EC School of Health Sciences grads & students

[rashaun35]

I'm looking to enroll into EC HS dual BS/MBA in Health Care management program and am looking to hear from students or grads from the Health Science program to gain somemore insight. Through my search I`ve found that not very many people are enrolled into this program; Does anyone with experience with the program have any idea why?

[rashaun35]

According to EC`s stats only 18 students graduated out of the HS program for 2010. The # of students are even less for previous years. How many if the programs core requirements can be completed via exams? Any insight would be greatly appreciated TIA

[marianne202]

Welcome! I'm in the BSHS at EC and will finish this month. I know of at least one other member here that just finished in August. We both started about the same time. I chose to do the BSHS with a specialization in management. I wanted the MBA bridge you are talking about since I first heard about it at an alumni webinar last year, but when they finally approved it and starting enrolling this month, I would have had to do a lot more classes to get finished with it. So I decided just to stay where I was and finish. So I can't speak to this new program specifically. I will tell you that I had to re-do my schedule several times and didn't finish as quickly as I wanted because EC cancelled two classes several times within a few weeks of registration opening. So my plan had to keep changing, because each class is usually only offered twice a year.

I can tell you that I know they don't have many grads and I doubt many students since they have been waiving the enrollment fee for almost 18 months that I know of, to increase enrollment. I also have seen the same students in most of my classes, with a large number just disappearing after a few weeks. I mean close to half or more drop out. The courses in the BSHS were ok. I did test out of the HR course and the Research methods in psych, so I only took the other 7 core and concentration classes. I had a few horrible teachers who didn't care and didn't put forth any effort. They didn't do any real teaching in the courses either. Their course management system is Blackboard/WebCt based. But I will warn you their courses do have a lot of errors in them. Wrong texts listed, syallabi that don't match the ones listed under the course descriptions when you register. There are errors in the exams and the course content. I also found some instructors didn't even know the course content! Sometimes I would wait 2-3 weeks to get grades and 4-5 days or more to get a response to an email. I did have a few good instructors, but overall, they were not what I would call quality instructors with real world knowledge invested in student success.

Ironically, I was worried that when I got to grad school, I wouldn't be able to handle it because of not really feeling like I learned much at EC. I had heard grad school was just regurgitating undergrad info. but my grad school is actually "teaching" in their online classes and I'm getting much better response and feedback from their instructors. I'm currently in the MHA program at Bellevue University in NE and so far I would highly recommend it.

EC was quick and cheap with the enrollment fee waiver. You do get $15 per credit hour credit towards graduation for all the classes you take with them so that lowers the costs some more, but the classes are expensive, so test out of what you can and if you can take classes locally cheaper for your core and concentration, I would do it and then transfer them in. Just get prior approval. I did get approval for all the classes at a local univerisity, but the local school wasn't accepting any non-degree seeking students and to get accepted I would have had to wait year, so I'm graduating before I could have started there. Overall, I might do EC again, but just realize you may be banging your head against a wall several times along the way. The EC HS school also only had one advisor until a few months ago, so where it would take 2-3 weeks to get a response from my advisor it has now lessened to about 1 week. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. Good luck!

[rashaun35]

Thanks Marianne, for reponding to my post! You gave me a lot of things to think about. I really like the idea of being able to obtain my BS & MBA @ the same time .....however the low numbers of enrollment & rention in the HS program are somewhat of a deterant...... I`d be entering the program with about 60 credits from B&M & was hoping to test out of as many class as I could. How many of your courses were u able to test out of? How long has it taken you to get to where you are now on your journey? Thank you again for sharing your experience

[marianne202]

Rashaun - I started EC 2/09 with 59 credits from B & M schools, as well as 23 EC nursing credits from the 90's. I completed 18 credits via CLEP and DSST in one month to finish my AS, I then enrolled in the BSHS 4/09 and continued testing out with DSST and ECE's as well as started taking my HS core and concentration classes. I then decided since my degree plan was pushed back due to class cancellations to go and get my BSLS so I transfered to the LA school 2/10 and got my BSLS 3/10. Then I moved back to BSHS to finish up my last 3 classes and will finish it this month. So in 20 months I will have finished my AS and two BS degrees. I also started grad school in August. I'm doing an accelerated 18 month MHA, so in a little over 3 years I will go from no degree to four degrees...provided I don't burn out or fail out!

Honestly, I think part of EC's retention problem is a large number of their students are military and aren't paying for their courses, so they just quit when it gets too hard, they change their mind or they get too busy. I know as a college instructor myself, who also teaches online classes, I was very frustrated with the lack of effort put into the course material, updating the courses and having caring, quality instructors. But those issues may not be as visible to others outside academia, who don't know how it should be done. I do know they are supposedly updating the textbooks and course materials, and if done correctly it should help.

I had to take a total of 7 EC UL courses to fulfill my core / concentration requirements, but you could find these locally and you may be able to get them done faster since EC only offers their courses twice a year, so if you miss it you will have to wait at least 6 months, then if they cancel it, you will have to wait again. That is what happened to me with the budget and finance class and the writing class. That is why I moved over and did a quick conferral for the BSLS so I could start grad school in August. I'm so glad I did that. It cost me an additional $250 for another graduation, but it was worth it to me. They only offered two exams to test out of courses, but with the MBA and shift in focus they may have more business classes you can use. The program list should show which classes can be tested out of with ECE's. ECE's are harder and much longer than CLEP / DSST exams, but doable. I do recommend you purchase the practice exams for any ECE you can. They help a lot and are well worth the $65.

Depending on what your long term goals are you can't beat the dual degree. Just keep in mind that that the EC MBA isn't accredited by the two large accrediting bodies. I'm not sure if that will matter to you and your employment goals or not. Keep in mind too that the BSHS has only been around at EC since 2009, as far as I know, and I haven't seen much promotion, so that could also contribute to it's low graduation and retention numbers. I did have probably about 6 good solid students in my last few classes that will finish up probably this year and early next year. The other member here finished his up in about 6 months or so, if I remember correctly.

It is tough to find a program that fits 100% of all our requirements and have a stellar reputation. I spent 6 months doing research to find a good fit for my MHA and I looked at true dual degrees, MBA w/ specialization and straight MHA programs. There are a lot of options out there just do the best research you can and make your decision based on your needs and long term goals. You should do fine regardless of where you go.

Feel free to PM me if you have more questions. I'm happy to help in any way that I can. Good luck!

[rashaun35]

Thanks Marianne, that information helped a bunch......I appreciate the heads up about the MBA accredidation that really makes a difference in my decison about the dual program, as I`m also considering pursuing my Doctorate in Health Admin...............I`m currently preparing my road map so you can def expect to be receiving a pm from me soon.............Im so happy I found this forum because i was @ a LOST on where to began, thank you again

[marianne202]

No problem, I'm happy to help. This forum and its wonderful people have helped me immensely and I'm only too happy to give back if I can. Since I'm almost on the end of the journey you are beginning, so I'm happy to answer any questions I can. This forum is about helping each other and learning along the way. You will find a wealth of help and info here.