5 GREAT UNDERGRAD DEGREES FOR A MASTER'S IN HEALTH ADMINISTRATION

Master's in Health Administration Undergrad Degrees

• Bachelor of Science Degree in Healthcare Administration
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Information Management
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Health Administration
• Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration

While it's possible to obtain a solid healthcare job with only a bachelor's degree in hand, a master's in health administration is the typical prerequisite for the most prestigious and lucrative positions in the field of medical administration. If you've set your sights on someday obtaining an impressive job title such as director of clinical services, director of medical services, chief nursing officer or hospital director, your first step in the process is obtaining an undergraduate degree.

The question remains: Which degree should you work towards? Let's discuss 5 of the most common undergraduate degrees that would give you a great foundation for going on to study health administration at the graduate level.

Related: Top 15 Cheap Healthcare Administration Master's Degree Online Programs

1. Bachelor of Science Degree in Healthcare Administration

If you know from the start that you want to work as a manager in the healthcare industry, it would be a sensible to pick healthcare administration as your major course of study. This degree can help you further your proficiencies in a broad range of crucial skills including accounting, organizational budgeting, economics, information technology, medical law, medical ethics, recruiting and training staff, scheduling employees, and administering staff evaluations.

2. Bachelor of Science Degree in Health Information Management

This is another degree that it makes sense to consider if you want a direct career path to a medical management job after completing your studies. The focus of this degree varies depending on the conferring institution. In many cases, it is similar to the healthcare administration degree, but computing skills and medical record keeping are given high priority in the course work.

3. Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing

If your primary career goal is to seek employment as a nursing home administrator or chief nursing officer, it makes sense to begin your career as a nurse. A bachelor's degree in nursing will prepare you well for getting started on this career path.

4. Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Health Administration

The field of public health differs from the field of private healthcare in subtle but important ways. Public health officials are concerned with monitoring and supporting the health conditions of entire populations rather than seeing to the well being of individual patients. If you're interested in working to prevent the spread of disease, respond to public health emergencies and educate the public about how to stay healthy, this degree might be a worthwhile choice for you. This degree typically includes coursework that would teach you how to effectively educate the public, create large-scale emergency response plans, understand and apply principles of epidemiology and formulate public health policy.

5. Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration

It's easy to forget that hospitals, clinics and nursing homes are businesses. In some ways, running one of these facilities isn't all that much different than running other types of service-based businesses. A degree in business administration has direct relevance for an aspiring medical manager, and it's also one of the more versatile available choices for a major course of study.

Whether or not you decide to pursue a master's degree after graduation, these undergraduate degrees can all qualify you for satisfactory entry-level jobs in the healthcare industry. If your ambition is to be a top level leader in medical management, any of these 5 bachelor's degrees will prepare you well for advancing to earn your master's in health administration.