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What to Ask Medical Assistant Schools
Prior to reviewing your medical assistant school options, you have to choose which kind of credential you would like to earn, and if you want to attend classes on-campus or online at home. Once those decisions have been made, you can start the process of researching medical assistant schools. As we covered at the opening of this article, a number of potential students restrict their searches to the colleges that are closest to Mattoon IL with the lowest tuition. Although cost and location are important qualifications, they are not the only ones. There are a number of additional considerations that you should look at when evaluating schools. To help you with that process, following are some questions that you should ask about all of the schools you are considering before making your ultimate selection.
Is the Medical Assistant College Accredited? There are many good reasons to make certain that the school you enroll in is accredited. First, accreditation helps guarantee that the instruction you receive will be both comprehensive and of the highest quality. Second, if you plan on becoming certified, you must enroll in an accredited program. Two of the accepted agencies for accreditation are the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES). If your program is not accredited by one of these organizations, you will not be eligible to take the CMA exam. Also, if you plan on applying for a student loan or financial aid, they are frequently not available for non-accredited programs. And last, as previously mentioned, a number of prospective Mattoon IL employers will not hire a medical assistant who has not graduated from an accredited program.
What is the School's Passing Rate? Most of the accredited medical assistant colleges develop their programs to prep students to pass one or more certification exams. To start with, you must determine which of the certifications the colleges you are reviewing are preparing their students to take. If you are planning on taking the CMA for example, then of course you will need to choose a program focused on that certification. Next, ask what the school's passage rate is for the certification and compare it to the national average. Doing this is just one of the ways to help evaluate the quality of a school's program. Of course programs with low rates are ones that you will want to eliminate.
Which Credentials are Offered? As we covered earlier, there are essentially two paths to getting medical assistant training. You can select a diploma or certificate program and get entry level training in the shortest amount of time, starting at just 6 months, however the average is about one year. Or you can elect to acquire an Associate Degree and receive a more comprehensive education that will take approximately 2 years to finish in a junior college or vocational school. Whichever program you decide to enroll in, verify that the colleges you are looking at provide the kind of program you are interested in.
Are Internships Available? A large number of medical assistant schools sponsor internship programs with Mattoon IL area health care providers. They are a great method to obtain hands-on clinical experience and training. They can also help students develop relationships within the Mattoon health care community. And as an additional benefit, they are an asset on resumes and for job interviews as well.
Is Job Placement Support Provided? Finding that first job can be a challenging undertaking for medical assistant school graduates unless they receive some help from a job placement program. Verify that the schools you are interviewing offer job placement assistance in the Mattoon IL area and ask what their placement rate is. If a program has a higher job placement rate for its students, it affirms that it has a good reputation within the health care community. It also indicates that it has a large network of contacts to help place students in jobs.
How Large are the Classrooms? Class size can be an indicator of how much individual instruction you will receive during your training. Smaller classes and classes with a higher teacher to student ratio are more likely to offer increased access to instructors and face to face interaction. If convenient, try to monitor a few classes before choosing a program to witness what the teaching atmosphere is like and just how much attention the students get.
Is Class Scheduling Practical? If you anticipate attending a medical assistant college while you continue to work on a full time basis, it's essential that the program you enroll in provides classes that fit your schedule. If you need to attend classes in the evenings or on weekends near Mattoon IL, make sure that those times are offered. You might be able to fit your classes in more conveniently with an online program, but you will still have to schedule any clinical training or internships that might be required. Additionally, find out what the policy is for making up classes that you might have to miss because of work, illness or family emergencies.