A word of caution to anyone considering the Cross-Continental MPH at NYU.

[nyuccmph2017]

I am in this program now, currently in Accra, Ghana. I gave up other more established programs to be here because I wanted the experience of living abroad for a year. However I believe I was severely misled about the program and want to warn anyone who is starting to think about their applications for 2018. Had I been fully informed, I would not have enrolled.

I'll try to put personal feelings aside and make this as factual as possible, which admittedly is difficult.

General info:

• This is only the second year this program has existed, and that means there are a lot of administrative and organizational failings that you will not encounter at another school. You will not find this fact in print anywhere; they do not advertise it.
• The summer semester consisted of 6 courses. 4 of them were online. We paid over $40K for that.
• If you request a tuition breakdown, you will not be provided with one. Tuition, housing, food, etc is all "bundled," so they are able to mask what they pay for individual items. Yes it's a new program and we understand they need to make money to improve it, but from what we are able to discern the difference between what we are charged and what NYU is actually paying is exorbitant. For example, tuition at the University of Ghana (where we are enrolled this semester) is $1,750 USD per semester. We are paying about $35K.
• This bundling of fees also means that if you would like to find your own housing to save money (as many grad students are wont to do), you will be unable to do so, as NYU will apply any scholarship or financial aid you receive to their "tuition" package and will not provide you with a refund of any fees for NYU housing that you are not using.

Caliber of the education:

• Students were accepted to the program well beyond the official admission deadline. I was told by NYU staff that this is because they had fewer students accept than they expected. This resulted in students being in the program that fall far short of the academic caliber one might expect of other NYU graduate programs.
• The summer semester this year was in DC instead of NYC, yet there appeared to be no real reason for this. The program did not plan any DC-related activities. No public health policy seminars, no poli-sci class, no capitol visits or government internships. We had a few speakers come to give some seminars on campus, but they could have done that in NYC. And had the semester been in NYC instead, classes would have been in person rather than online.
• We are taking classes at the University of Ghana this semester. I'm reluctant to make comparisons to universities in the western world...but I can tell you that these classes will not prepare you to work as a public health professional in the US. The topics we have covered thus far are remedial. It is not a graduate level education. It would be infinitely better if the subjects were taught at NYU Accra, but they are either unwilling or unable to provide the faculty and funding to do so. Yet NYU touted this semester as a "world class" and "world renowned" education.
• The fall semester also includes 180 hours of field work in the form of a practicum, or internship. Do not be fooled -- these are not internships as you understand them to be. NYU and UG are laughably unorganized in their orchestration of these practicums. We have been here for 7 weeks and there are students who still have not started, students whose internships cancelled on them, students who were not allowed to use the restroom or eat while at work, students who sit for 5-8 hours a day doing nothing because their internship sites do not have work for them to do. I understand this might even be a violation of the CEPH Accreditation standards. The organizations are ill prepared for and/or unable to accommodate interns, but NYU will attempt to sell you on what an "incredible opportunity" they are, and the "insight" you will gain at work.

This more or less highlights my major concerns with the program thus far. There are more personal issues that I've encountered, such partying among the cohort, religious and sexist rhetoric being spewed at us by UG professors and students alike, not having wifi for a month at our housing location, wifi not working on campus, waiting several hours for software training to begin while they attempt to get us wifi and then ultimately fail to do so...so much of our work requires the internet.

To summarize, I feel that I was led to believe I'd be learning, thinking, doing, and have not been. There are students here who gave up Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, etc to be here and have not received an education that is on par with those universities, though NYU administrators still claim it to be.

Tl;dr: If you'd like to get a Master's degree abroad while partying constantly and not working, choose NYU CCMPH. If you actually want to be a trained professional, look to other programs instead.

---

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[wwmmkk]

Thank you for posting this. I'm commenting so that this gets more views/comes up more often in searches future applicants might be doing.

Hoping you figure out a way to navigate this difficult experience and that this garners the attention it deserves.

 

[AbeWoodhull]

Thank you for posting this. I'm commenting so that this gets more views/comes up more often in searches future applicants might be doing.

Hoping you figure out a way to navigate this difficult experience and that this garners the attention it deserves.

