new to MPH programs

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hugstugs99

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I was trying to look up some MPH programs and started realizing that in fact not all the schools that have MPH programs are listed at the www.asph.org (Association of Schools of Public Health) website because the program is under the school of medicine at the specific college. Is there a place that tells all the available MPH programs regardless if they are found in a separate school of public health or through the university's school of medicine? Also, is there a difference between the term public health and community health? From personal experience or hearing through the grapevine, can anyone tell me which schools they think have great MPH programs and where students are happy and satisfied with with education and job prospects after? Sorry for all the questions... just curious about the program and job availability after. Thanks!

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Another question.... how is the program at Univ. of Southern California? Students like it?
 
http://www.ceph.org/list.htm
This website also includes programs that are within schools of medicine. It still doesn't have all...the program I went to was not listed. Where (locality) are you interested in studying? I know John Hopkins has a great program...if you're willing to move to the east coast. I don't know anything about Cali. As far as the difference between community health and public health...public health encompasses a wider variety of fields. When I think of community health...I think more of health education and working for community-based programs. Public health can be this and also include so much more, such as epidemiology, health policy, etc.
 
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Thanks that was helpful! So is it better to go into community health or public health or is that just a preference of what you want to do later as a career? Do both grant you an MPH? Is community health more people and practice oriented and public health more research oriented?
 
It depends on what you are interested in. Public health includes more options in my opinion. If you enter a MPH program...you usually will have some sort of concentration, such as community health ed., epidemiology, etc. Mine was in community-based health, which was a combination of epidemiology and community health. I think there are community health programs that are not a part of a MPH program...in that case I don't think you end up with a MPH.
 
Hugs,

Just to echo what apg said, public health encompasses a number of different fields, including epidemiology, health behavior/education (which may or may not include community health), health administration and policy, environmental and industrial health (including toxicology), international health, and tropical medicine. These concentrations exist at most schools in various forms (for example, health behavior may be found in Columbia's Sociomedical Sciences Department, while International Health exists within the Epidemiology department (not standing as it's own) at Michigan.

Most public health programs will provide you with a good solid education. If you want to know more about specific schools, call the departments of interest at the schools you're thinking of applying to and see if you the personnel could give you the e-mail addresses of current students (or have them tell you the types of jobs of that alumni are doing).

Public health is about protecting the public's health through education and research. There is really no distinction between public health and community health, as the community is what makes up the public in public health. This is why I, as many of my colleagues will echo, love this field - for its all inclusiveness with regard to an individual and the factors that affect their health status. There are many undergraduate institutions that grant health education or community health degrees, but I think that you'll find most graduate programs in these areas will grant the MPH degree (i.e., the MPH in Health Education can be obtained through the School fo Education at NYU, which is an accredited program with no affiliated School of Public Health). Depending on what you want to do, I don't think that one degree is better than the other. Just consider the MPH because you receive a comprehensive education that allows you to explore different aspects of public health - not just the area of concentration.

Best,
H&T
 
Thanks! I was just confused with the difference because I thought I saw that you can get MPH degrees from some schools that consider their programs to be community health and part of the medical school. I guess I just have to take a look at the curriculum of the program to see if that's what I want. On another note.... how is the job stability in the field? Also do you get paid enough for what you do and can you live comfortably with the salary you get? Or is it kind of like teachers and nurses where they do so much but many times do not get paid enough for it?
 
Job stability, pay? Well, those are as varied as in any profession. Pay depends on what field you are going into. If you want to do something like health education or community health, don't expect to be raking in the dough. You might be able to get better paying jobs in this arena working with a not-for-profit or philanthropic organization. On the other hand, jobs in epidemiology and biostatistics may be a little more lucrative, again depending on the venue. You may not make a whole bunch working at the health department, but if you did research through the government or some major research facility (e.g., RTI), you might get a better bang for the buck. Contracting positions are a good way to make decent money in public health. But at the same time, it is public health, and I don't know many people who go into it for its earning potential. So I would err on the side of thinking that says that public health professionals are underpaid for their work, but at the same time, what would appropriate pay really be?
 
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