Becoming a Chiropractor After High School: How Long Does it Really Take?

If you’re a recent or soon to be high school grad, you’ve probably been exploring different career options and have possibly been considering chiropractic practice. You may be wondering how long it takes to become a chiropractor after high school. 

The traditional answer is about 7–8 years comprised of several years of undergraduate study plus a Doctor of Chiropractic program. But that timeline isn’t fixed, and where you study can shorten it considerably. 

At SCU, for example, students can enter the Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) program without a bachelor’s degree and complete it in as little as 2 years and 8 months, which can bring the full journey closer to 5.5–6 years for a well-prepared applicant.

It might still sound like a big commitment, but it’s an investment in a career built on making a real, hands-on impact in healthcare. 

Chiropractors are key players in holistic care, helping people move and feel better without invasive procedures, and the path to get there is more flexible than most people assume.

What Do Chiropractors Do? A Closer Look

Chiropractors are more than spine specialists; they’re key contributors to holistic healthcare. Their work centers on diagnosing musculoskeletal conditions and building personalized, non-invasive treatment plans.

Diagnosis typically starts with a physical exam (posture, range of motion, reflexes) paired with diagnostic tools like imaging to uncover the root cause of pain or dysfunction.

From there, treatment plans are built around the patient, often combining spinal and full-body adjustments to restore alignment and reduce nerve interference, therapeutic exercises to build strength and mobility, and lifestyle guidance on posture, nutrition, and stress management.

That whole-person approach is the point: by avoiding surgery or medication, chiropractors help patients heal naturally, supporting long-term wellness rather than just symptom relief.

Growing Demand for Chiropractors

Employment of chiropractors is projected to grow 10% from 2024 to 2034, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, much faster than the average for all occupations, with roughly 2,800 openings projected each year.

That kind of growth is a strong signal that chiropractic care is an increasingly established part of how people manage pain and pursue wellness.

Here’s How to Start Your Chiropractic Journey Right After Graduation

The journey to becoming a chiropractor starts with the right educational pathway. After high school, this typically involves foundational undergraduate coursework followed by a DC program. Here’s how the steps generally break down.

Undergraduate Education

Most students complete a bachelor’s degree or the required prerequisite coursework, usually about 3–4 years, focusing on:

• Biology and chemistry: The foundations of understanding how the body works.
• Anatomy and physiology: Essential for mastering the structure and function of the human body.
• Physics and biomechanics: Key for understanding movement mechanics and how to improve it.

Choosing the Right Major

A pre-chiropractic or related field like kinesiology, health sciences, or biology aligns well with chiropractic school prerequisites and sets students up for a smoother transition into a DC program.

Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) Program

From there, students enter a DC program, which nationally runs about four years of advanced training in adjustment techniques, clinical anatomy, biomechanics, patient care, and diagnostic imaging. 

As explored below, some programs, including SCU’s, are structured to be completed in considerably less time.

Real-World Experience

Throughout the DC program, students work with real patients under expert supervision, building the skills they’ll use every day as practicing chiropractors.

A Faster Track to Your Chiropractic Career at SCU

At SCU, you don’t need a bachelor’s degree to start your chiropractic journey, and the program itself is designed to move faster than many traditional DC programs. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

Two Program Formats, Both Faster Than the Traditional Timeline

SCU’s DC program is offered in two formats:

• Accelerated (8 terms): Full-time, primarily on-campus, completed in about 2 years and 8 months.
• Standard (10 terms): Full-time, primarily on-campus, completed in about 3 years and 4 months.

Both formats compress what many DC programs deliver over roughly 3.5–4 years, without cutting the clinical hours or coursework students need for licensure.

No Bachelor’s Degree? No Problem

Here’s some good news: you don’t need a bachelor’s degree to get started. With 90 or more undergraduate credits, you can apply directly to SCU’s DC program.

If you’re short of that threshold, SCU’s Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences program accepts as few as 48 credits and bridges you to the 90 needed for DC admission.

Plus, SCU offers an embedded bachelor’s pathway that lets you finish a Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences alongside your DC degree, within the same overall timeframe as the doctorate alone, which matters, since a bachelor’s degree is required for licensure in most states.

Curious whether you qualify for the accelerated track? Explore SCU’s admissions requirements to see which pathway fits your background.

An Evidence-Based, Modern Curriculum

SCU’s program blends current science with hands-on care, integrating subjects, like physiology and pathology, or anatomy and biomechanics, that are traditionally taught in isolation. 

The goal is faster clinical readiness and stronger retention, backed by research and reinforced through repeated, “spiral learning” exposure to core concepts across terms.

