Dartmouth MPH or MS

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
do you have a link to a webpage?

What major? Epidemiology?

More info needed!
 
i don't think dartmouth has an accredited school of public health, or at least they didn't a few years ago. i don't know if that matters to you.
 
i guess i should explain myself a bit... i'm looking for something to do for a year. been thinking about an MPH for a while, but the 2-year deal is kind of stopping me. interested in public/rural/primary care. i've already taken 1.5 years of post-bac, and don't want to do another 2 of grad school before med! so if anyone has suggestions or experience with either 1-year grad school programs or even work-type (thinking about americorps or intn'l), i would greatly appreciate hearing...
 
a 9-month, 9-credit masters degree? And a brand new program. I think I would be very wary of the program.

If you want to use your degree professionally in a public health setting, I would avoid this like the plague as I doubt the program give you enough background in anything to be all that valuable to potential employers.

If you're just looking for something to do for a year while re/applying to med school, I would still be very cautious about the program. I have a hard time seeing how much public health a person with a doctoral degree (DDS, MD, PhD, etc) can learn in my school's 1-year program. And even that short program is still a 31-32 credit program. But 9 credits? Yuck.


Again, we need more information. What is your situation? What do you want out of the program? Do you have any interest in public health or "evaluative and clinical sciences," whatever that is?
 
oops, you beat me to it. Please ignore the last part of my previous post.

But I personally would avoid the program like the plague.
 
did you do well in your post-bac? if so, i don't think it's necessary to take more classes. working is always a great option, and i think you learn a lot about yourself that you might not learn in an academic setting. i haven't done americorps or other such programs but have a friend who had a wonderful experience with it. also, i don't know much about international programs, but i know for a lot of them you have to pay. the main exception is the peace corps, but a two year commitment is required. i really wanted to do something abroad after i got my ms but was unable to find positions that didn't require you to pay. maybe some exist, but they are difficult to find.

i second adcadet's thoughts on the dartmouth program. you *might* have trouble getting certain jobs afterward if your degree is from a school not known for public health, particularly since the degree takes only 9 months to complete while most take 2 years. if you're doing it just to get into med school, i really think it would be best to do something other than coursework. i will have worked full-time 4 years by the time i start med school (god willing), and even though my jobs haven't been the greatest, i learned a lot about what makes me tick in a work environment and how i operate outside of an academic setting. working (well... most jobs) also allows you to have time to volunteer, have an outside life, etc...

good luck 🙂
 
yeah i guess i will try to find something else... i worked almost full-time for the first year of my post-bac classes in a rural clinic. i enjoyed it and had patient contact and a little bit of everything, but my dad was the doc there so i'm guessing i'll need some other experiences. just trying to figure out what. lola, what did your friend do with americorps? thanks.
 
Hey!
My interest is in rural medicine as well! Since I applied my senior year, I decided to pursue an m.p.h. in my year off. I don't think I could have made a better choice, and feel it will be very useful in my future career goals. I agree with adcadet that the Dartmouth program is probably not the best choice, but look at some other schools - it's worth it. You might want to ask longer programs about schedule flexibility - I talked the school I'm at now into letting me finish the 2 year program in 1 yr and a summer. Good luck with your decision!
 
Originally posted by abw
I talked the school I'm at now into letting me finish the 2 year program in 1 yr and a summer. Good luck with your decision!

i think you may be able to shorten the progam at tulane if you work really hard, although i don't know if you can do it all in 1 year. 1.5 sounds more like what i've heard. not sure of other schools, but it is definitely good advice to look into if you have a strong interest in public health.

my friend who did americorps worked in tennessee for a year helping on a breast cancer awareness/prevention project. she also helped the elderly in the community. i don't really know the details. it didn't pay well at all, but she said it was a really rewarding experience, and i know she liked it better than most other jobs she's had.
 
I'd bet you can turn most programs into a three semester-long affair if you load up on the coursework early (and have to do things like take advanced epi courses while concurrently enrolled in Epi II, assuming your an epi major), AND get a good jump on your field project and/or thesis (depending on what the school requires). But at that point you're already skipping a whole admissions cycle. But hey, who wants to be a young doctor?
 
yeah i guess i will try to find something else... i worked almost full-time for the first year of my post-bac classes in a rural clinic. i enjoyed it and had patient contact and a little bit of everything, but my dad was the doc there so i'm guessing i'll need some other experiences. just trying to figure out what. lola, what did your friend do with americorps? thanks.



