CAGS vs Graduate Certificates

[marianne202]

What is the difference between a certificate of advanced graduate studies for those with Master's degrees and regular graduate certificates for those with bachelor's degrees? Aside from the obvious degree level you need to take these courses, what is the difference as far as employer's or schools are concerned? Can a graduate certificate be of value even if you are getting a master's in a related subject area? I want to take a certificate program in healthcare informatics, but I'm going to do my Master's in Healthcare Admin, and while these are two different areas they are related, so is it worth the money for the certificate? I'm just wondering if they are worth spending money on? I teach and the certificate is only 17 hours, so I'm not sure if that would be enough to qualify as a discipline, although my school uses job experience more than education for a lot of areas. I'm hoping someone with some experience with these certificates can shed some light on this for me.

Thanks!

[TMW2010]

There's a few different reasons to get a Grad Cert after getting a masters. They're great for gaining knowledge or focus in both new and related fields to the masters. Sometimes they allow you to go into additional depth of your masters and expand on things you've already learned.

Often a Grad Cert will be utilized to get depth in a distinct area that someone needs to cover for professional reasons, for example Finance or Accounting for someone with a general MBA who wants to focus on one of those fields.

Grad Certificates are a great way for people looking to teach to get required credits under their belt to teach additional subjects. 18 hours credit is what I keep hearing around to cover the requirements for a new subject, and almost all the Grad Certs I've seen are right around 18 hours (though I have seen 1-2 that are around 21 hours).

As far as a Grad Cert in a related field to your Masters, I'd be careful to consider how much overlap there is. I honestly have no clue as far as what Healthcare Informatics entails (and I work pretty closely with Dr's offices and Hospitals for my company's EMR software) but I think the guidelines would be -

• Is it something you're interested in learning (and will you be interested in learning still after busting tail for a Masters)
  
• And will eventual compensation be worthwhile if you're not so interested in it but looking at it to increase your work status?
  

I've considered going after a Grad Cert once I complete my Masters, mainly to expand my knowlege and the range of courses I could teach if I do decide to teach after getting the degree. But I've been looking into have been Certs like History or Literature to complement the Interdisciplinary degree I'm hoping to pursue after November.

*EDIT* Ooooh, so that's what Healthcare informatics is... Hmmm.... It looks pretty specialized compared to the more broad MHA, which I'm sure would cover some of the topics. It looks like its geared towards someone who wants to aim for a CIO-type position in a Hospital setting. I'd think that, yes, the Grad Cert would be beneficial if you're looking to move into that area, or teaching courses that deal with that environ, but how many lower level courses deal specifically in that area? Just curious.