I agree and I think you're smart for keeping this at the top. It just goes to show that trusting a 'brand name' school isn't enough apparently.

 

[deleted480308]

Regarding your tuition complaints, were you somehow tricked? Isn't the price advertised?

 

[She-Hulk]

Regarding your tuition complaints, were you somehow tricked? Isn't the price advertised?

What if you read an advertisement in a newspaper for "Joey's Pizza" offering the best pizza in New York, and you go online and order a $25 double pizza deal and the delivery person brings you two stale large crackers with Cheez-Whiz and some cut up tomatoes? You mean you don't have a right to complain because you knew the price upfront? What about the quality of the product?

Sadly, New York pizzerias are probably on average a whole lot more reputable than this NYU public health program.

I think the issue is that an American school of public health is "using" a foreign university to make money off of students, and they implemented a new type of MPH that is lacking in the scholarship provided to students, especially the aforementioned lack of an internship. Probably the foreign university pockets a couple grand, and the rest goes back to NYU.

Some schools, like NYU, BU, and maybe Georgetown, are the worst offenders, and others are more focused on the financial aspects of their institutions, and cranking through huge numbers of students, than with the quality of the education and in preparing students to make a difference and be future leaders.

 

[She-Hulk]

It might be a whole lot better to do a year abroad with a simple study abroad program, and the matriculate into a full-time MPH program in the states. Unless a US institution has a close relationship with governmental and other institutions in a developing country, it can be incredibly difficult to do substantiative projects.

It is really sad that students gave up matriculating at better institutions for this, but good that you posted this to deter other students. It would be good if NYU just straight-up refunded students who wanted to quit the program and go home.

I've noted for years that a lot of students are truly, and intensively, interested in doing global health work, and that some public health institutions use this as a selling point for luring in students, but without providing anything substantiative once they have the students' money. In a way, schools are cashing in on students' optimism and enthusiasm for doing global health work in order to line their own pockets.

This is especially sad as there is a lot that needs to be done in the developing world, and paying lip-service to actually doing this sort of work is bad.


Also Abu Dhabi?!? Isn't the UAE a pretty wealthy country? I am wondering if there isn't some sort of "partnership" with the UAE whereby NYU gets cash from the UAE.

I would say that this program could become something really great, but just a semester in Accra, some more time in Abu Dhabi, then some in Washington D.C. . . . and with subpar
classes at the University of Ghana, it might not be nearly as productive as students might think.

Also, many International colleges don't have nearly the same standards and level of courses as US institutions, really surprising that this would pass as credit for an MPH coming from an American degree granting institution.

I am in this program now, currently in Accra, Ghana. I gave up other more established programs to be here because I wanted the experience of living abroad for a year. However I believe I was severely misled about the program and want to warn anyone who is starting to think about their applications for 2018. Had I been fully informed, I would not have enrolled.

I'll try to put personal feelings aside and make this as factual as possible, which admittedly is difficult.

General info:

• This is only the second year this program has existed, and that means there are a lot of administrative and organizational failings that you will not encounter at another school. You will not find this fact in print anywhere; they do not advertise it.
• The summer semester consisted of 6 courses. 4 of them were online. We paid over $40K for that.
• If you request a tuition breakdown, you will not be provided with one. Tuition, housing, food, etc is all "bundled," so they are able to mask what they pay for individual items. Yes it's a new program and we understand they need to make money to improve it, but from what we are able to discern the difference between what we are charged and what NYU is actually paying is exorbitant. For example, tuition at the University of Ghana (where we are enrolled this semester) is $1,750 USD per semester. We are paying about $35K.
• This bundling of fees also means that if you would like to find your own housing to save money (as many grad students are wont to do), you will be unable to do so, as NYU will apply any scholarship or financial aid you receive to their "tuition" package and will not provide you with a refund of any fees for NYU housing that you are not using.

