MPH Boston vs. UIC in Epidemiology?

[bulls333]

I’m interested in the MPH programs in Epidemiology at UIC and Boston. UIC is significantly cheaper however Boston has a Pharmaceutical special concentration that I am interested in. Has anyone gone through the UIC Epidemiology program with an interest in Regulatory Affairs? I would like to hear thoughts about the two programs. Thanks!

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[backwardinduction]

I've heard talk that BU is changing their concentrations to certificates next year. Theres a thread floating around here in which they discuss it.

 

[IntriguedStudent]

I would contact both schools to see if there will be coursework that will allow you to concentrate on that specific area of study. I will be matriculating at UIC for epi this year, but I have not seen very much focus on pharmaceuticals within the degree (there are some pharmaceutical-focused PhD programs, so you could look to see if they'd let you take courses outside of the degree?). If BU has a concentration in that, it seems like it would be the better option for you. However, as @backwardinduction said, there has been talk of them removing concentrations altogether. You may want to contact them to make sure that you'll still be able to focus on that after all of their (major) changes have been made.

 

[Masgniw]

I went to UIC for my MPH.

UIC doesn't have a pharma concentration, per se, but there are definitely pharmacoepi classes as well as relevant classes offered at the school of pharmacy. You can take classes there for not extra cost and have them count towards your degree. That school is about 2 blocks from SPH.

 

[Stories]

I would contact both schools to see if there will be coursework that will allow you to concentrate on that specific area of study. I will be matriculating at UIC for epi this year, but I have not seen very much focus on pharmaceuticals within the degree (there are some pharmaceutical-focused PhD programs, so you could look to see if they'd let you take courses outside of the degree?). If BU has a concentration in that, it seems like it would be the better option for you. However, as @backwardinduction said, there has been talk of them removing concentrations altogether. You may want to contact them to make sure that you'll still be able to focus on that after all of their (major) changes have been made.

Two folks I know of that are BU grads work at the company I work at. That said, companies will hire without direct pharmacoepi training to get into the pharmaepi industry.

 

[oceanhue]

I've heard talk that BU is changing their concentrations to certificates next year. Theres a thread floating around here in which they discuss it.

From my knowledge, the change does not effect students that are matriculating this fall. It'll be for the following year. The pharmaceuticals program is still in tact.

Good luck.

 

[themmases]

I'm disappointed I just saw this! I'm an Epi MS at UIC right now and several of my Epi MPH friends are interested in pharmacoepi. I hope it's ok that I'm resurrecting this thread, because I think peole in the future might like to know that UIC SPH has a pharm certificate that you can add, and the information is here: http://publichealth.uic.edu/academics/certificates/pharmacoepidemiology/program/

I'm not interested in pharm, but the consensus among my classmates who are seems to be that the core course (I'm assuming PSOP 426) is good and the certificate is easy, i.e. convenient, to add on to a typical Epi MPH's course load and timing. If you look at the course descriptions on that page, the first two courses (biostats and epi) are required of you anyway as an Epi. Some other courses in the division, but not in the certicate, are relevant as well for example BSTT 506, design of clinical trials.

I have no idea if this is a particularly deep concentration since it's not mine, but it is an option here for epi people in particular and seems to be popular. Also, you can take courses outside SPH with minimal fuss. I'm taking a course housed in Urban Planning and Policy next semester, and was told that I didn't need advance permission from my department as long as the course was plausibly related to public health. If it hadn't been, I just would have needed my advisor's sign off on the justification.