Best Medical Assistant Schools in California

American Career College
ACC's Medical Assistant diploma is 780 hours (50.5 quarter credits) over about nine months, with two campus days a week, the rest online, and a weekend option. After 20 hours of worksite-professionalism training, students complete a 220-hour externship. The program holds ABHES programmatic accreditation, but ACC's brochure does not name a certification exam. Total charges for 2024 on-time completers were $21,410 at the California campuses, and on-time completion there ran 23–35% (2024 state fact sheets).

• Los Angeles, Anaheim, Ontario

Bakersfield College
Bakersfield College's Clinical Medical Assistant program is a short Certificate of Achievement in the college's Health Sciences pathway, aimed at clinical work in medical offices. It does not appear on the college's list of programmatically accredited programs, so ask whether it prepares students for a national medical assistant certification exam and how any externship hours are arranged. Enrollment fees for California residents are $46 per unit (2026-27).

• Bakersfield, Delano

Bay Area Medical Academy
BAMA's Medical Assisting with Phlebotomy certificate is 900 hours over about nine months: daily online lectures, weekly in-person labs and an externship of at least 200 hours at a hospital or lab, usually full-time on weekdays for about five weeks. It prepares students for the NCCT's NCMA, the NHA's CET (EKG) and California's CPT-1 phlebotomy license. The program has no CAAHEP or ABHES accreditation. Tuition is $16,850 on the school's program page, which gives no date, so confirm the current price.

• San Francisco, San Jose

Blake Austin College
The Clinical Medical Assistant with Phlebotomy diploma is 920 hours (38 semester credits), taught on campus in four-week terms and ending with a 160-hour medical assisting externship and a 40-hour phlebotomy externship. California does not license medical assistants; the program prepares students for the state's Certified Phlebotomy Technician I certificate and the RMA exam from American Medical Technologists, with exam fees extra. Total charges were $20,193 for the 2023 and 2024 cohorts, according to the school.

• Vacaville

Bradford College of Nursing
Medical assisting at Bradford is a 920-hour certificate, about seven months including a five-week, full-time externship, with day or evening classes on weekdays. It covers front-office work such as scheduling and insurance billing as well as clinical skills such as vital signs, medication administration and blood draws. The program has no programmatic accreditation; the 2024 catalog names the optional CCMA exam. Classes are small, with seven students starting in 2024. Tuition is $3,950 at the Stockton, CA campus (October 2026).

• Stockton

CALRegional Training Institute Stockton
The Clinical Medical Assistant certificate is 320 hours, 160 in a hybrid online and classroom format and a 160-hour unpaid externship; the catalog gives its length as 8 to 10 weeks. It prepares students for AMCA's CMAC exam (the catalog also names NCCT's NCMA); California does not license medical assistants. The 2026 catalog price is $2,995 at the Stockton, CA campus, about $3,245 with supplies. Stockton's 2024 disclosures show 61% on-time completion, a 95% first-attempt exam pass rate and 10% of graduates working in the field within six months.

• Stockton

Carrington College
Carrington's Medical Assisting certificate is 36 weeks (36 semester credits). The blended version mixes online lectures with campus labs over 750 contact hours, ending with a 180-hour clinical externship; the fully online version has 870 hours, including two externships totalling 315 hours, and there is also an online associate degree. Graduates can take the NHA's CCMA exam, and blended graduates may also pursue the RMA or CMA. Total cost was $20,116 for the Phoenix, AZ reporting unit (2024–25); other campuses differ.

• Lancaster, Bakersfield, Fresno, Salida, Ontario, Pleasant Hill, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Mirage, Sacramento, San Jose, San Leandro, Santa Maria, Stockton, Temecula, Hesperia, Visalia

Center for Employment Training
CET's Medical Assistant certificate is 900 hours, about 8 to 9 months at 30 hours a week, combining front-office and clinical skills, pharmacology, billing and coding and two clinical lab practicums, then an externship at a clinic or hospital. It prepares students for the Registered Medical Assistant (RMA) exam from American Medical Technologists. Applicants need immunization records and no drug-related criminal record. California completers were charged $15,249 in total in 2024, and 60% of available graduates were placed in the field.

