MHA Program Influences Alum’s Law Path

Attending law school was not always part of Seth Adkin’s master plan. But a Healthcare Law and Ethical Decision-Making course he took while pursuing his Master’s in Healthcare Administration (MHA) sparked his interest in law. The Argusville, N.D., native graduated in December and is now prepping for law school.   

Seth is a surgical services business manager at Sanford Health. He says the MHA program has helped improve his work performance, and the organizational and time management skills he learned at MSUM will serve him well in law school.

“There are plenty of principal and operational things I learned that have been helpful in my daily work,” he said.

MSUM’s MHA program is the only one offered in the Minnesota State system and is among only a few programs regionally. The leader-focused program is fully accredited and gives students working full-time a lot of flexibility.

“The way the classes are organized allowed me to have a good balance between school and my full-time job,” Seth said.

Seth’s professors supported him during the law school application process and knew him well enough to provide strong letters of recommendation.

“One of my instructors, professor Ross Matlack is a lawyer, so he had been through the same process. Talking with him was extremely helpful because the path he took is similar to mine,” Seth said.

Just like Seth, Matlack started out working in finance in the healthcare field and then pursued a law degree while working full time. Seth appreciated the opportunity to get insights from someone who had similar experiences.

Seth applied to two law schools and was accepted to both. He chose to attend Syracuse University College of Law’s Online J.D. program; it’s the first real-time, fully interactive, ABA-approved online law degree program in the United States.

Healthcare law consists of many different areas of study, and Seth is looking forward to taking the skills he learned in the MHA program and exploring all areas of law.