who's starting MPH fall 03?

[calbears84]

is anyone in here starting MPH this fall? if so, where have you been accepted to and where are you choosing to go? also...which emphasis are you doing?

i have been accepted to columbia, umich, boston and USC. Does anyone know the pros and cons for each program....please help me choose because i've never been in the east coast so i don't really know much about each school except for the stuff i've been reading on their websites...thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[poloace]

columbia (i'm here doing epidemiology now) is in the GHETTO. be prepared for a shock if you've never been out here before. it can be depressing some days... plus, if you're lucky enough to get on campus housing- then you end up in the dorm with all the med students, and your schedule is COMPLETELY different- so, its 3 am in nyc and i'm still up... sometimes it feels like you're the only one awake. but, overall... i've liked my experience here.

p

 

[Poetess232]

Calbears,

how competetive would you rank acceptance into the UMich program?

I am applying for '04.

If you feel comfortable, would you mind sharing your stats?

Thanks

 

[curlyq]

i went to columbia and have to concur with poloace that the school is in the GHETTO. however there are some aspects to living there that are great: the dominican food, lots of potential for community outreach, a great place to practice your spanish...
also another bad thing is that there is very little grant money which makes your financial aid package mostly loans which definitely sucks. however i think they are making an attempt to change that.

what i liked about columbia versus other public health schools was the fact the med school is right there. i got some great advice and perspective there that ultimately helped me make the decision to apply to med school. hope this helps

-curlyq

 

[lola]

is usc an accredited school of public health? if not, that's a con. i would choose umich over bu & columbia, but that's basically b/c i'd rather live in ann arbor than boston or ny & umich has a stronger reputation i think. wish i could help you on the specifics. i had a friend who went to bu and transferred to columbia b/c she didn't like it at bu if that's any help. i think there was a thread a while back talking about the strengths and weaknesses of some of the schools of public health.

 

[mef007]

I have one more thought to add....You should really look into specific programs at each school. For instance, are you applying for Epidemiology or Health Policy/Management,etc.? Each school has different strengths. I know that UMich is the excellent in Healthcare Policy and Management...they basically have the leading journals and professors for this area of public health. I went to Columbia for HPM and found it to be very good. It is a newer dept. however, and not as deeply connected for career purposes as a UMich....However, I can tell you I based my decision solely on saving money by staying in NY (... where i am originally from). Also NY is amazing and the opportunities for internships and community interaction are immeasurable. I had a friend at BU...She was not thrilled with it. Also where you go to school may be a factor in where you will eventually get a job or practice....For example, the majority of my classes were based on public health in NY and NYC...a lot of the schools focus their efforts and teaching around their state and city....BU will teach using examples of policy or studies in Boston and MA, etc.......anyway , just something to think about

 

[kathleeya]

hey calbears - congrats on the acceptances! we spoke on this issue a while ago, but as i approach graduation (only 1 more week!!), i might be able to give a more substantiated opinion on my experience at michigan.

i agree with mef007 - it does depend on what area you are going into. i'm in the health management and policy dept at umich, and i must say that i had a very positive experience. however, if you are interested in epidemiology, i would suggest looking at other places; there is a good number of students who have switched out of the epid program into ours... but as for HMP, the quality of the faculty is great and the program has been ranked as the top in the US since 1997.

we are losing a few faculty members this year (due to family reasons), but the remaining staff are experts and leaders in the field. griffith is the grand-daddy of healthcare management, david mendez is an expert in operations research, and judith calhoun is a marketing guru (she teaches at the public health, medical, and business schools). in terms of policy, ken warner is one of the leading tobacco policy analysts... it is also good to note that there is continuous quality improvement going on, taken in the form of a formidable curriculum evaluation that is performed each year.

the school is also planning on doing some major renovations this summer, including adding a much needed cafeteria (so you don't have to run to the hospital for lunch or rely on vending machines ) and wireless internet .

one drawback about ann arbor is the living expenses. rent can run pretty high, but if you look hard enough, you can find a decent deal.

overall, though, i loved umich. if you are looking for a job, you have the world's largest alumni network to fall back on and recommendations from the best. if you are hoping to go to med school, it certainly doesn't hurt to get a degree from Umich - i'm looking to start this fall in chicago...

good luck!!