Real-World Experience You Can Build On

From early in the program, students work directly with patients, building skills and confidence ahead of graduation:

• SCU Health Clinics: Treat real patients from diverse backgrounds as part of hands-on clinical training.
• Partner locations: Train across 100+ partner sites, including private practices, VA hospitals, teaching hospitals, Division I athletic programs, and Federally Qualified Health Centers.
• Concentration pathways: Explore focused areas of practice, including Sports Medicine, Women’s Health and Functional Medicine, while completing the core DC curriculum.

Prepare for Success, Every Step of the Way

SCU builds in preparation for what comes after graduation: business coursework in billing, risk mitigation, and practice marketing; board readiness built into the curriculum itself rather than treated as a separate step after coursework ends; and fixed-rate tuition alongside scholarships and financial aid options to keep costs predictable.

What Comes After Your Chiropractic Degree?

Graduating with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree is a major milestone, but it’s the start of a career with several directions to take.

Private Practice or Established Clinics

New chiropractors generally choose between:

• Starting a private practice: Offering flexibility, independence, and a personalized care environment.
• Joining an established clinic: A way to gain experience and build a patient base without the pressure of managing a business.

Exploring Specializations

Chiropractic offers several paths for deepening expertise: sports medicine (athlete performance and recovery), women’s health and pediatric care (patients across life stages, including pregnancy and childhood), and functional medicine (chronic conditions through a whole-person lens).

Students who complete one of SCU’s concentration pathways, or continue into one of SCU’s post-graduate residencies, enter these areas with a head start.

Continuing Education

Staying current requires ongoing education. Continuing education courses help chiropractors keep pace with advancements in technique and technology while maintaining licensure and meeting state compliance requirements.

Join SCU and Shape the Future of Holistic Healthcare

At SCU, the time invested into pursuing chiropractic licensure depends on the path you take, but the university’s flexible admissions options, evidence-based curriculum, and accelerated 8-term format mean many students reach practice faster than the traditional 7–8 year estimate suggests.

SCU has been shaping chiropractic education since 1911, when it was founded as the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic, one of the first chiropractic colleges in the nation.

More than 110 years later, that same commitment to innovation shapes a curriculum built for faster learning, earlier clinical confidence, and specialization in areas like sports medicine, women’s health, and functional medicine.

Take the first step toward a fulfilling chiropractic career: explore the admissions requirements for SCU’s Doctor of Chiropractic program and apply to join a legacy of excellence in healthcare.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the specific GPA and credit requirements for SCU’s DC admissions tracks? 

SCU offers three entry tracks. Applicants with a bachelor’s degree need 6 credits in Anatomy & Physiology and Chemistry taken within the last seven years.

Applicants without a bachelor’s degree need 90 or more undergraduate credits, plus either a 3.00 cumulative GPA, or a GPA between 2.75 and 2.99 paired with at least 24 credits of life or physical science coursework.

The 90-credit, 3.00-GPA track mirrors the national floor set by the field’s accrediting body, the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE), which requires at least 90 semester hours, including 24 hours of life or physical science with at least half carrying a lab component, and a minimum 3.00 GPA on that coursework.

That means SCU’s 2.75-2.99 track, layered on top of the required science credits, is a genuine expansion beyond the field-wide baseline rather than simply matching it.

Every track still requires 6 credits of Anatomy & Physiology and Chemistry completed within the last seven years, though that window can sometimes be waived for applicants who can demonstrate continued use of the material.

Applicants missing those courses, or unsure which track fits their transcript, can review full requirements on the admissions requirements page.

Is SCU’s Doctor of Chiropractic program accredited, and why does that matter? 

Yes. SCU’s DC program is accredited by the Council on Chiropractic Education, the specialized agency responsible for accrediting Doctor of Chiropractic and chiropractic residency programs nationwide.

CCE itself is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, a non-governmental body that reviews accrediting agencies for quality and consistency, and by the U.S. Department of Education.

That layered recognition matters for two practical reasons. First, it’s what makes students eligible for federal financial aid, since Title IV aid generally requires enrollment in a program accredited by an agency the Department of Education recognizes.

Second, it’s what allows graduates to sit for National Board of Chiropractic Examiners licensing exams, split into Part I (six basic science subjects), Part II (six clinical science subjects), and Part III (nine areas of clinical competency), which most states require before granting a license.

SCU’s program is also recognized by the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners, and the university states its curriculum is designed to prepare graduates for licensure in all U.S. states, Canadian provinces, and other jurisdictions.

That matters because each state or province sets its own additional licensing requirements on top of the national board exams.

Can transfer credit shorten time in SCU’s DC program further? 

Yes, for students transferring from another chiropractic or graduate program in good standing, though the ceiling is set industry-wide rather than by SCU alone.

