Anyone With Dual Degrees Experience?

[swaffles]

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Hey Guys,

I don't know if anyone is interested in dual degrees or has already applied to any but I would be grateful for experience anecdotes! I really wanted to apply for a dual degree in MPH/masters of journalism but alas, I have no background in journalism. It feels like you can't get a foot in the door unless it was already there during undergrad!

Other schools most popularly offer Global Affairs or Public Affairs as options for dual degrees. Is anyone doing a masters in any of those? I'd like to know what I'm signing up for, haha

Thanks!

 

[nietzsche754]

My situation is a little different but I discovered public health after college while working on my MA in History. I was very into GLBT and African American involvement in labor movements and when I started volunteering in public health it was kind of like stepping into the history I was writing about. So in my case I finished my MA and will begin my MPH immediately afterwards beginning in January. My advice to you based on my experience is to find a way to connect the two fields for instance Reuters actually hires a lot of public health people and MD's to analyze and write about health related stories in the media. For me that was also important that if I changed fields I wanted to not abandon one thing for another but use everything I'd learned. I volunteered in a non profit STD prevention center for black MSM and so I was able to articulate in my statement of purpose a direct connection between my two interests.

 

[swaffles]

Thank you for the response! Sorry it took so long to get back to you. Yeah, I'm actually trying to show interest in two related fields, too. I want to do MPH and something like International Affairs or Public Policy so I'm setting aside about a paragraph to articulate that. I initially wanted journalism but after talking to a few masters students, I feel like I'm not bold enough to 'aggressively pursue' my stories, so public policy is a little more my pace, haha.

However, I've come to realize that some schools want a SEPARATE set of recommendations for the second degree's school, and I feel like that's just pushing my letter writers too much (they've already written me five each!). I'm thinking of just applying to the MPH program, and adding a second degree after I get in - for the schools that allow that, of course.

I would LOVE to work for Reuters at some point in my life. I visit their website daily!

P.S. where do you live, nietzsche754? If that non-profit STD prevention center is in NY or NJ, I'm really interested in helping out!

Thank you!