Caliber of the education:

• Students were accepted to the program well beyond the official admission deadline. I was told by NYU staff that this is because they had fewer students accept than they expected. This resulted in students being in the program that fall far short of the academic caliber one might expect of other NYU graduate programs.
• The summer semester this year was in DC instead of NYC, yet there appeared to be no real reason for this. The program did not plan any DC-related activities. No public health policy seminars, no poli-sci class, no capitol visits or government internships. We had a few speakers come to give some seminars on campus, but they could have done that in NYC. And had the semester been in NYC instead, classes would have been in person rather than online.
• We are taking classes at the University of Ghana this semester. I'm reluctant to make comparisons to universities in the western world...but I can tell you that these classes will not prepare you to work as a public health professional in the US. The topics we have covered thus far are remedial. It is not a graduate level education. It would be infinitely better if the subjects were taught at NYU Accra, but they are either unwilling or unable to provide the faculty and funding to do so. Yet NYU touted this semester as a "world class" and "world renowned" education.
• The fall semester also includes 180 hours of field work in the form of a practicum, or internship. Do not be fooled -- these are not internships as you understand them to be. NYU and UG are laughably unorganized in their orchestration of these practicums. We have been here for 7 weeks and there are students who still have not started, students whose internships cancelled on them, students who were not allowed to use the restroom or eat while at work, students who sit for 5-8 hours a day doing nothing because their internship sites do not have work for them to do. I understand this might even be a violation of the CEPH Accreditation standards. The organizations are ill prepared for and/or unable to accommodate interns, but NYU will attempt to sell you on what an "incredible opportunity" they are, and the "insight" you will gain at work.

This more or less highlights my major concerns with the program thus far. There are more personal issues that I've encountered, such partying among the cohort, religious and sexist rhetoric being spewed at us by UG professors and students alike, not having wifi for a month at our housing location, wifi not working on campus, waiting several hours for software training to begin while they attempt to get us wifi and then ultimately fail to do so...so much of our work requires the internet.

To summarize, I feel that I was led to believe I'd be learning, thinking, doing, and have not been. There are students here who gave up Yale, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, etc to be here and have not received an education that is on par with those universities, though NYU administrators still claim it to be.

Tl;dr: If you'd like to get a Master's degree abroad while partying constantly and not working, choose NYU CCMPH. If you actually want to be a trained professional, look to other programs instead.

 

[She-Hulk]

I agree and I think you're smart for keeping this at the top. It just goes to show that trusting a 'brand name' school isn't enough apparently.

Since when is NYU is a brand public health school? I know a lot of people apply there, but they don't seem to even be ranked! I think the top public health schools in terms of global health are:

1. JHU
2. UNC
3. Tulane
4. Emory
5. Harvard
6. USF
7. Berkeley
8. Probably UCLA, University of Washington, GW, Brown

In the end, if you find a faculty member or concentration you really like, then that would make a big difference. Personally, I wouldn't go to NYU just because I don't know a lot about it. It takes time to build up faculty interest and expertise in global health, and like I've said before, sometimes this is just a selling point for public health schools.

 

[AbeWoodhull]

Since when is NYU is a brand public health school? I know a lot of people apply there, but they don't seem to even be ranked! I think the top public health schools in terms of global health are:

1. JHU
2. UNC
3. Tulane
4. Emory
5. Harvard
6. USF
7. Berkeley
8. Probably UCLA, University of Washington, GW, Brown

In the end, if you find a faculty member or concentration you really like, then that would make a big difference. Personally, I wouldn't go to NYU just because I don't know a lot about it. It takes time to build up faculty interest and expertise in global health, and like I've said before, sometimes this is just a selling point for public health schools.

I said school, but I meant University. All I meant is that you expect to get more out of your education at a school like NYU then this student seems to be getting.

 

[kcarlson518]

I was initially interested in this program from the name but then immediately turned off by the countries. I would assume that a global health program could pick some more varied and interesting locations. That's also terrible about the lack of coordination in Ghana. The only reason people pay a lot of money for study abroad with companies like SIT and CIEE is because they have a reputation for taking care of almost everything. Maybe NYU should've hired some experts to deal with those logistics?

 

[She-Hulk]

I think if NYU hired some logistics experts it would make the program that much more expensive.

I was initially interested in this program from the name but then immediately turned off by the countries. I would assume that a global health program could pick some more varied and interesting locations. That's also terrible about the lack of coordination in Ghana. The only reason people pay a lot of money for study abroad with companies like SIT and CIEE is because they have a reputation for taking care of almost everything. Maybe NYU should've hired some experts to deal with those logistics?

