Epidemiologu after BSN

[DJFandango]

Hi everyone
I'm so glad I found this site. I've had such a hard time finding people with an interest in public health. I'm going to be graduating with my BSN in December but my goal is work in epidemiology. I'm just not sure how to go about it. It would be great if anyone has any advice.

How many years of experience working as an RN would I need before I would be competitive for grad school?
Would I be better off getting experience in a hospital or a community setting?
What are the job prospects and salary like for epidemiology?
Is a career in epidemiology incompatible with having a family?

I'm not really interested in working in a clinical setting and I was looking at some of the degrees offered by USF: Epidemiology and global health, epidemiology and maternal and child health. I was a biology major before nursing so I have taken some hard sciences and stats and calc and did well (I love stats, part of the reason I think epidemiology is right for me).

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[agh2415]

Hi everyone
I'm so glad I found this site. I've had such a hard time finding people with an interest in public health. I'm going to be graduating with my BSN in December but my goal is work in epidemiology. I'm just not sure how to go about it. It would be great if anyone has any advice.

How many years of experience working as an RN would I need before I would be competitive for grad school?
Would I be better off getting experience in a hospital or a community setting?
What are the job prospects and salary like for epidemiology?
Is a career in epidemiology incompatible with having a family?

I'm not really interested in working in a clinical setting and I was looking at some of the degrees offered by USF: Epidemiology and global health, epidemiology and maternal and child health. I was a biology major before nursing so I have taken some hard sciences and stats and calc and did well (I love stats, part of the reason I think epidemiology is right for me).

Having a BSN will give you a huge leg up on your peers. Even if you're not interested in the typical clinical role, those credentials will help you out a lot.

Public health nursing at local health departments is a good place to look for relevant work experience (you may even be able to get them to cover some tuition.)

Assuming your grades/GRE are on point, I think you would have a very good chance at whatever MPH program you're thinking about.

 

[IntriguedStudent]

As stated, a BSN is extremely valuable for pursuing epidemiology and public health as a whole. Not having work experience as an RN may not necessarily decrease your competitiveness for grad school as most epi masters programs don't care if you have work experience (although you should have public health experience if you're interested in getting your MPH). However, if you are interested in going into a hospital infection prevention (I know you said you aren't really interested in clinical work) afterwards, it may be useful to have some work experience as an RN.

Although I do not come from a nursing background, I'm in the same situation as you in that most of the people around me know little about the actual field of public health. This forum has been invaluable to me throughout my application process. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Good luck finishing up with your undergraduate work!

 

[cestmoi92]

Hi everyone
I'm so glad I found this site. I've had such a hard time finding people with an interest in public health. I'm going to be graduating with my BSN in December but my goal is work in epidemiology. I'm just not sure how to go about it. It would be great if anyone has any advice.

How many years of experience working as an RN would I need before I would be competitive for grad school?
Would I be better off getting experience in a hospital or a community setting?
What are the job prospects and salary like for epidemiology?
Is a career in epidemiology incompatible with having a family?

I'm not really interested in working in a clinical setting and I was looking at some of the degrees offered by USF: Epidemiology and global health, epidemiology and maternal and child health. I was a biology major before nursing so I have taken some hard sciences and stats and calc and did well (I love stats, part of the reason I think epidemiology is right for me).

I graduated with my BSN this past December and am also interested in getting my MPH in infectious disease epi. I would advise that you work a few years before going straight into it, initially my plan was to go straight into my MPH without any RN work experience but after talking to several people they strongly advised me not to. Having experience as an RN in a clinical setting will give you a huge leg up. I'm currently working with Emory Healthcare now and I plan to work with them for 2years before I get my MPH.
Not only will working for a few years give you a higher chance of getting into grad school, but it will also make you more valuable being that you have clinical experience.