MHA with no clinical experience

[mhahopeful2017]

I am currently in undergraduate school and am very interested in pursuing an MHA but I have no clinical experience and a lot of what I have read about an MHA is that it is a degree for nurses who want to move to management. I've read that if it is between someone with no clinical experience and an RN with an MHA the RN will always get the job because they have clinical experience. So what I am wondering is if this degree is even worth pursuing if I am not planning to go into a field that will provide me with clinical experience first? I really do want to join this sector of healthcare but I am worried that I will go through all the schooling, have a mountain of debt, and then be unable to find a well paying job or a job at all even though I have a masters degree in the field. Can anyone offer me some advice, or add their perspective on this subject?

Thank you in advance!

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[Follow the Cairns]

I am not sure of the accuracy of what you've read or heard. An MHA is a degree for people from all backgrounds. I have an MHA (albeit I graduated 20 years ago) and myself and every single one of my classmates came straight from Undergrad and had no clinical experience. A couple of people had 2-3 years of general work experience, but that was it. I am guessing most mid career practitioners who pursue an MHA do so via Executive programs on weekends, or perhaps now, online programs. After all, how many nurses etc can afford to quit their jobs for 2 years and go through a traditional (day) graduate program?

Moreover, after I received my MHA, I worked for 12 years in Healthcare HR Management, and very, very few of the RN's or other mid level managers I knew had MHA's. If they were RN's and had an advanced degree, it was almost always an MSN. If you are talking about future job prospects between two candidates with an MHA, only one of whom has clinical background, then most likely the clinician is going to be preferred. Now, if you are talking about higher level administrators like a VP or "Chief XX Officers" then, yes, many have MHAs or MBAs and most of them have been on the Admin side of things many years by then and their clinical experience was long behind them.

I am sure current or hopeful MHA students can comment on this further and I could be way off about my assumptions about the traditional MHA candidate since I am a bit of a 'dinosaur' by this point.

 

[Emma1600]

I am currently in undergraduate school and am very interested in pursuing an MHA but I have no clinical experience and a lot of what I have read about an MHA is that it is a degree for nurses who want to move to management. I've read that if it is between someone with no clinical experience and an RN with an MHA the RN will always get the job because they have clinical experience. So what I am wondering is if this degree is even worth pursuing if I am not planning to go into a field that will provide me with clinical experience first? I really do want to join this sector of healthcare but I am worried that I will go through all the schooling, have a mountain of debt, and then be unable to find a well paying job or a job at all even though I have a masters degree in the field. Can anyone offer me some advice, or add their perspective on this subject?

Thank you in advance!

Most current MHA students do not have clinical work experience. In fact, they are the minority in my program. However, the majority of my classmates have postgraduate work experience. This varies by program and if you would rather go straight into an MHA program from college and have a high GPA you will have a decent chance (at some more so than others).

 

[MHA Pursuit USA. YAY/NAY]

I am not sure of the accuracy of what you've read or heard. An MHA is a degree for people from all backgrounds. I have an MHA (albeit I graduated 20 years ago) and myself and every single one of my classmates came straight from Undergrad and had no clinical experience. A couple of people had 2-3 years of general work experience, but that was it. I am guessing most mid career practitioners who pursue an MHA do so via Executive programs on weekends, or perhaps now, online programs. After all, how many nurses etc can afford to quit their jobs for 2 years and go through a traditional (day) graduate program?

Moreover, after I received my MHA, I worked for 12 years in Healthcare HR Management, and very, very few of the RN's or other mid level managers I knew had MHA's. If they were RN's and had an advanced degree, it was almost always an MSN. If you are talking about future job prospects between two candidates with an MHA, only one of whom has clinical background, then most likely the clinician is going to be preferred. Now, if you are talking about higher level administrators like a VP or "Chief XX Officers" then, yes, many have MHAs or MBAs and most of them have been on the Admin side of things many years by then and their clinical experience was long behind them.

I am sure current or hopeful MHA students can comment on this further and I could be way off about my assumptions about the traditional MHA candidate since I am a bit of a 'dinosaur' by this point.

Hi there,

I'm a specialist Dentist from India. Currently interested in doing MHA in the USA. Over the last 5 days, I've done extensive research into the Universities, their fees, accreditation, duration, placement rates etc.

While all the Universities claim to have a placement rate of over 90% in 3 months of graduation, this thread is the ONLY place I've read so far, that describes the ground reality of the situation there. As a few responses above have held, I'm beginning to doubt the job prospects International students have post-MHA in the USA.

Having said that, do we know the exact educational background of these struggling individuals? Will someone with 2 Master's degrees (MDS and MHA) face the same job crunch as those graduates fresh out of MHA, but without a prior Master's in Medicine/Dentistry/Nursing? If US citizens themselves are saying there's shortage of jobs, is it correct to assume that an International Graduate may not actually find a job, and be kicked out of the country after graduating?

It's tough to answer my question, I know. But I'd like to hear from you guys. Am I taking a risky plunge of spending $50,000 - $80,000 only to find employers preferring Green card holders and US citizens? Is the situation that bad?

Feel free to PM me as well.

Thanks