Which MPH has the most job opportunities?

[adymech]

Hello

I am a practising dentist in India. I am considering applying for a MPH program in US. I did some prelim research on various schools' websites, and found that there are 4-7 streams of MPH that one must pick from - Epidemiology, Biostats, Public Health, Health Education, Env and Occ Health...

I have eliminated Biostats, mainly due to my poor math. One of the key criteria for selection is obviously the max job opportunities available.

Is there some stats available showing which of these streams has the most jobs available in US?

Thanks

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[themmases]

If anyone has numbers on job opportunities for specific concentrations, I would really love to see them too-- I looked for this exact information when applying and couldn't find much.

My impression is subjective from reading these boards and gradcafe, looking at job postings in the field, BLS projections for job growth of statisticians and epidemiologists (unfortunately they don't break out biostatisticians or other public health practitioners specifically, and the reports are mostly or entirely US-specific), and reading the public work (blogs, etc.) of people working in public health. However, the opinion in all of these places is overwhelmingly that biostatistics and epidemiology are the most marketable, with probably an edge for biostats. And that if you choose a different concentration, making sure to gain quantitative or technical skills will make you more marketable within your field.

 

[hughesn2]

Biostatisticians can make A LOT of money!!!!! The issue is that the ones that make the boat load of money are those with PhDs in the field. I know a nurse director at a major hospital in a large metropolitan city near the East coast and he said that he knows Biostatisticians that make $150K a year, but he did say they had their Doctorate in MPH at the Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Emory, etc. schools. He did say that if you are looking to be a biostatistician at a hospital an MPH degree is great, but if you want to work for a pharmaceutical company the PhD with an MS is better than an MPH.

I plan on applying to M.S. in Biostatistics programs as well as MPH in Biostatistics programs. The thing is that without a PhD you aren't going to be getting those 6 figure jobs unless you stay with the same company for a while and move up the ranks. Most MS or MPH Biostats grads start off as an SAS Analysis. Those jobs are still paying better than many business jobs with a B.A., but it isn't going to be getting you the $75K job out of college (unless you have the PhD or a top 5-8 MPH program).

Just my 2 cents from talk with people who have dealt with biostatisticans at a hospital level.

 

[failureisnotfatal]

I'm not saying that it has the most jobs available out of all of the categories, but I have seen epidemiologist on many top 100 lists for jobs.

 

[NJIM88]

I believe epidemiology will give you the most marketable skill set. After I completed my MPH at Hopkins, I wished I had taken more Epi or Biostats classes. The other areas are more topical and content based. You will be able to do clinical trials, work in research, pharma, academics if you have a solid foundation in Epi or Biostats. For the amount of money MPH programs cost, you get the most bang for your buck with epi/biostats. The other tracks can be learned by reading articles and you don't really need someone to walk you through it. you will probably never learn epi/biostats on your own without being forced to do the assignments, projects, etc.
I ended up doing Maternal Child Health which was very interesting but didn't really give me any new skill sets. The MPH did open doors for me to do a fellowship with the CDC at least.

 

[adymech]

Interesting...I would have thought that Public Health, Policy specialties would have better jobs...they are a bit more high-sounding, may be thats why I thought so. And may be u get jobs in government or orgs like WHO etc with that...

Has anyone tried contacting the schools directly to get the statistics for each specialty from them? Do they respond?

 

[oceanhue]

Biostatisticans and epidemiologists. A lot of schools offer a combo of both.

 

[adymech]

Can you suggest some univs that have the combo? So far, I have only found one - U of South Calif.

I am a dentist by profession. And my dental program didnt offer or require any math. So net - I have no college-level math. Now I am not so averse to math, its just that I never had to take it in my college. And though I am not super excited about math, I dont abhor it either. But I gather that not having any college-level math can be a showstopper as far as the admisions committee is concerned. So I dont know at this stage what my options are to get over this hurdle...any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Pdesai8]

I don't like this question. You shouldn't pick a field just based on the number of job opportunities. It's better to go into a field that interests and you and that you can become really good at .If you're really are good at what you do and make the right connections, you won't have a problem finding a job in any field of public health.