 

[She-Hulk]

I can see why the program is called a "Cross-Continental" program, (which ironically brings up cheesy and cheap offerings in my mind like the contintental breakfast), and not a bonafide Global Health or International Health MPH as the program plans to expand into London, Rome, Florence and Madrid. I think that maybe NYU already has study abroad experiences in these cities for art majors and business majors, but most of global health's pressing concerns are in developing nations.

It looks like you could receive a basic study abroad experience in several glitzy locales like Rome and London, party a lot, but not learn a whole lot of public health.

I don't think it would be accurate to call this degree a global health MPH, as that conjures something else entirely.

Is it really only a year long? JHU has a year long program and from what I hear it's like an MPH on steroids. If NYU doesn't have dedicated public health faculty in Ghana, UAE, Rome, London, Florence . . . I guess you'd have to question CEPH standards, though if a fixed percentage is online, maybe that's how they get around it.

 

[She-Hulk]

This is how NYU responded to this same student's message posted on another online forum (posted below in green). They don't seem to specifically address the most troubling concerns, though vaguely acknowledge problems with it being a program done abroad in various international locations.

I don't quite get how the program fosters understanding of global health equity? Maybe something to ponder if you're locked in a room in Ghana for half a day and not allowed to use the restroom?

From what I've read NYU's "College of Global Public Health" MPH program only recently applied for CEPH a couple years ago. If there is a probationary period after getting initial accreditation maybe this is something CEPH should look at quickly.

I don't think they'll be able to market the degree as a learning experience in health equity with a straight face in the future if students are going to go to big European tourist draws like London, Rome or Florence!

Dear Reddit Community,

This comment is in response to a recent post regarding the Cross-Continental Master of Public Health program offered by New York University's College of Global Public Health. The health and safety of our students and quality of their education are paramount to us - it is our highest priority, so please know that we take these comments very seriously. We also welcome feedback from our students and encourage them to express any concerns they may have, whether in private or in public forums like this one.

The Cross-Continental MPH is a new and unique program. It’s an intensive, one-year experience starting in either New York City or Washington, DC, and then moving to Accra, Ghana, and finally to Abu Dhabi, UAE. Studying, living and socializing in large cities and then shifting to remote, low-to-middle income nations where lack of resources and technology access are often commonplace, can be a major adjustment. However, in keeping with our mission to promote health and to advance health equity, this unique educational experience and on-the-ground training allows students the opportunity to understand, learn from, and respect the very same communities they plan to serve upon graduation. Like any new program, and especially one offered almost entirely abroad, there are always unforeseen challenges to work through. Nonetheless, we're proud of the experience we're offering our students and are continuously working hard to address challenges and improve on any areas that may need it.

We're happy to address any questions or concerns raised by this post, and encourage you to contact us at [email protected].

Thank you,

Administration at the NYU College of Global Public Health

 

[nyuccmph2017]

Regarding your tuition complaints, were you somehow tricked? Isn't the price advertised?

Well, yes and no. The alarm bells started ringing when we learned that the amount we were spending wasn't being returned to us (e.g. 45K for 4/6 online courses). Even more so, when (1) everyone was denied a tuition breakdown, and (2) when we found out that the "scholarships" that the administration claimed were the same for everyone actually were not, and could vary significantly, rather arbitrarily and not based on merit or anything. Aggravating, at the very least.

 

[She-Hulk]

Well, yes and no. The alarm bells started ringing when we learned that the amount we were spending wasn't being returned to us (e.g. 45K for 4/6 online courses). Even more so, when (1) everyone was denied a tuition breakdown, and (2) when we found out that the "scholarships" that the administration claimed were the same for everyone actually were not, and could vary significantly, rather arbitrarily and not based on merit or anything. Aggravating, at the very least.

I would think that most schools would provide a breakdown for where the tuition dollars are going.

"Scholarships" are alway tricky with MPH programs that are very expensive, it's almost like a sale on an item that has a too high list price to begin with.

Are you going to leave the program?

 

[nyuccmph2017]

I would think that most schools would provide a breakdown for where the tuition dollars are going.