• Coachella, Colton, El Centro, Oxnard, Salinas, San Diego, San Jose, Santa Maria, Soledad, Watsonville

Central Coast College
Medical Assisting is a 755-hour diploma that takes as few as 46 weeks. Theory is taught live online, and labs meet on campus 3 to 4 hours a day in morning, afternoon or evening sessions, followed by a 175-hour externship. The program page names no certification exam. In BPPE's 2024 report, 57% of students finished on time and 70% of available graduates found work in the field. The 2026-27 price at the Salinas, CA campus is $19,920 with fees and books.

• Salinas

Charter College
Charter College's medical assistant certificate is the one program taught at all 10 of its campuses. It takes 10 months of online theory and campus labs, ends with a 160-hour externship, and prepares students for a national certification exam such as those from NCCT or NHA. Credits differ by state: 64 quarter credits in Alaska, California, Nevada and Utah, 53 in Washington and New Mexico. Charter's 2026 catalog supplement lists $24,656 at Anchorage, AK and $24,250 at the Washington and New Mexico campuses.

• Canyon Country, Oxnard

City College of San Francisco
CCSF's Medical Clinical Assisting Certificate is the one medical assisting award with programmatic accreditation: CAAHEP accredits it on the recommendation of MAERB. It belongs to a family of short certificates at the John Adams Center that also includes Medical Administrative Assisting, Medical Biller, Medical Receptionist and Medical Evaluation Assistant, so students can choose a clinical or front-office route. Lengths vary by certificate; ask the department for the current course sequence.

• San Francisco

Concorde Career College
Concorde's Medical Assistant diploma takes 9 to 17 months, depending on the campus, and is taught at every Concorde campus; Memphis, TN and Southaven, MS also offer a 16-month AAS. Students do online coursework, campus labs and an unpaid externship, and Concorde does not tie the program to a named certification exam. Total charges were $19,418 at Garden Grove, CA (BPPE 2024 report).

• Garden Grove, North Hollywood, San Bernardino, San Diego

De Anza College
De Anza College's Medical Assisting program leads to a Certificate of Achievement-Advanced or an AS degree in the Health Technologies department, and both include an externship at a local clinical site. Coursework covers vital signs, assisting with minor surgery, routine lab procedures, giving medications, medical coding and records management. The college does not name a certification exam or a programmatic accreditor for it, so ask which exam graduates can take. The college reported 74% job placement for 2024-25.

• Cupertino

Glendale Career College
Glendale Career College's Medical Assistant diploma takes 43 weeks in eight modules, according to the school's 2023-24 performance fact sheet, and ends with an externship that the program page puts at 144 hours in one place and 160 in another. BLS/CPR training is included, the program holds ABHES programmatic accreditation, and no certification exam is named; California requires no licence for the job. Total charges were $18,491 at the Glendale, CA campus in 2023-24; confirm the current price.

• Glendale

Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts
Gurnick's Medical Assistant certificate, at Concord and Modesto, takes eight months (30 weeks) of blended weekday classes: 231 didactic and 345 lab hours, then an unpaid 180-hour externship the school arranges. It prepares students for the NHA CCMA and EKG technician (CET) exams, with phlebotomy taught as an MA skill. In its 2024 report to California's BPPE, the school gave a 32.58% on-time completion rate and 64% placement. The program page lists $14,477.50 in total (October 2026).

• San Jose, Concord, Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento, Van Nuys

High Desert Medical College
Clinical Medical Assisting is a 780-hour certificate worth 37 credits, with a 160-hour externship, taking 34 weeks on the morning or afternoon schedule or 42 in the evening. Graduates also receive American Red Cross CPR and First Aid certification. HDMC says the program prepares students for a national medical assistant certification exam but does not name it; it does not lead to the AAMA's CMA exam, which requires a CAAHEP- or ABHES-accredited program. The 2026-27 direct cost is $19,920.

