Healthcare management is one of the most lucrative career paths available, as even the lowest 10% of workers in this field can earn as much as $60,779 (over ten thousand dollars more than the average salary for all occupations), and the highest 10% earn more than $205,620. This guide will explain why attending a selective college can help you reach the top end of that range, and we’ll show you how to save as much money as possible on your healthcare management degree program as well.
What Makes a College Selective?
According to U.S. News & World Report, the average acceptance rate for colleges in the United States is 70.1%. It’s important to keep in mind that getting into one of the nation’s top schools is quite difficult, though. The Ivy League universities, Stanford, and MIT are among the most selective options, with acceptance rates consistently below 10%. Even some public colleges are hard to get into, such as UCLA (Fall 2021 acceptance rate of 11%), UC Berkeley (15%), Georgia Tech (18%), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (19%).
As with most colleges, these highly selective schools tend to focus on the following areas when deciding on which applicants will make the cut:
- GPA: To get into a top school, you’ll likely need a weighted GPA of over 4.0. That means, in addition to earning near-perfect grades, you must take the most advanced courses available at the high school level (i.e., AP or IB courses).
- Standardized testing: While colleges don’t care as much about SAT and ACT scores as they used to (many don’t even require you to submit such scores these days), impressive test results can still help you stand out from other applicants and get accepted into your dream school. The average SAT score overall is 1088, while the average SAT score at Harvard is 1494.
- Extracurriculars: Aside from good grades and high test scores, students with athletic accomplishments, volunteer work, and other extracurricular activities can demonstrate that they are capable of excelling both inside and outside of the classroom.
- Personal essay: The personal essay gives you a chance to express your personality, tell your story, and show why you’re a good match for the university. It also allows you to showcase your writing abilities, an essential skill for all college students regardless of their major.
- Letters of recommendation: This portion of your application is especially important for elite colleges, as you’ll likely be competing against many similarly qualified students for the same spot. Glowing reviews from former teachers and counselors just might be enough to put you over the edge.
What Are the Benefits of Attending a Selective College?
Attending a selective school will look impressive on your resume, and it can provide networking opportunities that will help you advance your career later on down the road. However, it takes a lot of effort to meet their admissions standards, and these institutions often charge higher tuition rates than the average college.
In 2021, Northwestern University published a report on the relationship between college selectivity (as measured by the average SAT scores of accepted applicants) and the career earnings of students. In general, selectivity was more important for math-intensive majors than writing-intensive majors in relation to future earnings. However, their findings were dependent on the major selected by the student.
One of the specific industries Northwestern analyzed was Health (including medicine, pharmacy, health services administration, etc.). According to the study, “at schools whose selectivity is below the median, Health major earnings are below the median earnings for college graduates… at higher selectivity schools, Health major earnings are above the median.” While attending a selective college may not make a big difference for everyone, it certainly seems to have significant career benefits for those majoring in healthcare management.
How To Reduce the Cost of Your Healthcare Management Degree
Selective colleges tend to be expensive, but this isn’t always the case. You can save money by attending a selective college that happens to be a public institution — the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that public four-year universities have an average tuition of $9,400. In contrast, private nonprofit four-year universities have an average tuition of $37,600.
Once you’ve decided on a school, see if they offer ways to cut costs. Some colleges charge full-time students a lower tuition rate than part-time students. Also, you may be able to access work-study opportunities at your school. While the income from these part-time jobs is not typically applied directly to tuition and fees, you can use it to help cover your day-to-day expenses as a student.
Finally, regardless of which school you attend, you should apply for any healthcare management scholarships that you may qualify for. Many options are available, including the Corris Boyd Scholars Program (one recipient is awarded $40,000 annually) and the David A. Winston Health Policy Scholarship (up to 20 recipients are awarded $10,000).
Our Research
This list features some of the country’s most affordable selective colleges for healthcare management. Each school featured is a nonprofit, accredited institution, either public or private, with a high standard of academic quality for post-secondary institutions.
We evaluated each school’s program on tuition costs, admission, retention and graduation rates, faculty, and reputation. Then, we calculated the Intelligent Score on a scale of 0 to 100. Read more about our ranking methodology.
Next, we compared this comprehensive list of the most affordable selective colleges for healthcare management to a list of aggregated college rankings from reputable publications, such as U.S. News & World Report, to simplify a student’s college search. We pored through these rankings so students don’t have to.
The 50 Most Affordable Selective Colleges for Healthcare Management