"Scholarships" are alway tricky with MPH programs that are very expensive, it's almost like a sale on an item that has a too high list price to begin with.

Are you going to leave the program?

Honestly? I think at this point I've invested too much time and money to not leave this without a Master's. Leaving would be detrimental to my bank account. I created this post solely for the purposes of warning people who are considering applying for 2018. When I was applying, I checked this site and found no relevant information. I'm determined to make sure what happened to me doesn't happen to other students -- they need to be more informed than I was.

The program has so much potential, and it's truly tragic that I felt the urge to warn others....I hope that this little step helps the administration to see beyond their well-structured syllabi and make some serious improvements.

 

[nyuccmph2017]

What if you read an advertisement in a newspaper for "Joey's Pizza" offering the best pizza in New York, and you go online and order a $25 double pizza deal and the delivery person brings you two stale large crackers with Cheez-Whiz and some cut up tomatoes? You mean you don't have a right to complain because you knew the price upfront? What about the quality of the product?

Sadly, New York pizzerias are probably on average a whole lot more reputable than this NYU public health program.

I think the issue is that an American school of public health is "using" a foreign university to make money off of students, and they implemented a new type of MPH that is lacking in the scholarship provided to students, especially the aforementioned lack of an internship. Probably the foreign university pockets a couple grand, and the rest goes back to NYU.

Some schools, like NYU, BU, and maybe Georgetown, are the worst offenders, and others are more focused on the financial aspects of their institutions, and cranking through huge numbers of students, than with the quality of the education and in preparing students to make a difference and be future leaders.

You nailed it. Great metaphor.

 

[She-Hulk]

Good luck with whatever can be salvaged from this experience, and thanks for posting this information so applicants this year can make a more informed decision.

Maybe if the classes at the university in Ghana aren't up to the standards of American education, you could befriend somebody at this university who is a professor and could maybe mentor you on public health issues in Ghana? Maybe find a health center where you can shadow Ghanan doctors and get their perspective so you get more of an educational experience?

Maybe NYU can throw early matriculants to this program a bone, like a retroactive partial refund for some courses, or maybe a paid practicum in New York City somewhere if you don't get that experience abroad, or maybe some sort of mentorship with faculty in the US.

There are reputable international health experiences abroad, but these are mostly through established programs run by universities with a much longer history in public health education, and they might not see the benefit of sharing their expertise with NYU.

100% agree that this is tragic. It would make sense if NYU had a MPH program where you studied with a reputable university in a developing country like in South Africa on a specific issue like HIV/AIDS or something for six months or a year, and then did the rest of the education in New York, I'd question how much students learn by jet setting all over the globe! Why send MPH students to Rome and Florence?!? Do students have to speak Italian and how does this help?

When your in the UAE I'd say try to find as many experts in public health to talk too as possible, who knows, maybe a big Whig from the WHO in Geneva also does stuff in the UAE. Sometimes all you need to change the trajectory of your career, or give you insight into a specific field, is to meet just that one special professor or experienced public health professor, could be somebody in Ghana, UAE or Washington DC.

It seems like the UAE has a lot of public health issues similar to the US, though they have an unexpectedly high level of "thalassemias", but if I were you I'd try to take advantage of being there to learn about these rare genetic diseases, some of which are more common in the UAE. Make contacts and friends in public health outside of class, don't party away the night, beg to shadow people and work on projects and you'll come out ahead!

Health in the United Arab Emirates - Wikipedia

Honestly? I think at this point I've invested too much time and money to not leave this without a Master's. Leaving would be detrimental to my bank account. I created this post solely for the purposes of warning people who are considering applying for 2018. When I was applying, I checked this site and found no relevant information. I'm determined to make sure what happened to me doesn't happen to other students -- they need to be more informed than I was.

The program has so much potential, and it's truly tragic that I felt the urge to warn others....I hope that this little step helps the administration to see beyond their well-structured syllabi and make some serious improvements.