• Lancaster, Bakersfield, Temecula

Institute for Business & Technology
IBT's Medical Assistant diploma takes 720 clock hours over 36 weeks on campus and includes an unpaid externship of up to eight weeks. We found no programmatic accreditation for the program; the school as a whole is accredited by ACCSC and ACCET. Results fell in 2024: 33% finished on time, down from 68% in 2023, and 71% of graduates available for work were placed in the field. Total charges in 2024 were $15,327.50 at the San Jose, CA campus.

• San Jose

Institute of Technology
IOT's Professional Medical Assistant diploma is an 860-hour, 40-week hybrid program: online coursework with set campus days for labs (two a week in California), then a 160-hour externship. IOT says it prepares graduates for national medical assistant certification but does not name the exam. 2026 totals run from $18,724 at Redding, CA to $18,865 at Modesto, CA, and $18,849 at Salem, OR (campus addenda). California's 2024 state report shows 65% completion and 72% in-field placement.

• Clovis, Modesto, Redding

Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences
KPSAHS's Medical Assisting certificate runs 12 months over four quarters in a hybrid format: two remote lecture days and one on-site lab day a week, either by day (9:00 am to 3:30 pm) or in the evening (5:00 to 9:30 pm). It ends with 320 weekday clinical hours at a Kaiser Permanente facility. The school's catalog says NCCT has approved graduates to sit the NCMA and National Certified ECG Technician exams. The program page lists $6,300 in tuition and fees plus $1,400 for books and uniforms (checked October 2026).

• Richmond, San Francisco

Long Beach City College
Long Beach City College's Medical Assisting program offers an AS and Certificates of Achievement in a combined administrative and clinical track or in either half alone. It admits one class a year, with 40 seats filled first come, first served. The college says graduates can sit the exams of all five medical assistant certifying organizations, but it names no programmatic accreditor such as CAAHEP or ABHES and does not state externship hours, so ask about both before enrolling.

• Long Beach

Milan Institute
Milan's Medical Assisting certificate takes 36 weeks (780 clock hours in California) and ends with a clinical externship the school arranges in an off-site medical office. Coursework covers anatomy, pharmacology, 12-lead EKG, phlebotomy, office procedures and insurance billing and coding. The program is not programmatically accredited, and the school's current program page names no certification exam. In its 2024 California filings, job placement was 75% at Visalia, 67% at Palm Desert and 49% for the Fresno-reported unit, which includes Merced.

• Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Palm Desert, Vacaville, Visalia

National Career College
National Career College's Medical Assistant diploma takes eight months and runs on a day, afternoon or evening hybrid schedule, the hybrid with two online evenings a week. A 205-hour externship is required, and graduates are eligible for the CMA exam from the AAMA and the NCMA exam from the NCCT. In the school's 2024 state report, 83% of graduates available for work were employed in the field. The program page lists a $16,900 total at the Panorama City campus, with no effective date (checked Oct 2026).

• Panorama City

North-West College
North-West College's Medical Assistant diploma is 940 clock hours, about 40 weeks, with an externship, and is taught at West Covina, Pomona, Van Nuys, South Gate, Riverside, Anaheim, Long Beach, San Diego and Bakersfield. The program has no programmatic accreditation, and the school's fact sheets note that California requires no state licence for medical assistants. Total charges were $18,491 at West Covina on the 2023-24 BPPE fact sheet, the same figure College Navigator lists for Anaheim in 2024-25.

• West Covina, Pomona, Van Nuys, South Gate, Riverside, Anaheim, Long Beach, San Diego, Bakersfield

Pima Medical Institute
Pima Medical Institute's Medical Assistant certificate takes about nine months: roughly 330 classroom hours, 230 to 270 lab hours and a 160- to 200-hour externship that PMI arranges. Modules include anatomy and physiology, exam techniques, pharmacology, phlebotomy, office lab procedures, insurance, billing and coding, and law and ethics, with CPR and first aid. Graduates can sit the CMA, RMA, CCMA or NCMA exams. Hybrid and evening classes run at some campuses. Total cost was $18,459 at Tucson, AZ (1 Jul 2026); other campuses differ.

