Help with decision... Berkeley vs Hopkins

[ksf11]

Hello all, I'm currently deciding between Hopkins and Berkeley for my MPH, and would love some advice. I'm a a current MD with future plans to apply to Infectious Disease with a longterm goal to work in academia & government (e.g. CDC/NIH) and continue both bench and clinical research. I am planning to get an MPH in order to get a foundational knowledge of public health (and in particular Epidemiology and Biostatistics) to help achieve and expand on those goals.

I've been accepted to the on-site 11 month MPH program at Hopkins as well as the accelerated (11 month) Epidemiology program at Berkeley. Factors that I'm considering now are name recognition, resources (JHU >> UCB), quality of education & faculty support (am told JHU >> UCB), location, and of course COST (UCB is about half the tuition cost of JHU--and unfortunately I did not receive any from of scholarship as of yet from JHU).

As a current CA resident, I do love living in the bay area, but am not opposed to moving for a year if it truly would help both my education, career options, etc. My biggest concern seems to be a strong feeling that while Berkeley is no slouch, JHU would offer me more in terms of education (particularly in epidemiology), resources, and possible assistance with fellowship options for ID and longterm career choices. My biggest concern is the difference enough to warrant an additional $30-$35K? (Honestly, if cost was equal, I would likely pick JHU over UCB).

If anyone has any personal experience, thoughts, or other suggestions I would certainly appreciate any advice. Thanks so much!

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[dubiousraves]

Having worked internationally for the past several years, its my sense that Berkeley has more name recognition overseas than JHU, esp. in Asia.

I did the accelerated epi MPH at Berkeley many years ago ( I'm an NP). I remember wishing at the time that it had a more collaborative relationship with UCSF. Back then, UCB seemed a little stodgy and traditional and UCSF was out in front with some very cool innovative projects. That said, I loved my cohort and traditional is not a bad thing when you are mastering epi skills. Alot of that may have changed.

As far as location, the bay area beats urban Baltimore every time.

I don't think UCB affected my career negatively but I was not interested in NIH work - JHU should have the advantage there the same way Emory has the advantage at CDC.

so thats my two cents - good luck!

 

[Stories]

If you'd like to live on the east coast in the long term, JHU probably would have more connections out east. Vice versa for Cal. Something else to consider.