I am extremely determined to become a CMA, and I wanted to make sure this school was accredited. I went to AlliedHealth.com and they actually recommended my exact school (The Salter School in Fall River, MA) but when I go to their website they say "Accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools". They said that their job placement rate was 78%, that the credit was mostly transferable, it has an externship, etc.

I just want to make sure that I can get certified after I graduate, and I also don't want to waste my money. It IS a 9-month $10,000 career college, but if it was recommended by AlliedHealth, wouldn't it be legit?

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No

I went thru a 9 month program at a allied health school that was accredited by the state. The program
was $3,500 and very comprehensive in their clinicals etc.
It was taught by an RN, LPN,CMA, and a X-RAY/EKG tech and a paramedic. It was awesome! I looked at several different programs including my local comm. college
which seemed to concentrate more on administrative.
Where I live CMA's are mainly utilized in the clinical area. Ads advertise for Certified Clinical Medical Assistants.
It is just my opinion, but $10,000 for a 9 month program seems steep. You could get an AS degree for that or less. I also found that an AS degree had no bearing on future employment. Employers want a strong clinical school background (we had to have 100 successful venipuntures)along with AP, medical term. and pharmacology much more!
Check out some other programs in the area before you commit.I drove 150 miles round trip every day to get to my school but it was worth it. Good luck!

Your Professional Title/Credentials: cma

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

So I should probably ask how strict they are when it comes to graduating the program. I would love for it to be as you described, as it would put more value into graduating! I'm not really concerned about spending the 10 grand, I just want to make sure that I have the right amount of knowledge so that I can get certified. To me a 9-month program is great because I have a 14-month old son, so the sooner I'm out of college the better (no homework, more family time)... thank you for you reply!

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No

You have to graduate any program to be able to become certified.Go for it!!! Best of luck. I will look for you on this forum in the future.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: cma

Are You Still In School? no

Are You Working? yes

You need to graduate from a CAAHEP or ABHES accredited program in order to take the CMA Certification exam through the AAMA; or an ABHES accredited program to take the RMA exam through AMT.

CAAHEP lists Salter School in Boylston, MA as being accredited by them; but not "The Salter School",Fall River, MA. Following the link to "The Salter School" website, it does not list Boylston as one of their campuses. I don't know MA at all, so I don't know if Fall River may be a suburb of Boylston? Some schools' locations may be CAAHEP or ABHES accredited, but their other ones are not. It would be a good idea to call the AAMA to ask if the Fall River program is accredited by CAAHEP also. I would not rely on AlliedHealth.com. I agree that $ 10,000 is typical for a private MA program; but very expensive. Community College programs are thousands of dollars cheaper.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: BS, AD, PNCC

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No

Thank you, I'll make sure to check it out today. I look forward to returning to this site as a CMA. :)

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No

I have found out that The Salter School in Fall River, MA is accredited not by the AAMA, but by AMT (American Medical Technologists). So I could be a "registered" medical assistant instead of a "certified" medical assistant, which is basically the same thing I heard. Just thought I'd post that in case anyone who ever has this question (probably not, but just making sure) that there was already an answer.

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No

That's good that you can take the RMA exam. Don't wait until you are an RMA to come back here.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: BS, AD, PNCC

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No

Be careful! Accreditation has mostly to do with (as far as the student is concerned) the transferring of credits. Going to a school like that - if you ever decided to go to a four year school, it is possible you would have to start all over. There are three types of accreeditation basically:

- Regional
- National
- Tech-ish

Regional accreditation is the best. This is like Harvard, Yale, FSU, etc. National is like Everest, Pheonix, etc. Tech-ish is like The Salter school, Meridian Career Institute, etc.

If you go to the Salter school, or whatever, then try to get into say Loyola, NONE of your credits will transfer.

Your Professional Title/Credentials: Seeking Student

Are You Still In School? Yes

Are You Working? No