be observed with the naked eye, and to quantify the forces in the joints and neuromuscular and muscle systems.

The research you do in this technologically-advanced 1500-square-foot learning space allows you to apply the theoretical knowledge you’ve gained in the classroom to projects investigating such crucial matters to your field as better understanding the laws of sports biomechanics, or the most effective approaches to ACL rehabilitation.

Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center

As Athletic Training or Applied Exercise Science student, you utilize our Interprofessional Simulation and Innovation Center to apply the knowledge you gain in the classroom to realistic clinical situations before putting actual patients at risk.

Guided by skilled instructors, you participate in simulations specifically designed to enhance your clinical aptitudes. Simulations allow you to test your skills in evaluating a patient in an emergency situation or to individualize patient care for a variety of medical conditions. Rather than just hearing about and reading about difficult or unusual cases, you experience them by treating our high fidelity patient simulators and patient actors in scenarios that mimic real life.

Take a Tour of Our Facilities

Complete Research in your Athletic Training master’s

Apply your knowledge outside the classroom and clinical experiences through research rooted in athletic training. As a student in our M.S.A.T. program, you will have the opportunity to participate in research through one of our many state-of-the-art research laboratories in the Harold Alfond Forum. Our students have had the opportunity to work with world-class researchers in areas such as the prevention, recognition, and management of sport-related concussion; upper- and lower-extremity isokinetic strength assessment; body composition and bone density analysis; metabolic function; and the biomechanical analysis of human movement.

Athletic Training Studies: Team-Based Learning

When students from different health professions disciplines learn with, from, and about each other to better understand different professional roles and expertise, great things can happen. In UNE’s M.S.A.T. program, you will be studying alongside students from other programs, including the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and Doctor of Dental Medicine program, gaining the skills to collaborate and lead in today’s team-based care. UNE is proud to be the only institution in New England that is part of the National Center for Interprofessional Education and Practice’s prestigious Innovation Network.

You also have the opportunity to apply this collaborative participation toward your Interprofessional Honors Distinction.

Hear what our alumni have to say about the Interprofessional education at UNE

Study Athletic Training on The Coast of Maine

As an M.S.A.T. student, you will study primarily on UNE’s scenic Biddeford Campus, less than 100 miles from Boston and where the waters of the Saco River flow into the Atlantic Ocean. Downtown Biddeford is a 10-minute drive from campus, and UNE’s Portland Campus for the Health Sciences is 30 minutes away.

Recently named the youngest city in Maine, Biddeford and its twin city, Saco, boast up-and-coming energy and community. With the transformation of the old Biddeford/Saco mills into restaurants, breweries, housing, fitness facilities, salons, and retailers, there is something for everyone. 

Take a Virtual Tour of Our Biddeford Campus

 

Who can apply to the Master of Science in Athletic Training?

To apply to our AT degree program, you must have a bachelor’s degree from a U.S. regionally accredited institution, or international equivalent.

All applicants must apply through the Athletic Training Centralized Application Service (ATCAS).

Current Application Information

  • For program starting: Fall 2025
  • ATCAS Application Portal opens: July 1, 2024
  • Current UNE Student Deadline: February 17, 2025
  • Final Application Deadline: May 15, 2025

Financial Aid At UNE

Finance your education through loans, grants, and scholarships. We are committed to making our physician assistant degree program as affordable as possible.

M.S.A.T. Tuition and Financial Aid

Accreditation

The University of New England Athletic Training program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE).

Athletic Training Program FAQ