Berkeley vs Columbia (Infectious Diseas vs Epidemiology)

[Doctorphilic]

Hello Guys, congratulations to those accepted and best of luck to those who are waiting--it is a daunting process. Anyways i have been accepted to the UC Berkeley Infectious diseases MPH and also Columbia's Epidemiology/Global Health. My passion is tropical disease so Berkeley is certainly on target however i am not sure about Columbia. I need your sincere feedback in terms of the schools, cost, and also how good these two schools are. I am from Cali (Undergrad from Stanford) and i am planning on going to medical school in the near future. Thanks and i appreciate your feedback--keep up

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[familyfirst]

I can only speak for Columbia where I obtained my MPH. And finished my MD degree as well. I didn't go through the track of epi at Columbia but took courses in it. The department is excellent. You will learn your epi and statistics very well. You should look the course selection in both programs and see if they are similar or not. If they offer almost the same courses, then the factors will be location, tuition etc...

You should also consider the fact that you want to go to med school later. So perhaps a school with a medical school will help because you will meet professors from the medical school teaching some of the courses. And you can volunteer/shadow someone from the medical school.

 

[Coclean]

I went to Berkeley as an undergraduate (GO BEARS!!) and chose another campus to do my MSPH in Epi/Infectious Disease (I am at Emory).

I personally did not chose Berkeley because I did not feel the school place enough emphasis on public health and was more an extension of the reall great bench research program and reputation that Berkeley has. I love Berkeley....I'm entirely loyal...but I think maybe an MPH in Epidemiology would also look better as it is a more rigorous degree than one in infectious disease.

When I was applying I did not apply to Columbia because I felt it did not have enough ID work going on for my tastes....but I think you will probably get what you need there, and I think if you are planning to go on to Medical School...you'll have the ability to pick a campus based solely on your work interests later on as well.

 

[Doctorphilic]

Coclean and Familyfisrst, you guys are awesome and thanks for the invaluable advice...i will take them into consideration and good luck to u all.

 

[Poojam]

Hi doctorphilic,

have you decided which prog u opting for?
I'm joining the EPI/GLobal health track program in columbia...mostly convinced that it would be the right thing to do.
What about u?

 

[Doctorphilic]

Hello poojam, congrats to u for Columbia. Since i posted that question I also found out that I got into Yale and Hopkins. Columbia is great and even better than say Yale but i wanted infectious program which Yale and Hopkins emphasize. so i am choosing beteeen the later two. good luck and i know u will make the best out of Columbia!

 

[Poojam]

Congratulations to you!!!
I never did apply to Hopkins..was pretty much certain about wanting to be in NYC.
I do plan on joining med school too in the future!
Good luck and do let me know where you decide to go!
p.s. do u have any idea how many kids are taken in for this epi/global health track program?