First, visit the website of the accrediting organization for all HIM programs (CAHIIM) and print a listing of all accredited HIM programs in the United States.  There are approximately five programs offering a master degree, 48 offering a baccalaureate degree, and about 195 offering an associate degree.  Visit www.cahiim.org for a complete listing of accredited programs.

Some programs have “open door” admission policies, meaning that if a student is accepted to the college, they can select the program of their choice.  However, most baccalaureate programs and some associate programs have competitive placement.  The applicant competes with other applicants on GPA, test scores, essay, and interviews for limited seats.  Some competitive programs have a 2 to 1, or 3 to 1 acceptance ratio – this means of three applications submitted, one student will be selected.  Talk with the Program Director of each program to learn about the type of placement practiced there.

If the school offers online applications this can streamline your efforts.  Also, stay on top of all of admission and testing deadline dates – are you trying for standard admission deadline dates or early action dates?  Submitting your application early allows the school to get a head start on processing your application package.  If the application fee is cost prohibitive, contact the school and see what is involved in getting a waiver.  You will need to document your financial circumstances first, but this may be an important factor when deciding how many schools to which you will apply.

Schools can vary on what standardized tests they require for freshman applications.  Be sure to carefully read the requirements from the program that interests you.  That said, there are some fairly common expectations:

1. Most students will find they have more choices in applying to schools if they take the standardized testing offered each year in November.
2. Use the same name on your college applications as you did for the test, or you may find that your application packets remain “incomplete”.
3. Each school you are interested in applying to has a code that you must submit to the SAT, TOEFL, or ACT testing agencies.  This code is usually found in the school’s website under application or financing sections. Expect the turn around from request to submission of test scores to be 4 to 6 weeks.  For example, ACT scores are only mailed out once a month. Depending on when your request was processed it could take more than a month before the results are mailed.
4. More information about the testing requirements can be found by visiting the individual sites.  For the SAT test: www.collegeboard.com, for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) at www.ets.org/toefl, and for the ACT at www.act.org.

If you do not speak English at home or have only spoken English for a few years, you will benefit from taking the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language).

Whether you are in an associate or baccalaureate degree program you must complete your general education courses (things like English, Math, History) in addition to taking the professional component (the actual HIM courses).  Schools vary by how many courses a student should have completed before entering into the professional phase, and others have prerequisite requirements (Anatomy & Physiology is a common prerequisite).  In a typical baccalaureate program, your freshman and sophomore years are dedicated to completing the general education requirements, and you enter into the professional phase your junior and senior years.