MPH Hierarchy of Schools

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syzar

syzar

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I have applied to 11 schools of public health (probably an overkill). Could somebody tell me how they are rated and which schools are hardest to get in? (sorry for the weird formatting).





Boston University School of Public Health
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health
University of California Berkeley School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
University of Michigan School of Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Yale School of Public Health
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agh2415 said:
The site in the first link.....no offense to Eastern Virginia Medical School, but that list is a joke.
Click to expand...

I honestly don't use ranking websites very often. I just posted the two locations that I see most often cited. I'm not sure why EVMS made it to #2, but that site in particular ranks based upon student/alumni opinion. It gives a little bit of a different perspective than US News.
 
syzar said:
I have applied to 11 schools of public health (probably an overkill). Could somebody tell me how they are rated and which schools are hardest to get in? (sorry for the weird formatting).





Boston University School of Public Health
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health
University of California Berkeley School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
University of Michigan School of Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Yale School of Public Health
Click to expand...

Ease of admission depends in part on which concentration you're applying for, and your competitiveness. I think that the most difficult to get into would be the brand names there that are competitive for a number of concentrations such as:

UNC
Emory
Berkley
Tulane
Columbia
UCLA competitive for westcoasters.

Some of the 'quiet' yet quality programs include UIC, University of Michigan (a top school, but maybe because of geography slightly less competitive, not sure exactly where it is this year.) BU is probably technically the "easiest" school to get into on your list as they have a massive wait list each year as most of those accepted to BU decide to go elsewhere, but they also get a ton of applications so if you are competitive for top places like UNC they might well assume you'll go elsewhere and your application goes to the circular file. Columbia is fairly expensive, so their competitiveness might be less than one might expect, but still up there. Emory would possibly be harder to get into, owing to the resources and proximity to the CDC, but Epi/Infectious Diseases/Global health doesn't include everybody, so Emory is bit less competitive than places like UNC, JHU . . . again it kinda depends on program.

Lifestyle schools I would characterize as being especially friendly for students. No surprise that places like University of Iowa, Univ. of Mass Amherst, Brown, Tulane (great school for global health and super friendly as well), USC, LSU, Yale are on that list, but also UNC is ranked pretty high, impressive as UNC is routinely ranked in the top 3 schools in the country. I'm not too sure how Yale and U. Pitt are in terms of competitiveness.
 
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agh2415 said:
The site in the first link.....no offense to Eastern Virginia Medical School, but that list is a joke.
Click to expand...

The two lists are asking different questions of different people, specifically the graduateprograms list is based on responses from *students* and include factors such as "surrounding area", "affordability of living", and "social life", in addition to faculty availability, though quality of the alumni network is addressed as well. US News and World Report is based on different faculty's perception of other schools, (as well as dry data such as grants/NIH funding) I believe, a somewhat different question.

Brown, for example, isn't even on US News and World Report list, as I think they just recently filed the paperwork to officially become a "school" of public health, even though many know that they have a great reputation in global health, as well as being very student friendly.

JHU, a great school, stellar reputation, yet the "surrounding area" isn't exactly a selling point, so probably didn't do very well on the graduate programs list, and yes, there are accepted applicants to JHU who decline going there due to issues with the "surrounding area." If everybody based their decisions on US News & World Report, then just apply to the top 10 schools on that list, or 20, and keep going down the list until you get into one. Of course, other factors such as tuition and approachability of the faculty come into play.
 
As others have mentioned, it's hard to justify which programs are the most challenging to get into, primarily because it depends on the department and caliber of applicants. Generally speaking, Columbia, Emory, Tulane, and UNC are probably going to be the hardest cookies for you to crack.

Each school has its pros and cons. What one schools lacks in one department, it might make up for in another department or factor of the graduate school experience. I'm in my first semester at Tulane. From my experience thus far, I can say that I'm definitely content with my program (Global Health) and faculty, however there are certain aspects that I do not like such as the location and composition of the student body. Not to say that the students aren't all nice and friendly, however it's hard being one of maybe three guys in my particular concentration.

With that said, the major leaders in public health tend to be Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Emory, UNC, Tulane, Berkeley, UMich, and Columbia in the USA, and of course LSTMH is dominant overall. Within these schools, of course there are departments are superior to others, i.e. Tulane's Global Health department is more known than their Biostatistics and Epidemiology departments, largely due to Tulane's partnership with the Peace Corps.

If you know you want to be in a certain geographic area after graduation, then I'd focus on attending a school that is located in that area so you can network and intern with organizations in the area while you're a student, making the job hunt process easier after graduation. Throw the rankings away! Choose a school that fits your public health and career interests, and a school that will challenge you and allow you to get the most out of it!

I hope this helps!

syzar said:
I have applied to 11 schools of public health (probably an overkill). Could somebody tell me how they are rated and which schools are hardest to get in? (sorry for the weird formatting).





Boston University School of Public Health
Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health
Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health
University of California Berkeley School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
University of Michigan School of Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health
Yale School of Public Health
Click to expand...
 
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