Since CAHME says that all schools that they accredit are equal and they do not endorse any rankings, does that mean that all schools with an accredited MHA programs are pretty much similar, or do employers still look largely on where a candidate went to school at?
About CAHME's Not Endorsing US News' Rankings...
- Thread starter beebee0
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It's a big difference if you're comparing podunk state university MPH vs. Johns Hopkins
Not so much if you're comparing, say, #2 vs. #6 school. There's an arbitrary set of schools that as long as the name is recognized, you're golden in most hiring/appointment situations. If you have to explain that "school x IS ceph-accredited" or the employer has never even heard of the school, then you may be in trouble.
Networking is also another big deal when it comes to large, "prestigious" (I use this lightly) programs vs. more modest sized ones (whether or not they _are_ the same caliber or not).
For example, given a random situation, if naive person A were to make a choice between candidate A (graduate of Yale MPH) vs. candidate B (graduate of Alabama), one would expect the Yale candidate to be heavily favored for a given position even though they are "equal"--per CAHME's statement and the actual USNEWS rankings.
Not so much if you're comparing, say, #2 vs. #6 school. There's an arbitrary set of schools that as long as the name is recognized, you're golden in most hiring/appointment situations. If you have to explain that "school x IS ceph-accredited" or the employer has never even heard of the school, then you may be in trouble.
Networking is also another big deal when it comes to large, "prestigious" (I use this lightly) programs vs. more modest sized ones (whether or not they _are_ the same caliber or not).
For example, given a random situation, if naive person A were to make a choice between candidate A (graduate of Yale MPH) vs. candidate B (graduate of Alabama), one would expect the Yale candidate to be heavily favored for a given position even though they are "equal"--per CAHME's statement and the actual USNEWS rankings.
Maybe the programs are equal, but I don't think that employers will be "equal". For example, University of Minnesota is ranked way better than Yale for MPH programs under US World and News Report http://grad-schools.usnews.rankings...te-schools/top-public-health-schools/rankings , but Yale has a way better reputation and is widely known. I think that if an employer has two candidates, they will choose the one from Yale. Go the school that will allow you to market yourself the best. The top ranked undergrad schools (such as Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins) have wonderful networking opportunities. I can gaurantee you that even though Yale is not ranked as high as UMinnesota for MPH programs, Yale has better connections and will yield you a higher salary. Do consider undergraduate rankings. University of South Florida is #20 for MPH and yet it is a third tier school for undergrad. In fact, in Florida it doesn't have a good repuation and doesn't compare to University of Florida and University of Miami. Do keep in mind that all graduate health rankings are based solely on the results of peer assessment surveys sent to deans, other administrators, and/or faculty at accredited degree programs or schools in each discipline; they do not use the same methadology as undergrad ( http://www.usnews.com/articles/educ...s/2009/04/22/health-rankings-methodology.html )
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Want to see a trend here from US News Rankings?
US News Rank / School / New Students in 2007
1.) Johns Hopkins - 654
2.) Harvard - 481
3.) North Carolina - 415
4.) Washington - 265
5.) Michigan - 386
6.) Columbia - 385
7.) Emory - 382
8.) UC-Berkeley - 195
8.) UC-LA - 264
10.) Minnesota - 338
11.) Pittsburgh - 176
12.) Texas - 179
13.) Boston - 261
13.) Tulane - 208
15.) Illinois-Chicago - 173
16.) Alabama-Birmingham - 149
16.) Yale - 102
18.) Iowa - 101
19.) George Washington - 279
20.) Southern Florida - 119
21.) Ohio State - 161
21.) Saint Louis - 129
21.) Arizona - 88
24.) Texas A&M - 80
24.) South Carolina - 160
Now, if we were to consider other factors such as: graduation rates, retention rates, placement rates, acceptance rates, these rankings will differ significantly. But it's clear from these rankings, that the basis for rank of the program, "Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a 5-point scale", is merely on course offerings. The largest schools with the most classes have the highest rankings. We know that this is not an accurate measure of the "quality" of the school itself.
If anyone basis his/her choice of schools based on the US News for PH, so be it, as long as he/she knows the methodology used is flawed.
US News Rank / School / New Students in 2007
1.) Johns Hopkins - 654
2.) Harvard - 481
3.) North Carolina - 415
4.) Washington - 265
5.) Michigan - 386
6.) Columbia - 385
7.) Emory - 382
8.) UC-Berkeley - 195
8.) UC-LA - 264
10.) Minnesota - 338
11.) Pittsburgh - 176
12.) Texas - 179
13.) Boston - 261
13.) Tulane - 208
15.) Illinois-Chicago - 173
16.) Alabama-Birmingham - 149
16.) Yale - 102
18.) Iowa - 101
19.) George Washington - 279
20.) Southern Florida - 119
21.) Ohio State - 161
21.) Saint Louis - 129
21.) Arizona - 88
24.) Texas A&M - 80
24.) South Carolina - 160
Now, if we were to consider other factors such as: graduation rates, retention rates, placement rates, acceptance rates, these rankings will differ significantly. But it's clear from these rankings, that the basis for rank of the program, "Respondents rated the academic quality of programs on a 5-point scale", is merely on course offerings. The largest schools with the most classes have the highest rankings. We know that this is not an accurate measure of the "quality" of the school itself.
If anyone basis his/her choice of schools based on the US News for PH, so be it, as long as he/she knows the methodology used is flawed.
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Has anyone heard of any other MHA program ranking guides besides US News and World Report? Everyone knows that their methodology is not the best, but who else even ranks these programs? If anyone knows, do please share!! Thanks.