CCE’s Manual of Policies requires every accredited DC program to award students at least 25% of total program credits directly, which caps transfer or advanced-standing credit at 75% at any CCE-accredited school, SCU included.

To receive that credit at SCU, transferred course hours must equal at least 75% of the equivalent SCU course hours, or the course has to be retaken in full, and the sending institution must submit a signed Transfer in Good Standing form directly to SCU.

This is generally a tighter standard than undergraduate transfer credit, reflecting how DC programs sequence clinical training around a cohort rather than around independently completed courses.

One nuance worth flagging: credits already used to satisfy admissions requirements, such as the 90-credit or bachelor’s degree thresholds, cannot also be counted toward Advanced Standing. 

Students weighing a transfer should confirm with SCU’s admissions team which of their prior credits fall into each category before assuming a shortened timeline.

When can I start SCU’s DC program? 

SCU admits students on a rolling basis with three start terms per year, rather than a single annual intake.

Because decisions are made on a rolling basis, applicants are encouraged to submit their application and supporting documents as early as possible ahead of their desired start term, and current start dates are listed on the admissions page.

That flexibility contrasts with how licensure testing works nationally. The NBCE’s exam calendar runs on fixed testing windows throughout the year, with registration for each test date closing 17 days beforehand, so students plan their board exams around a set schedule regardless of when they started their coursework.

A trimester or rolling start can make it easier to line up coursework completion with an upcoming testing window than a program that only admits once a year.

That kind of flexibility is relatively uncommon among doctoral-level health professional programs, many of which, including most medical and dental schools, still admit primarily through a single annual fall cohort.

Prospective students should still confirm exact term dates directly with SCU each admissions cycle, since specific start dates can shift from year to year.

Are there scholarships specifically for international students? 

Yes. SCU’s largest international population is Canadian students, and the university offers a dedicated Canadian Scholarship providing up to a 20% tuition discount for F-1 visa students enrolled in the DC program.

That pipeline exists partly because chiropractic seats are scarce north of the border. According to the Federation of Chiropractic Licensing Boards, Canada has only two accredited chiropractic colleges nationwide: the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College in Toronto and Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.

The Trois-Rivières program offers its curriculum in French and caps enrollment at just 47 seats per year, including a maximum of five reserved for French-speaking students living outside Quebec. With so few domestic seats relative to demand, many qualified Canadian applicants look to accredited U.S. programs instead.

Studying at SCU doesn’t close the door on practicing back home. Because SCU’s program is CCE-accredited, its curriculum is designed to prepare graduates for licensure in Canadian provinces as well as U.S. states.

International students should also review SCU’s international student resources for visa and immigration steps that go beyond the scholarship itself.

What lab technology do DC students train with? 

Beyond standard classroom and clinical settings, SCU’s Force Sensing Table Technology (FSTT) lab lets students practice adjustments on tables built with embedded force sensors and on mannequins with flexible, spine-like necks.

The system measures force in three directions, floor-to-ceiling, head-to-toe, and side-to-side, along with pre-thrust tension, adjustment speed, and line of drive, then displays that feedback on a monitor in real time.

FSTT isn’t unique to SCU. A Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario study found the technology is used at roughly 21 chiropractic teaching institutions worldwide.

That same study found students who trained on FSTT improved their adjustment technique after just one two-hour session, with the gains still measurable 5 to 7 months later.

That research also points to a limit worth noting: at least one published pilot study found that force-control improvements measured on mannequins didn’t always carry over directly to adjustments delivered on human patients.

In practice, that makes FSTT most useful as an early feedback and confidence-building tool that complements, rather than replaces, the supervised, real-patient clinical training built into every term of SCU’s program.

What happens if I’m missing a prerequisite course when I apply? 

Applicants who haven’t recently completed Anatomy & Physiology or Chemistry can take SCU’s Accelerated Science courses, self-paced options that let students complete missing prerequisites in as little as five weeks and are prequalified for guaranteed acceptance into the DC program.

Applicants who don’t fully meet the requirement by the time they apply may still be admitted on a contingent basis, provided they complete the coursework before their first week of classes.

SCU’s 7-year recency window for these prerequisites sits toward the more lenient end of the range typically used across health professional school admissions.

According to Princeton’s Health Professions Advising office, medical, physician assistant, and nursing programs commonly set prerequisite expiration windows somewhere between 5 and 10 years, with many advisors citing 5 years as an informal rule of thumb, so a 7-year window lands in the middle of that range rather than as an outlier.

Because recency rules vary widely by school and by program type, applicants with older coursework shouldn’t assume any single policy applies everywhere.

Those uncertain whether their prior credits qualify at SCU can contact an admissions advisor directly, since SCU’s stated policy allows the seven-year requirement to be waived case-by-case for applicants who can show continued, recent use of the material.