• Chula Vista, San Marcos

Platt College
Platt's Medical Assisting program is an associate of science degree, not a short certificate: 1,260 hours and 95 quarter credits over about 15 months, mostly hybrid, ending with an externship. Students earn First Aid and CPR cards, and Platt pays the graduate's first certification exam fee plus a tutoring session, worth up to $200. The 2024 total in Platt's report to California's BPPE was $30,424, the same at every campus; ask for the current catalog addendum. Platt's 2025 ACCSC report gives in-field employment of 74% to 87% by campus.

• Alhambra, Anaheim, Ontario, Riverside

San Jose City College
The Medical Assisting: Clinical Certificate of Achievement Level 3 at San Jose City College runs 31 to 32 units, with an AS option, and students can start in spring, summer or fall, part-time or full-time. It closes with a 4-unit clinical practicum in a physician's office, clinic or hospital. The department names the NCCT, CCMA and AMT RMA exams for graduates. The catalog lists no programmatic accreditation, so ask before counting on eligibility for the AAMA's CMA exam.

• San Jose

Silicon Valley Career Technical Education
Silicon Valley Adult Education, the adult school on the SVCTE campus, runs a one-year day Medical Assistant program in front- and back-office procedures: eight modules, each meeting weekday mornings for five to six weeks, plus a one-month externship. Students may join at any module if space allows, and need a high-school diploma or equivalent by completion, a physical and immunizations. The 2026-27 fee at the San Jose, CA campus is $2,100. The school names no national certification exam the program prepares for.

• San Jose

South Coast College
South Coast College's medical assistant certificate is a 900-hour day program of about nine months, taught on campus with labs and including a supervised externship that the school's externship coordinator arranges. The catalog points graduates to the AMT Registered Medical Assistant exam and NHA certification exams, which the school hosts as a test site. The program is not accredited by CAAHEP or ABHES. The 2025-26 total at the Orange, CA campus was $12,799, including books and fees.

• Orange

Southern California Health Institute
The Medical Assistant diploma is 900 clock hours over 36 weeks: theory is taught online and clinical skills in person, plus a 150-hour externship. The program page names NCCT's medical assistant exam and the catalog names the CCMA; California does not license medical assistants. The school is ACCET-accredited, but the program has no separate accreditation. Total charges are $16,495, including a $725 lab fee, at the North Hollywood campus (October 2023 price list). In 2024, 71.1% finished on time and 75% of graduates were placed.

• North Hollywood

Summit College
Summit's Medical Assistant – Administrative & Clinical certificate is 800 hours over 36 weeks in the 2024 catalog, taught at the San Bernardino campus Monday to Thursday, mornings or evenings. It combines front-office work with clinical skills including phlebotomy and EKG, and ends with a 160-hour externship that the school places students in. The program page does not name a certification exam. The tuition page dated 1 December 2025 lists $14,995. In 2024, 12 of 20 available graduates (60%) were placed in the field.

• San Bernardino, El Cajon, Santa Ana

UEI College
UEI's Medical Assistant diploma is about 36 weeks (810 clock hours on Arizona's listing): seven 80-hour modules followed by a 250-hour unpaid externship at an approved local facility. Modules cover administrative duties, anatomy and physiology, infection control and lab work, psychology and special senses, medical office management, clinical duties, pharmacology and office emergencies. UEI names the NCCT NCMA, AAMA CMA and AMT RMA exams; Arizona's listing adds NHA's CCMA as optional. Total cost was $19,900 at Huntington Park, CA (2025–26), and $18,500 at Tacoma, WA (2024–25).

• Bakersfield, Chula Vista, Fresno, Garden Grove, Gardena, Huntington Park, Oceanside, Ontario, Reseda, Riverside, Sacramento, Stockton, West Covina

Unitek College of Nursing
Unitek College's Medical Assisting diploma is taught at all of its campuses. The 2026 curriculum, effective April 2026, is 29 semester credits and 779 clock hours over about 33 weeks: theory online, skills labs on campus, then a 160-hour externship arranged by the school. We found no certification exam named in Unitek's materials, so ask which one the program prepares for. The reported 2024 total was $14,876, and graduates moving into a Unitek nursing program can receive a need-based grant of up to $2,000.

• Bakersfield, Concord, Fremont, Hayward, Ontario, Sacramento, San Jose, South San Francisco