2020 MHA: Applied, Interviewed, Rejected, Attending

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Thank you! @InquiringStudent
I interviewed with them on 7th of Jan and I can't wait for them to get back to me!!!
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m_kuh98 said:
School: University of Wisconsin-Madison
GPA: 3.517
GRE: 156 V 168 Q 5.0 W
Major: Psychology; Minors in Business, Global Health, and Leadership
Experience: Currently have role as a Benefits and Well-Being Intern; President of campus chapter of Partners in Health; conduct research in a lab focused on intergroup relations and bias

Applied: Ohio State (11/12), University of Minnesota (11/12), St. Louis University (11/12), University of Pittsburgh (11/12), Indiana University (11/12)
Interview: Minnesota (12/6), Pitt (12/10), OSU (1/10), Indiana (declined), SLU (declined)
Waitlist:
Rejected:
Accepted: Pitt (12/10), Minnesota (12/13), OSU (1/13)
Attending:
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Which program are you thinking of attending?
 
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CEO-B said:
Which program are you thinking of attending?
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I'm leaning really strongly towards Minnesota; I got good financial aid there and absolutely loved the program on interview day! Ohio State doesn't give out financial aid offers until mid-March, so that will probably be my deciding factor.
 
m_kuh98 said:
I'm leaning really strongly towards Minnesota; I got good financial aid there and absolutely loved the program on interview day! Ohio State doesn't give out financial aid offers until mid-March, so that will probably be my deciding factor.
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Okay! What are your thoughts on Pitt?
 
CEO-B said:
Okay! What are your thoughts on Pitt?
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I think their director Dr. Broom sounded like he has a great vision for the program! Based on my conversation with him it sounds like he's already been able to make the program more dynamic and student-centered in the past year or two that he's been with Pitt. It seems like a great school that realizes its space for improvement and wants to bridge that gap, but I just don't think it is the right fit for me personally because of the location of their alumni network
 
mha2 said:
Hi, everyone! I absolutely hate asking this question but this is the only factor that is preventing me from deciding on a program.

Does the brand name of a school matter? A little background about me: I'm hoping to pursue an Administrative Fellowship. I'm open to any location, but hoping to be placed amongst a few hospitals. While I know U.S. News is "peer-reviewed," I can't get past turning down a "brand name" school.

Any advice? If I'm being irrational, please also tell me that haha! I'm open to any thoughts and/or advice!
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I dont think you are being irrational at all! Which programs are you deciding between?
 
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mha2 said:
Hi, everyone! I absolutely hate asking this question but this is the only factor that is preventing me from deciding on a program.

Does the brand name of a school matter? A little background about me: I'm hoping to pursue an Administrative Fellowship. I'm open to any location, but hoping to be placed amongst a few hospitals. While I know U.S. News is "peer-reviewed," I can't get past turning down a "brand name" school.

Any advice? If I'm being irrational, please also tell me that haha! I'm open to any thoughts and/or advice!
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Brand name shouldn't really be a big deciding factor, though sometimes brand is correlated with alumni and work connections which are really important. Choose whatever school has the most connections and chances for success to get you to work in whatever hospital/geographic region you want after graduating. I highly recommend looking up students/alumni of various schools on LinkedIn to see where they are working now-- that made a huge difference for me. U.S. News is pretty arbitrary anyways. :p


mha2 said:
Accepted: JHU MHA, UNC MHA, Rush MSHA, Michigan MHSA, Cornell MHA, Minnesota MHA

Still waiting for Columbia MHA decision!

I'm trying to narrow it down, but I think my top choices are Minnesota, Rush, Michigan, and Cornell.
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Those are all really great schools-- congrats! Is any school significantly cheaper than the rest? Do any of them have ties to hospitals/fellowships you are interested in? I'd say these are all pretty established in the field, and honestly they all could be classified as brand name schools too.
 
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mha2 said:
Hi, everyone! I absolutely hate asking this question but this is the only factor that is preventing me from deciding on a program.

Does the brand name of a school matter? A little background about me: I'm hoping to pursue an Administrative Fellowship. I'm open to any location, but hoping to be placed amongst a few hospitals. While I know U.S. News is "peer-reviewed," I can't get past turning down a "brand name" school.

Any advice? If I'm being irrational, please also tell me that haha! I'm open to any thoughts and/or advice!
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With all of the schools you have listed in The subsequent post, they are all really solid schools. I don’t really trust school rankings from places like US news because it’s subjective and it doesn’t consider all of the factors we students value (research, networking, etc.) for our field properly/fairly. Not to say it’s useless since it does gauge how people generally view/perceive your school from the outside looking in.