 

[She-Hulk]

It appears that the parent of another student posted on this NYU program on another forum:

Dear Reddit Community, As a family member of a student in this program, these complaints are completely valid and understated. There were many other problems not mentioned that have arisen. Tuition was supposed to include all meals while overseas. That turned out to be five dinners a week (down from the promised 21). Clean drinking water is not provided. Housing was to be at NYU housing, it is not, comprising the safety and security of the students. Classes were far below masters level. As someone with a PhD I disagree with some of the commenters and feel that a masters program should teach you the fundamentals of the subject matter you are studying, something NYU has regrettably failed to do. My family member in this program may leave with three new letters behind their name but they will graduate with no new knowledge, applicable skills, or valuable public health experience. Additionally, many students have voiced their concerns but were either punished for retaliation or blatantly ignored which has ensured that future open discussion about program improvements will not be held.

 

[wwmmkk]

As someone not very familiar with NYU as an institution, I am still shocked by these allegations. I did some brief Googling to see if this was getting coverage anywhere, and it's not. Insight Higher Ed did write this critique of NYU's global and NYC expansion in 2013, which after a skim seems relevant to the concerns OP raised. I wonder if this mismanagement and misinformation is happening in other NYU "global" graduate programs. I hope someone does some real investigation that puts pressure on NYU to actually address these problems.

 

[She-Hulk]

Wow, this pretty much puts into print my suspicions about this NYU program, and I'm kind of amazed how closely it mirrors what my guesstimate of the behind the scenes machinations were. I almost wondered if I was being cynical but this does looks like a money grab for NYU . . . but more than that, there is a real concern about the quality of the education from faculty. I think the salient points are:

1. Under Sexton, NYU pursued a business model of "expand or die", so they setup international sites for more than study abroad, but universities with students from all over that are cheap to run.

2. UAE spent a billion dollars, more or less, on a new campus for NYU. NYU requires foreign governments to heavily subsidize this venture so that they turn a profit, OR they turn to a university in the developing world that charges less than $2,000 per year, so when they charge students NYU's $38,000 they make a profit. As long as there is a large profit involved.

3. There are faculty concerns about profit being put ahead of scholarship, and it seems that it is more the administration, than faculty, deciding what makes a good venture, i.e. the administration is looking at financials, not the quality of the education. The faculty have, surprise, surprise, raised questions about the adequacy of the scholarship and the education provided.

4. All dollars "must" flow back to New York, so as opposed to just breaking even, or making a modest income for the university, these outposts must be cheap for NYU to run, and bring back big money to headquarters. Apparently a 2+ billion dollar endowment is not enough, so this is more about padding the endowment for the future, and maybe current salaries and bonuses, than providing a quality education to NYU's current students. This philosophy would also hint that NYU won't be investing money in these international sites to make them better, they'll never build a student dormitory or add professors as apparently NYU wants foreign governments and students to pay for everything so they can generate maximum profits!

This "all money goes to NYU" explains why NYU cut-back support for meals, and possibly clean drinking water, for the students as the Accra program is run like a McDonald's where the profits have to come in or the branch closes and NYU looks for other cheap countries to run a program, or a wealthy country that will pay to bring in NYU in a joint venture.

5. The whole endeavor has been poorly managed, perhaps in part to the rapid growth and lack of concern about scholastic value, but also because the focus is on profit, not the value of the education. There is an incentive to not fund for quality administrative oversight, and faculty input and help, on this program as that would drive up the cost and lower the profits.

As someone not very familiar with NYU as an institution, I am still shocked by these allegations. I did some brief Googling to see if this was getting coverage anywhere, and it's not. Insight Higher Ed did write this critique of NYU's global and NYC expansion in 2013, which after a skim seems relevant to the concerns OP raised. I wonder if this mismanagement and misinformation is happening in other NYU "global" graduate programs. I hope someone does some real investigation that puts pressure on NYU to actually address these problems.

 

[She-Hulk]

NYU's UAE campus is controversial too:

Opinion | N.Y.U. in Abu Dhabi: A Sectarian Bargain

Sometimes countries that are not democracies, and repress their citizens, open branches of western universities and museums and such in order to justify their system of government.

1. UAE won't give Visas to NYU's Shia professors because of their specific religious sect, NOT acceptable in the US, but OK in NYU's eyes as UAE gives NYU money, such as a special $50 million grant to begin setting up in Abu Dhabi! It's really a bribe to get NYU to help the UAE legitimize their government, both internally and externally. UAE can boast to its citizenry that the government got the world reknown NYU to setup a campus in Abu Dhabi, and NYU is super progressive and western so of course the UAE government must be in the same crowd, even though they're not a democracy and scared as heck that their citizens will revolt and demand a representative government. So part of the Cross-Continential programs is you get to indirectly help repressive foreign governments legitimize themselves.

