BS in Healthcare Administration is OPEN!

[bjcheung77]

Basically, I think people who want to manage a health/hospital unit or even the entire hospital system, should start from some health related profession and move up the ranks... Essentially, I usually mention the balanced mix/match of cert, degree, experience, before you apply for any management position, as those hiring are looking for a well rounded individual (yes, even if you're overweight like me, your rounded tummy will get you somewhere). Similarly, I believe it's for most professions, from traditional trades to anything, they want you to know your stuff before you can actually go into management...

[Mint Berry Crunch]

I had been anticipating this degree plan for a while now. I was a student before at WGU for the B.S. Healthcare Admin - I wonder if any of the courses will transfer in towards it. I might have to reach out and check. I think I completed 4 of 10 at WGU (though I needed to do some other courses there). I'd like to see what UMPI would take here.

[glammie83]

Basically, I think people who want to manage a health/hospital unit or even the entire hospital system, should start from some health related profession and move up the ranks... Essentially, I usually mention the balanced mix/match of cert, degree, experience, before you apply for any management position, as those hiring are looking for a well rounded individual (yes, even if you're overweight like me, your rounded tummy will get you somewhere).  Similarly, I believe it's for most professions, from traditional trades to anything, they want you to know your stuff before you can actually go into management...

Jumping into this thread rather than starting a new one since it's the same degree, hope that's alright.

bjcheung77, your AAS > BAS > HCA suggestion is the first thing I've seen that actually addresses the 60+ untransferable credits problem, and it lines up with what I've been finding on my own. My situation is the same target degree but I'm missing the piece that makes your pathway work.

I'm helping my sister plan this out. Details:

**Prior credits:** 16 credits from WV State University, Fall 2004 to Spring 2005, 3.06 GPA. ENGL 101 (B), MUS 107 Appreciation of Music ©, COMM 101 Intro to Mass Comm (B), COMM 140 Film Appreciation (B), COMM 195 Journalism Lab (1cr, A), COLL 101 College 101 (A). Six other courses show as withdrawn, no credit. **No associate's degree of any kind**, which is where your pathway breaks for us since the BAS requires an AAS for admission.

**Status:** Has not applied to UMPI yet, so she'd land on the GLO catalog rather than GEC. Age 20+, GPA clears the 1.75 minimum.

**In progress at Sophia:** Environmental Science, Introduction to Psychology.

**Mapped so far (52 credits across three providers):**
- Sophia, 11 courses / 34cr: Env Science (ENV 110), Intro Psych (PSY 100), Intro Statistics (MAT 201), Lifespan Development (PSY 205), Intro Ethics (PHI 152), US History I (HTY 161), English Comp II (ENG 121), English Comp I (ENG 101, may be covered by WVSU), Human Biology + Lab (BIO 105, mapping still tentative), plus 2 gen ed fillers
- Study.com, 5 courses / 15cr: Health 101 > HEA 101, Health 103 > HEA 102, Health 307 > HEA 301 (upper), Health 301 > HEA 401 (upper), Psychology 104 > PSY 200
- StraighterLine, 1 course / 3cr: Organizational Communication > BUS 210

That leaves roughly 68 credits at UMPI, which matches your 60+ figure. The blocks with no transfer route I can find are the 27-credit Community Health concentration, the 12-credit business elective block, GLO 4 Creative Expression, GLO 8 Integrative Learning, HEA 110/310/360/362/364/405, PSY 311, SWK 202, and GEO 101 or SWK 105.

**Goal:** cheapest and fastest route to the HCA BS. No grad school plans, so GPA doesn't need protecting. Open to CLEP and DSST, we'd ruled them out earlier for reasons that no longer apply.

Questions:

1. Without an AAS, does BLS > HCA accomplish the same thing your AAS > BAS > HCA route does? UMPI's own site points people without an AAS toward Liberal Studies as the flexible option, so I'm wondering if that's the substitute.

2. If so, can the 30 UMPI residency credits for the BLS be HEA and Community Health courses that also count toward the HCA, or does UMPI's second-degree policy require 30 additional credits that can't overlap? That's the whole question of whether it's really two degrees for the price of one in our case.

3. Does the 12-credit business elective block in the HCA accept any transfer BUS course, or is it a named list of UMPI-only courses? That's 12 credits and nobody seems to have confirmed it either way.

4. Is there any known transfer route into the Community Health concentration courses? Everything I've checked says no, but I'd rather hear it from someone who has looked.

5. Is chasing a cheap AAS first worth it to unlock the BAS route? I saw the note that Pierpont BOG got harder with the Fall 2024 residency change, so I'm guessing no, but figured I'd ask.

Happy to fill out the full template if that's more useful. Thanks in advance, this forum has already saved us from a $936 Coursera plan that would have landed almost nowhere in this degree.

[ss20ts]

Make sure you're following the NEW GEC for UMPI. It changed this fall. Also double check the Sophia courses to make sure they will still transfer as needed. Some courses changed with the GEC changes.

The second degree policy requires a student to take an additional 30 credits at UMPI after their first degree has been conferred by UMPI.

I wouldn't worry about the BLS or BAS if the goal is the BS in Healthcare Administration. I would focus on this degree. A BLS or BAS won't matter to an employer compared to the BS in Healthcare Admin.