Location, student life, networking, research/work opportunities, hospital/agencies connection, financial aid, etc. The brand name is important but not compared to these factors. I would just look at things holistically. It’s really hard to separate the reputation and brand power from your choices, I’ve been in that boat many times. But consider everything, and see if one of the choices is right for you.
 
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mha2 said:
Hi, everyone! I absolutely hate asking this question but this is the only factor that is preventing me from deciding on a program.

Does the brand name of a school matter? A little background about me: I'm hoping to pursue an Administrative Fellowship. I'm open to any location, but hoping to be placed amongst a few hospitals. While I know U.S. News is "peer-reviewed," I can't get past turning down a "brand name" school.

Any advice? If I'm being irrational, please also tell me that haha! I'm open to any thoughts and/or advice!
Click to expand...

I ASKED this question a lot and have also answered this question quite a bit now. When I was first applying I was drawn to the allure of the "brand" name of a program. I can tell you now that it really does NOT matter. As long as your school is in the top 15 (rank wise) you are honestly just fine. Pick the school that best fits your needs. What are you looking for? What sort of career do you see yourself taking? Are you interested in consulting? Then you should look at schools that may be able to assist you in that. Are you looking for a school with a really robust alumni network? Then you should look for that. What I'm getting at is each school has their strengths/weaknesses and based on your interviews and research you can identify those. If you'd like to talk more in depth I can provide my insight but as I always say to anyone I help, take what I say with a grain of salt.

These are just my two cents, but being in a MHA program and graduating in a few months I've seen many people from well known programs do amazing and just as many from lesser known schools land amazing fellowships. It really doesn't make an impact.
 
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Has anyone interviewed with Michigan and can talk a little about what the interview is like?
 
Mha808 said:
Has anyone interviewed with Michigan and can talk a little about what the interview is like?
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I interviewed with them last week.It was a phone interview. Pretty straight forward just the basic questions about my career goals and how I decided to pursue MHA. It was a pretty relaxed interview.
 
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Does anyone know about Columbias reputation in terms of job placement and alumni networking? I’m looking to end up in CA
 
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I have been invited to University of Washington Visit Day. They mentioned there will be a case study and group interviews. Have you heard more about this from previous years?
 
CEO-B said:
I have been invited to University of Washington Visit Day. They mentioned there will be a case study and group interviews. Have you heard more about this from previous years?
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Same - see you there! A friend of a friend went through the program, I'm reaching out to him and getting some advice on what to expect, I'm happy to send you a message when I hear back. I went to the UW for undergrad, it's a fantastic school, beautiful campus!
 
PublicHealthGal12345 said:
Does anyone know about Columbias reputation in terms of job placement and alumni networking? I’m looking to end up in CA
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Looks like they had internship placements in CA! Im looking into this as well, and I was comforted seeing that there are placements over here.
 
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bonbonsdogmom said:
Same - see you there! A friend of a friend went through the program, I'm reaching out to him and getting some advice on what to expect, I'm happy to send you a message when I hear back. I went to the UW for undergrad, it's a fantastic school, beautiful campus!
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Hey! I am from Cali and was also invited to the visit day for UW. Would you also mind letting me know anything that can help me? Also if it would be a mark against me if I don't have the means to go up to UW for the day? Thanks!
 
mhaprospect said:
Hey! I am from Cali and was also invited to the visit day for UW. Would you also mind letting me know anything that can help me? Also if it would be a mark against me if I don't have the means to go up to UW for the day? Thanks!
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Sure thing! I would reach out directly to the program for that latter half of your request though!
 
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Hello everyone! I need some advice on deciding between BU MPH-HCM program (+35% tuition scholarship) and GWU mha program (no word on fin. aid yet). Any insights would be appreciated.
 
mhaprospect said:
Hello everyone! I need some advice on deciding between BU MPH-HCM program (+35% tuition scholarship) and GWU mha program (no word on fin. aid yet). Any insights would be appreciated.
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It'll be hard for people to offer you a well researched answer unless you provide what you are looking to get out of each program and what your goals are for your career post-graduation. Tuition costs are important but you also want to make sure to consider a program that suits your learning style, your aspirations, and your career interests.
 