 

[themmases]

I really dislike when people tell others to just do what they love. Realistically, not everyone gets to do their hobby or their passion for a job, and they never will. Plenty of people follow their passion and end up unemployed, or employed in an unrelated field that they don't care about. Passion isn't enough to make other people want to work with you or, frankly, to make your work valuable to others. Otherwise the idea of the starving artist wouldn't be a cliche. People who say this act like wanting a job at all (picking "a field just based on the number of job opportunities") is every bit as shallow as picking a field that will make you the maximum amount of money possible. People going into public health are already generally giving up other career options where they might have made more money, in order to do work that helps others. There is really no need to shame them and act like wanting to work in their chosen, altruistic, field is somehow greedy. It's not.

Public health is very interdisciplinary, and it's an area where there's a lot of opportunity for people to be strategic about what classes they take while still pursuing a career doing broadly the same type of work and benefiting others. It's also a field heavily dominated by a usually unfunded professional degree that sends people into public service work. People pursuing this path need to know that they will be able to afford to live and to pay those student loans back. If you look at the accepted/rejected threads, there are tons of people looking back at their undergrad coursework, effort, or even their entire major or school with 20/20 hindsight. How on earth is it helpful to tell them to pretend they're still 18 and go forward with their very expensive grad school decision with just as little forethought as they did in undergrad?

 

[JewcyFruit]

@adymech and everyone else - I know Tufts (not a SPH, but within their med school) is one department. Your degree concentration is both. University of South Florida (SPH) has a myriad of "mixed" degrees, many online, too.

If a school gets federal funding, and they all do, they have to publish their post-grad employment numbers. I'd contact the admissions department for them.

I'm very interested in epi, but also reproductive/maternal and child health. I'm hoping to make that into one degree. I'm not math averse, but more scared of it. Though, going back now and doing my GRE prep, I realize that it is not so bad. Who knew you could overcome (maybe) childhood math trauma by studying for the GRE?

 

[Pdesai8]

I really dislike when people tell others to just do what they love. Realistically, not everyone gets to do their hobby or their passion for a job, and they never will. Plenty of people follow their passion and end up unemployed, or employed in an unrelated field that they don't care about. Passion isn't enough to make other people want to work with you or, frankly, to make your work valuable to others. Otherwise the idea of the starving artist wouldn't be a cliche. People who say this act like wanting a job at all (picking "a field just based on the number of job opportunities") is every bit as shallow as picking a field that will make you the maximum amount of money possible. People going into public health are already generally giving up other career options where they might have made more money, in order to do work that helps others. There is really no need to shame them and act like wanting to work in their chosen, altruistic, field is somehow greedy. It's not.

Public health is very interdisciplinary, and it's an area where there's a lot of opportunity for people to be strategic about what classes they take while still pursuing a career doing broadly the same type of work and benefiting others. It's also a field heavily dominated by a usually unfunded professional degree that sends people into public service work. People pursuing this path need to know that they will be able to afford to live and to pay those student loans back. If you look at the accepted/rejected threads, there are tons of people looking back at their undergrad coursework, effort, or even their entire major or school with 20/20 hindsight. How on earth is it helpful to tell them to pretend they're still 18 and go forward with their very expensive grad school decision with just as little forethought as they did in undergrad?

Note that I mentioned "in the field of public health." I am not referring to starving artists or other fields. And having worked with a diverse range of students and professionals in public health, I know that if you're really good at what you do, there are plenty of opportunities out there. I would advice against people to pick biostats or epi if it doesn't interest them soley for "having more job opportunities." Unless you really love it, you are less likely to excel in it and have positive job satisfaction. Employers too want people who are passionate and interested in their work. You are not going to make tons of money going into public health, so I agree people should definitely look into the costs and average salaries before taking the leap into an MPH. But that's different than choosing a career path solely for the number of job opportunities.

 

[Stories]

Balancing passion with realistic opportunities is a reality that everyone has to face. Everyone will give you a different answer depending on his/her own situation, and everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Keep it civil.

 

[Muffinho]

Wouldn't biostats be difficult to get into if you're not a math/statistics/comp sci undergrad? I was under the impression that you needed a very strong quantitative background.