Columbia v. Yale Public Health

[tmsed]

My friend recently got in to both schools, was wondering if people had some input as to which (if money is no concern) would be better to attend.

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[edfig99]

it depends....what's you're friend interested in and which school provides courses or networking opportunities to meet those interests.

 

[tmsed]

In terms of an overall experience? Not just the opportunities provided through the program, but the neighboorhood, the school atmosphere, etc etc.

 

[SMW83]

what can you do with a degree in public health???????

 

[Robz]

Originally posted by SMW83
what can you do with a degree in public health???????

More than you can imagine from epidemiology to bioterrorism to health departments to govermental agencies to community health education issues such as stoping obesity and/or drug abuse.

Check out the sticky for ideas!

 

[exmike]

Columbia is a much better school overall for public health. Go there.

 

[CalBeE]

NO brainer, Columbia all the way

 

[PublicHealth]

Columbia. Unless you want to do international health.

 

[Ozymandsss]

Definitely Yale. They spend much more time with their students and the community is much stronger. Most of my friends who are there hate Mailman (Columbia) while I love going to Yale

 

[exmike]

Originally posted by Ozymandsss
Definitely Yale. They spend much more time with their students and the community is much stronger. Most of my friends who are there hate Mailman (Columbia) while I love going to Yale

i think happiness is subjective. Most people would prefer living in NYC to New Haven. Columbia is a measurably better public health school, and in such a small field, the difference matters.

 

[Ozymandsss]

measurably better? Thats subjective as well. By what measure? I was accepted to both and by my measure, I don't agree. They have no distinction between their chronic and infectious epidemiology divisions which means that if you are interested in one or the other, as most people ultimately are, you don't get the concentration that Yale gives you by having seperate dedicated divisions. Chronic epi and incectious epi are two entirely different things and by grouping them together, you are diluting your education in both fields.

 

[exmike]

Originally posted by Ozymandsss
measurably better? Thats subjective as well. By what measure? I was accepted to both and by my measure, I don't agree. They have no distinction between their chronic and infectious epidemiology divisions which means that if you are interested in one or the other, as most people ultimately are, you don't get the concentration that Yale gives you by having seperate dedicated divisions. Chronic epi and incectious epi are two entirely different things and by grouping them together, you are diluting your education in both fields.

The OP just asked about the school in general, not specific programs within the school. Obviously every school has its strenghts and weaknesses. Yale most certainly has departments in which it excels at and is thus preferable to Columbia. I was just saying that overall Columbia is a better public health school.

 

[wingy]

I was accepted into both Columbia and Yale. I visited both campus just this last weekend and in my opinion the Yale program was definitely better than Columbia. If you want good student/faculty interaction and support, you will definitely find that at Yale, as opposed to Columbia where I found that the student/faculty support were miles apart and their tracks were geared very specifically such that you lack flexibility to take classes in other departments like policy if you were in the health promotion track. Overall the students at Yale seemed much happier in their program than the students at Columbia.

 

[traumamonkey]

Originally posted by PublicHealth
Columbia. Unless you want to do international health.

by this do you mean that columbia doesn't have a good international health program or that yale's is just better?

thanks

 

[edfig99]

Originally posted by wingy
support were miles apart and their tracks were geared very specifically such that you lack flexibility to take classes in other departments like policy if you were in the health promotion track.

that's not true. granted, each track has a fair amount of requirements, but there are plenty of elective opportunities within most tracks. I happen to be in the health promotion track and i've taken electives in epidemiology, pop fam, and sociomedical sciences that are not at all within my track.

and i think there's plenty of support for students - student affairs, office of career services, track coordinators, faculty... i dunno... i'm pretty happy with what i've gotten so far. the school has a great reputation, and opportunities are a plenty -- you might have to do a little leg work, but hell, it's grad school.

 

[secretwave101]

by this do you mean that columbia doesn't have a good international health program or that yale's is just better?

In general, Columbia is considered to be a very good school but they don't have a strong emphasis on International Health. Their strong suit is Urban Health issues. Yale is generally conisdered to be the better of the two in terms on IH, mostly because MANY schools beat out CU in this field.

Overall, Columbia is ranked higher by USNews, and is probably considered "better", but frankly I'd take a school like Tulane, or some of the other "lesser" schools with strong IH departments, over both CU and Yale, if you are really interested in IH.