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InquiringStudent said:
It'll be hard for people to offer you a well researched answer unless you provide what you are looking to get out of each program and what your goals are for your career post-graduation. Tuition costs are important but you also want to make sure to consider a program that suits your learning style, your aspirations, and your career interests.
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I want a program that will give me better job placement/salary right after graduation. ROI is important especially if I will in debt. I would ideally likeIn terms of careers I see myself more on the administration side within hospitals but I am also considering consulting (I also still like the idea of doing research on health disparities). I would also like smaller/medium sized programs that would allow me to really get involved and make better connections. I am still waiting on other schools I applied to( mainly USC and UCLA) but I just wanted others input on these two programs.
 
mhaprospect said:
I want a program that will give me better job placement/salary right after graduation. ROI is important especially if I will in debt. I would ideally likeIn terms of careers I see myself more on the administration side within hospitals but I am also considering consulting (I also still like the idea of doing research on health disparities). I would also like smaller/medium sized programs that would allow me to really get involved and make better connections. I am still waiting on other schools I applied to( mainly USC and UCLA) but I just wanted others input on these two programs.
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I'm assuming when you say BU it's Boston University. I personally did not like Boston University (I applied to them and got in as well). It didn't sit well with me that they accepted me without an interview. It gave off the perception they were accepting people without really seeing what type of fit they would be in their program. I did like GWU when I interviewed with them. From what I have heard, they have good networking with hospitals etc especially because they are near DC. I would look and see if the programs offer you some sort of stat sheet to look at where people end up placing once they graduate. One thing I will mention is BEWARE if they offer a limited view (as in offering you where select people placed), that indicates not everyone did well.

Does that make sense what I said? If not, let me know and I can go into more detail. For example: Residency Experience

Only reason I'm including Hopkins is because it is my program and I know where the link is. Not advertising it by any means but wanted to provide an example of including placements etc to help provide a picture of where people placed.
 
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InquiringStudent said:
I'm assuming when you say BU it's Boston University. I personally did not like Boston University (I applied to them and got in as well). It didn't sit well with me that they accepted me without an interview. It gave off the perception they were accepting people without really seeing what type of fit they would be in their program. I did like GWU when I interviewed with them. From what I have heard, they have good networking with hospitals etc especially because they are near DC. I would look and see if the programs offer you some sort of stat sheet to look at where people end up placing once they graduate. One thing I will mention is BEWARE if they offer a limited view (as in offering you where select people placed), that indicates not everyone did well.

Does that make sense what I said? If not, let me know and I can go into more detail. For example: Residency Experience

Only reason I'm including Hopkins is because it is my program and I know where the link is. Not advertising it by any means but wanted to provide an example of including placements etc to help provide a picture of where people placed.
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What is your experience/knowledge about the Yale HCM and UCLA HPM program?

I am interested in pursuing an administrative fellowship and eventually returning back to CA.
 
Hi everyone!

I'm trying to decide between Pitt's MHA program and Emory's MPH in Health Policy and Management. After graduation, I want to get an administrative fellowship and then hopefully get an administrative job at a hospital. Do you guys know what program might be better for that goal? I know someone at Emory who did the MPH program and said it was easy to get an administrative job at Emory afterwards, but I wasn't sure if it's because he stayed within Emory. Does MHA offer more opportunities?

Thanks in advance!
 
Hey all, for those of you who have already committed to a school and program, what are your next steps from here?

- Are you waiting for the school to reach out and guide you through the next steps, or are you doing everything by yourself?
- Will you be going to the admitted students visit day to scout the area, environment, etc.?
- If the school has on-campus grad. housing, will you be applying soon (since spots are probably limited)? If not, when/how soon do you plan to start off-campus apartment hunting?
- Are there any interesting things you'll be doing or learning before you start school?
- How are you approaching paying for the financial component of your school? (Don't have to answer w/ any personal details if you feel uncomfortable!)

There are so many steps involved after officially committing that it can be a little stressful/confusing at times, so I just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on how they're personally approaching this.

Also, if you've already been through this entire process as a current student, please feel free to shed some light and provide your inputs!
 
OSUbuckeye2020 said:
Hi everyone!

I'm trying to decide between Pitt's MHA program and Emory's MPH in Health Policy and Management. After graduation, I want to get an administrative fellowship and then hopefully get an administrative job at a hospital. Do you guys know what program might be better for that goal? I know someone at Emory who did the MPH program and said it was easy to get an administrative job at Emory afterwards, but I wasn't sure if it's because he stayed within Emory. Does MHA offer more opportunities?
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For Pitt, I know their tuition is higher than most MHA programs, but they've got some really great funding opportunities to offset that cost, ultimately making that overall COA more affordable. They've got more funding than some of the private top tier programs I've been accepted into, which offer practically next to nothing. Emory has also got some great funding from what I've heard.

If you know more about these programs, please feel free to correct me, but I think both of them are regional schools. They do have out of state opportunities like any other school, but they've got high placement rates within their geographic region. If I recall, Emory had like a 70-80% placement rate in the Southeast region with only like a 5-7% rate in the east and west coast. It's great if you know you want to be in that region post-grad., but if you're looking to move outside of that region, it could be a little difficult. Pitt has really been on an upwards trajectory in the last few years - heard some good things about their program.