2. There are sexist attitudes promulgated in classes in the Accra site that wouldn't be tolerated at NYU's New York campus, and treatment of students that is NOT acceptable in New York, but OK because Accra has super cheap tuition, and so NYU can make a profit, so sweep those concerns under the rug.

I think that public health should be a higher calling especially the work that goes on in developing countries, but with NYU's Cross-Continental Program, your a pawn of both NYU, and foreign governments like the UAE. I think NYU thinks it's applicants are gullible, and that they can hide the deal-breaking failings of the program.

I know that UAE students and American students and students from other countries will exchange interesting ideas in class, but for NYU MPH students at least, none of the players have the best interests of the students at heart.

 

[She-Hulk]

I hope someone does some real investigation that puts pressure on NYU to actually address these problems.

I think the future of the Cross-Continental Program might be to move into cities like Rome, Florence Italy, Madrid and London, which they hinted they would do. They'll probably get less complaints than in Ghana, though if they're still using the same business model I guess you could have that problem anywhere in the world if NYU purposely doesn't invest in these programs and wants everybody else to pay for their money making scheme.

There are obvious ethical dilemmas with UAE, but as long as they have their brand new $1 Billion campus and possibly ongoing subsidies from the UAE, it doesn't look like they'll change anything. Some of the tuitions there are the highest in the world at $60,000+ for undergraduate classes!

I think it's kind of a scam, and nobody tries to legitimize a scam, just shut it down. It's thuggish behavior on NYU's part to retaliate against their students and then write posts on forums whitewashing everything and apparently feeling the need to reasssure potential applicants that they take "concerns" seriously, the only concern they take seriously is the bottom-line, whether their Cross-Continental program will close, and whether they'll get their accreditation revoked.

It's actually kind of a depressing statement on the state of public health education today.

 

[She-Hulk]

I was trying to reconcile why NYU won't pay for the promised 21 meals a week (apparently only 5), and why clean drinking water isn't provided, you'd think these things would be pre-baked into the costs of the program unless . . .

As the OP said, they extended the admissions deadline well past the deadline and so, and not as many people accepted as the expected so . . . Because not enough students showed-up, they cut the expenses by asking the remaining students to pay for their meals and clean drinking water.

That makes sense. If a program like this has 1 student with 12 support faculty, obviously they lose money, if there are 200 students they make money, . . . looks like this program is somewhere in between as they're squeezing their students AND responding to posts on Reddit, they must be very desperate to get more students, or they plan on closing the program in a couple years, but might as well lure/trick more students into attending in the mean time.

NYU as the parent organization should make sure students have enough to eat, but they'd had this problem with some of their international programs before which close and there are disputes between the program and NYU.

 

[She-Hulk]

bump . . .

 

[n3t]

Thank you for sharing this. The inside information will be really important as this year's applicants begin making decisions. I agree with others that it is important to keep this threat near the top of the list.

 

[She-Hulk]

Thank you for sharing this. The inside information will be really important as this year's applicants begin making decisions. I agree with others that it is important to keep this threat near the top of the list.

^Agree. This program was a quickly planned money grab that even faculty of NYU said was lacking in academic merit. The reply from NYU on reddit says a lot, blaming poorly taught, and apparently very basic, courses, and non-existent or disorganized internships on the fact that the program operates in Accra. *If* this was a summer study-abroad program, then I'd guess NYU students would still get the "perspective" of a middle income country which still is very underdeveloped in some areas.

HOWEVER, we're talking about a professional MPH program, the response from NYU shouldn't be, "well you'll get to socialize in 'big cities' and see what it's like in a "low to middle" income country." That is a study abroad experience or a gap year, not a professional MPH program, especially as they are trying to get students to finish in a year!

 

[wwmmkk]

Bumping this thread again as acceptances to NYU are rolling in

 

[ThisisReality]

What about the NYU MPH on campus?