Graduate Applications
Over the past several years, we have anecdotally seen and heard that health administration programs have received fewer applications. The rumor mill often has a grain of truth but can be misleading. AUPHA reached out to all graduate members programs to learn more about their application, offer and matriculation volume over the past two years. We thank the 37 programs (23 CAHME accredited) who responded.
What did we find?
- Applications declined a little less than 12% from 2018 to 2019.
- Offers and Matriculants appear unchanged in the two years.
- Programs without CAHME Accreditation accounted for most of the decline in applications and experienced declines in offers extended
The chart below presents the medians for applications, offers and matriculants during the periods. When looking at the aggregate, application volume has indeed decreased over the past year within this group of programs. Median number of applications fell from 68 to 60 or about 12 percent from 2018 to 2019 with CAHME Accredited programs reporting a slight increase. Non-CAHME accredited programs reported a 24% decline in the median number of applications. Offers stayed the same overall from 2018 to 2019 at 38, however, non-CAHME programs made fewer offers, consistent with the decline in applications. Matriculants stayed the same in both years.
Median Number of Applications, Offers and Matriculants for Reporting Programs: 2018 and 2019
|
PROGRAM TYPE
|
APPLICATIONS
|
OFFERS
|
MATRICULANTS
|
|
2019
|
2018
|
2019
|
2018
|
2019
|
2018
|
|
CAHME Accredited
|
65
|
63
|
36
|
34
|
22
|
22
|
|
Non-CAHME
|
60
|
79
|
41
|
49
|
35
|
35
|
|
Overall
|
60
|
68
|
38
|
38
|
22
|
23
|
If we take a closer look at how individual programs are affected, we find similar outcomes. Between 2018 and 2019, 69 percent of programs saw a contraction in application volume. Smaller proportions made fewer offers (56%) and fewer matriculants (50%). In terms of CAHME accreditation status, a similar proportion of accredited and unaccredited programs endured an application decrease. However, a majority of accredited programs increased the number of offers and matriculants from 2018 to 2019. On the contrary, significant majorities of unaccredited schools had fewer offers and matriculants for this period.
Percentage of Programs Experiencing a Decrease from 2018 to 2019
|
PROGRAM TYPE
|
APPLICATIONS
|
OFFERS
|
MATRICULANTS
|
|
CAHME Accredited
|
68%
|
46%
|
41%
|
|
Non-CAHME Accredited
|
70%
|
80%
|
70%
|
|
Overall
|
69%
|
56%
|
50%
|
Even though this is a small dataset, our initial suspicions of thinning application volume seem to be partially confirmed. However, the positive aspect here is that these programs have held strong and on average continued to receive a similar numbers of students to study at their schools. On the surface, this short study also seems to support the ability of having CAHME accreditation to attract students. Despite the fact that we have found some promising insights, AUPHA must continue to track these trends over the next several years. Demographics have decreased the number of traditional undergraduate students nationwide suggesting graduate numbers will decrease as well. If application numbers continue to decrease, it will inevitably become more difficult for programs to maintain their size without some sacrifice in admissions standards.
Mark and Jerry