Do you know where specifically you'd like to get an admin. fellowship from? If you've got specific hospitals in mind, then you can easily check both programs and see if they've placed students there in the past. It'll also help you narrow down on which school is better for you. If you don't have anything specific in mind, then you might want to consider some other factors like the region, school environment, funding, networking opp., etc.

As far as the MPH in HCM vs. MHA debate goes, I honestly don't know if there is a right answer to this. I've heard some say that people are more familiar w/ the MHA in our line of work over the MPH, but then I've also heard from others that it really doesn't matter and that you can be equally (if not more successful) with an MPH. I know the MPH degree is quite oversaturated, but I'm not sure if the health management concentration is also affected by this. Hopefully someone else has a better answer lol
 
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AlwaysLate said:
For Pitt, I know their tuition is higher than most MHA programs, but they've got some really great funding opportunities to offset that cost, ultimately making that overall COA more affordable. They've got more funding than some of the private top tier programs I've been accepted into, which offer practically next to nothing. Emory has also got some great funding from what I've heard.

If you know more about these programs, please feel free to correct me, but I think both of them are regional schools. They do have out of state opportunities like any other school, but they've got high placement rates within their geographic region. If I recall, Emory had like a 70-80% placement rate in the Southeast region with only like a 5-7% rate in the east and west coast. It's great if you know you want to be in that region post-grad., but if you're looking to move outside of that region, it could be a little difficult. Pitt has really been on an upwards trajectory in the last few years - heard some good things about their program.

Do you know where specifically you'd like to get an admin. fellowship from? If you've got specific hospitals in mind, then you can easily check both programs and see if they've placed students there in the past. It'll also help you narrow down on which school is better for you. If you don't have anything specific in mind, then you might want to consider some other factors like the region, school environment, funding, networking opp., etc.

As far as the MPH in HCM vs. MHA debate goes, I honestly don't know if there is a right answer to this. I've heard some say that people are more familiar w/ the MHA in our line of work over the MPH, but then I've also heard from others that it really doesn't matter and that you can be equally (if not more successful) with an MPH. I know the MPH degree is quite oversaturated, but I'm not sure if the health management concentration is also affected by this. Hopefully someone else has a better answer lol
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Great points! I do want to mention that the 5-7% may not be because it is difficult to move outside that region but instead that more people that live close to Emory and want to be in that region apply to that school.
 
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monkeym8 said:
What is your experience/knowledge about the Yale HCM and UCLA HPM program?

I am interested in pursuing an administrative fellowship and eventually returning back to CA.
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I've heard great things about Yale, haven't really heard much about UCLA. That doesn't mean the program isn't good, just means my knowledge of it is extremely limited. Have you looked into what their class size is? Where students end up? Etc.
 
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Wow Cornell interview definitely had some intense questions, but at the same time was pretty laid back. Has everyone already heard back from them?? I think I am apart of a second round of admissions because I was told I'd hear back around Feb 21st despite the original Jan 31st date.
 
mack999 said:
Wow Cornell interview definitely had some intense questions, but at the same time was pretty laid back. Has everyone already heard back from them?? I think I am apart of a second round of admissions because I was told I'd hear back around Feb 21st despite the original Jan 31st date.
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Hey! I have mine tomorrow and was wondering if you would be willing to share any advice?
 
mha2 said:
Accepted: JHU MHA, UNC MHA, Rush MSHA, Michigan MHSA, Cornell MHA, Minnesota MHA

Still waiting for Columbia MHA decision!

I'm trying to narrow it down, but I think my top choices are Minnesota, Rush, and Cornell.
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How long did Rush give you to respond to their offer?
 
GeorgiaPeach108 said:
Anyone receive and email for an interview at UNC or had one yet? If so, how was it?
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Yes! I applied in early January and interviewed this past week. The interview was very casual with one faculty member and one 2nd year student. Be prepared to answer why UNC, why MHA, a couple team behavioral questions, what skills you bring to team settings, and maybe a couple specific questions relevant to your previous healthcare experience. Also bring some prepared questions for them, as they give you ample time to fire away. Everyone was very friendly and helped put me and the other candidates at ease.
 
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MHA2020_CA said:
Yes! I applied in early January and interviewed this past week. The interview was very casual with one faculty member and one 2nd year student. Be prepared to answer why UNC, why MHA, a couple team behavioral questions, what skills you bring to team settings, and maybe a couple specific questions relevant to your previous healthcare experience. Also bring some prepared questions for them, as they give you ample time to fire away. Everyone was very friendly and helped put me and the other candidates at ease.
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Awesome!! Thank you so much! Good luck to you! I hope you receive an acceptance.
 
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