Incidentally, the London School for Tropical Hygeine is probably better than any of them for IH.

 

[kren]

i graduated from Columbia SPHs environmental health science program a few yrs ago... i never had any problems taking classes in other departments. in fact, i took several advanced epi classes and a couple of biostat classes in additional to all my EHS classes. i was also able to develop relationships with a couple of the epi profs.

 

[WhartonUndGrad]

In terms of Health Policy and Management, would people choose Yale or Columbia?

 

[swaffles]

by this do you mean that columbia doesn't have a good international health program or that yale's is just better?

thanks

I'm not sure about the quality of the programs but i DO know that you cannot do an MPH with a Global/International Health track at Columbia unless you're already a healthcare professional.

 

[intlhealth2010]

there is also a difference in how long it takes to complete an MPH at Columbia vs. Yale. At Columbia one could expect to finish an MPH in 1.5 years. At Yale it will take 2 years for the traditional MPH program (but there is a 1 year MPH f you already have an advanced professional degree)

Columbia also has one of the largest class sizes among MPH programs while Yale has one of the smallest class sizes.

Columbia is located in one of the largest cities in the world (NYC) while Yale is in a much smaller city (but still not too far from NYC)


So for me I liked Yale a little better just because I like the idea of spending the full 2 years in a small program, developing lasting ties with faculty and my fellow students, and not being overwhelmed by having to adapt to life in a HUGE metropolis/ simultaneously adapting to a new academic institution.

But, for some people Columbia's program might be more appealing as it doesn't take as long to complete, you are living in a great city for international public health opportunities, and the Mailman School of Public Health is a lot larger than YSPH so maybe there is more of a chance a faculties research interest will match your own.

oh, and then there's the fact that Columbia is ranked higher according to US News. Honestly speaking though, I don't really take those rankings too seriously for Public Health Schools (any more at least, u might have seen some of my earlier posts where i was very concerned with such rankings) . US News updates it's list once every 4 years for less popular programs (while popular rankings like undergrad or medical schools are updated every year) and they don't really do a very comprehensive "ranking method" for public health at least.

I'm sure if a very thorough review was done JHU and Harvard would still top the list, but as to who is #6 vs #10 vs #16, we would see much less of a difference. Considering there aren't that many accredited schools of public health such # differences may or may not be so important. In any case, I don't think the reputation of Yale vs. Columbia is really that drastically different.

 

[jso]

I just received my acceptance letter to the Columbia Mailman Biostats Dept. I'm still waiting on Yale, as well as BU, Emory, UCLA, and Cal. My top choices are definitely Yale, Columbia, and BU.
I read through the thread and understood the general gist of each school atmosphere. I was wondering if anyone has something to say about the Biostats department at each school, or Biostats in general of how practical it is to pursue an MPH in it.

I'm a graduating Undergrad student at USC (and I've noticed that geographically, Columbia is arguably a lot like the USC of the east coast) and I'd like to apply to an MD/PhD program after getting an MPH to focus on clinical research or something. I'm still unsure about Biostats, though I don't know if it's too late to change...

Thoughts?

 

[hr13]

Overall, Columbia is ranked higher by USNews, and is probably considered "better", but frankly I'd take a school like Tulane, or some of the other "lesser" schools with strong IH departments, over both CU and Yale, if you are really interested in IH.

Incidentally, the London School for Tropical Hygeine is probably better than any of them for IH.

How do other IH departments fit in? Where are Harvard, Emory, Hopkins compared to LSTH or Tulane, etc?


Thanks!!!

 

[may3545]

This is an older thread, but I got accepted into Columbia's Health Policy and Management MPH and Yale's Health Management MPH! I'm thrilled with my options, but would like to know feedback on which school may be best for my track? I'm most interested in developing practical skills in that field and having networking and career opportunities post graduation. Thanks in advance!

 

[parapluie]

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[may3545]

In terms of Health Policy and Management, would people choose Yale or Columbia?

I'd like to know this as well!

 

[RAMPA]

I'd like to know this as well!

what focus? policy or management? what type of career are you looking for?

 

[may3545]

what focus? policy or management? what type of career are you looking for?

I am deciding between Yale's Health Management program and Columbia's Health Policy and Management Program.

My goals are to gain skills in developing and implementing health programs and policies that affect senior care.