 

[Adcadet]

while it's always nice to be at a big name school (which for PH does not always perfectly correspond to what the rest of the world thinks: look at UNC - not really known to Joe Public yet has a great SPH), I think it's far more important to find a school that has a prof or two in your area. If you can figure out what specific area you want to be in, go to the school that accels in that area. Or if you're open to a few different areas, figure out which profs will let you jump right in and start working in that area. I think what you do while at your school is far far more important than the school itself - especially when you're talking about well-respected schools. The only problem is that it can be very difficult to just jump right in before you've had much experience in PH classes.

Just my $0.02. I think my PH/epi experiene was pretty good - I definitely lucked out in a few ways, and made a few smart decisions.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Adcadet
while it's always nice to be at a big name school (which for PH does not always perfectly correspond to what the rest of the world thinks: look at UNC - not really known to Joe Public yet has a great SPH),

Anyone that has never heard of UNC for public health is just plain out of the loop but it is in the dirty south which is a big negative for a Tarheel alum like myself.

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
Anyone that has never heard of UNC for public health is just plain out of the loop but it is in the dirty south which is a big negative for a Tarheel alum like myself.

umm....that first part (that anyone who didn't know about UNC for public health is totally out of the loop) is exactly my point. Yet many people only know UNC for basketball. Point is: you gotta dig a bit deeper sometimes.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Adcadet
Yet many people only know UNC for basketball. Point is: you gotta dig a bit deeper sometimes.

Is this REALLY true? Going to high school in the south (Florida) all I EVER heard was how great a university "Chapel Hill" is. It is by far the best public institution in the ENTIRE south and I'd say in the top 10 for public institutions in the US!

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by Adcadet
Yet many people only know UNC for basketball. Point is: you gotta dig a bit deeper sometimes.

Is this REALLY true? Going to high school in the south (Florida) all I EVER heard was how great a university "Chapel Hill" is. It is by far the best public institution in the ENTIRE south and I'd say in the top 10 for public institutions in the US!

I wondered about UNC's reputation when I started my fellowship at NCI/NIH as many people in the DC metro area went to Hopkins. Having taken classes in public health at UNC and Hopkins the only difference I saw was that there are more international students at Hopkins than UNC and the faculty/ staff at Hopkins have egos that don't fit into the standard classroom

 

[calbears84]

thanks for the replies...i'm actually gonna be doing epidemiology... i have narrowed it down to columbia or umich...does anyone know which school has a stronger epid program?

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by calbears84
thanks for the replies...i'm actually gonna be doing epidemiology... i have narrowed it down to columbia or umich...does anyone know which school has a stronger epid program?

Calbears - you might want to stop using the term "epid" - I've never hear this used to refer to epidemiology (which I assume you are - "epidemiology"="epi"), and it's too close to "epi ID" (or infectious disease epidemiology). Somebody tell me if this is just some regional thing - and if it is I apologize.

Path - yeah, up here UNC is NOT known to be a good school. Not that I've done any scientific study into the area. Hopkins, Harvard, Columbia and Yale are all known to be very good, but UNC is not. Maybe it's because NC is far away, maybe it's because NC seems like the "south" and carries some negative connotations, or maybe it's because people tend not to know about schools of public health. Of course, the cool people in Minnesota (epi folk, that is) know that UNC is a pretty rocking place when it comes to epi. But then again, how many college students in NC would say the U of MN is a great place for epi and/or medicine? Perhaps U of MN is a decent comaprison as the US News rankings for the med schools and schools of public health are about the same if I recal correctly. And of course I'd assume that people "in the know" in NC know about the U of MN's SPH.

I must admit, I'm not the best person in the world to talk to about the relative strengths and prestige of schools of public health. My search for a SPH pretty much started and ended with Minnesota, as I had already taken a semester of classes by the time I applied and knew I really liked it, was told by a number of people who I respect and trust that it is a solid program, and I had strong research connections at the U of MN that I knew I could leverage. Plus, having my family and fiance in MN was a big factor.

But, in the end, what is prestige? If you really want to study a particular thing, and the best SPH on the planet had nobody working in that field, you'd be a fool to go there. Also, even if you went to the best SPH in the world yet had crappy experiences, you'd have wasted a bunch of time. I'd prefer to be at the least respected SPH but learning good stuff and doing good research and getting good experiences. I think anybody who judges SPH grads based soley upon the name of their alma matter is really missing the point.

Of course, few people coming out of college really know what they want to do within public health (I didn't), so chosing a school based upon how other people have done (which is roughly refelcted by prestige, I'd say) is probably the best you can do.