I would like to briefly revive this thread.
Is anyone else noticing that there seems limited leeway with regards to picking elective courses? Columbia offers a number of interesting courses. However, after the required core, the required classes w/in your chosen discipline, and the required classes w/in your chosen certificate, you are really left with TWO - maybe three - classes from which to choose electives.
I had thought about applying to the HPM Dept w/ a Global Health Certificate. This essentially comes out to Global Health (Policy Focus). However, after all the required classes, there is really very little room to tailor one's certificate except for 2 classes. This is unfortunate.
This varies from some programs. For instance, at Harvard's MPH you can choose a number of different courses that fulfill your chosen concentration. Other than the public health core classes, there are no specific classes that need to be taken in order to fulfill a concentration. You can pick classes from Group A or Group B, and these can fill your concentration requirements - at least, in CMP's Policy Focus.
It seems to me there is little flexibility in CU's curriculum or at least limited room to tailor the certificate aspect.