Admissions
Strong quantitative and communication skills are essential. Prior experience in health care is not required; however, the MHA program does give consideration to applicants with relevant professional work experience, superior credentials, and demonstrated leadership potential.
Effective for the 2020-2021 application cycle, SPH is not requiring the GRE for all master’s and doctoral degree programs. Learn more about our decision regarding the GRE.
Admissions Requirements
- Preferred undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher
- Letter of intent
- Resume
- Transcripts
- Three letters of recommendation
- TOEFL score of 600 on paper test or 250 on computer test or 90 on internet-based test for applicants whose native language is not English
The Minnesota Timeline
- Submit your application in SOPHAS
- Program receives completed application from SOPHAS in 4-6 weeks after submission.
- Program reviews application and determines if applicant moves to interview stage.
- Applicant is invited to on campus interview.
- Admissions committee makes final admission decision, program will notify candidate of outcome.
On campus interview dates: December 6
Preparing to Apply
Applicants are advised to prepare for the program’s finance and statistics coursework. The faculty highly recommend the following coursework prior to matriculation:
- Statistics
- Accounting
- Microeconomics
- Applicants are encouraged to obtain health care and/or relevant work experience.
Exploring the Field
Prospective students are encouraged to explore the field of health care management, learning about the field, talking with managers in the field and developing a sense of their goals. Applicants are asked in the admissions interview about their career goals. Applicants with a clear sense of career goals, and what they can contribute to the field, receive a strong recommendation.
The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) website is a good place to begin your research, listing both the various healthcare settings and functional areas in which managers work.
The Association for University Programs in Health Administration (AUPHA) offers prospective students the resources for exploring the field and finding programs of study.
Gain Experience
Examples of student preparatory experiences:
- Admissions in a hospital emergency room
- Nursing aide in a long term care center
- Volunteer at local hospital – wheeling patients to and from surgery
- Assistant researcher at a cancer center
- Transcription support technician at a local hospital
- Clinic office manager
- Administrative internship
Do Your Homework
Books and journals:
- Being Mortal, Atul Gwande
- The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gwande
- How Doctors Think, Jerome Groopman
- Where Does it Hurt? An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Fixing Health Care, Jonathon Bush
- The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age, Robert Wachter
- Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results, Michael E. Porter
- The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care, T. R. Reid
- America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals, and the Fight to Fix our Broken Healthcare System, Steven Brill
- Internal Bleeding: The Truth Behind America’s Terrifying Epidemic of Medical Mistakes, Robert Wachter and Kaveh Shojania
- Crossing the Quality Chasm, Institute of Medicine
Professional Association Websites:
- Healthcare Consulting – American Association of Healthcare Consultants
- Hospital Administration – American Hospital Association
- Healthcare Finance – Healthcare Financial Management Association
- Information Management – Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
- Managed Care – America’s Health Insurance Plans
- Practice Management – Medical Group Management Association
- Public Health – American Public Health Association
- U.S. Health Policy – Kaiser Family Foundation