WAIT -- DON'T LISTEN TO THE OTHER POSTS!! I am a graduate of the MS program at Dartmouth/CECS. It is an extraordinary program. You should definitely look into it more. I don't think that anyone who posted here knows anything about it and really should not be trying to dissuade you. My class consisted of about 50 people, half of whom were physicians, the other half were recent undergrads, nurses, etc. who were looking to start or broaden their careers. In one of my lab groups I had a neurosurgeon, and ophthamologist, and a 22-year-old who was right out of undergrad. People came from all over the world to sit in on some of our lectures. The opportunities to be involved in clinical research/health policy are numerous - Dr. Leech (head of ACGME) recruited some of my classmates to help develop the new "competencies" that will be adopted in measuring the clinical skills and knowledge of residents.

The curriculum, because the program is only 1 year in length (optional 2nd year thesis research track), is fast-paced. We took epidemiology, biostats, and a whole slew of research methods, stats, and systems improvement courses.

One disclaimer is that the MPH degree is new. Last year they reconfigured the MS coursework so that they could offer both the degrees. HOWEVER, the program itself has been established for quite some time. I cannot stress enough how unbelievable this program is - top professors, great research opportunities, and the chance to be trained as a leader in the health care world. You'll make excellent connections that will be beneficial over the course of your career. I gained skills and insights that will enable me to enter health politics and/or run my own practice VERY efficiently. All of my med school interviewers thus far have been really impressed by the scope of the program, and I think the work that I did there was a major contributor to my acceptance this year into med school. Good luck!!
 
the program may be great, that i certainly do not know, but i still think the poster should really consider other options as well. where i went to public health school, they offered 1 year mph's for health professionals. these people simply did not learn as much as those people who were there for 2 years. they only took intro classes. i'm not sure if i mentioned this before, but i don't think these 1 year degrees are very good for people who don't have another degree. if the poster ends up becoming a doctor, great. but if the poster ends up working in public health with an mph as his/her terminal degree, i think a longer program is in order. that may just be my bias after seeing all the docs graduate with 1 year mphs. the people who stayed 2 years knew considerably more.

anyway, that's all i'll say about that as i really don't know anything about the particular program. i just know that public health is not the greatest field for someone with little work experience, and if the person doesn't end up getting an md, a one year program could hurt.
 
mass51 -
nice to see somebody here who is familiar with the program! What is/are the major(s) in the program? Is the program becoming ASPH accredited? I didn't see it here http://www.asph.org/aa_section.cfm?section_id=151.

What is the difference between the MS and MPH? Do you have to do a field experience of some sort? Is there a thesis requirement? What classes are required?

It seems like an interesting program, and one that I'm not at all familiar with.
 
Originally posted by lola
the program may be great, that i certainly do not know, but i still think the poster should really consider other options as well. where i went to public health school, they offered 1 year mph's for health professionals. these people simply did not learn as much as those people who were there for 2 years. they only took intro classes. i'm not sure if i mentioned this before, but i don't think these 1 year degrees are very good for people who don't have another degree. if the poster ends up becoming a doctor, great. but if the poster ends up working in public health with an mph as his/her terminal degree, i think a longer program is in order. that may just be my bias after seeing all the docs graduate with 1 year mphs. the people who stayed 2 years knew considerably more.

I've noticed the exact same thing. Where'd you go, Lola? HSPH? What was your major? I think we discussed this, but my brain has recently shut down for repairs.
 
The input from everyone has been really helpful - thank you! Mass51, did you have any prior coursework in epi or biostat? I wrote my BA thesis on international health, but other than that I don't have a background... also what are some differences between the MPH and MS degrees in CECS? and how rigorous is the coursework?
 
yeah, hsph. they really knew how to crank those herds of physicians outta there.
 
Originally posted by lola
yeah, hsph. they really knew how to crank those herds of physicians outta there.

So your major was herding? Hehe. Sorry. Trying to avoid studying.
 
Forgot to mention this before - The CECS program is actually part of dartmouth med school. The degree is granted through dartmouth college, but all of the faculty is DMS faculty and the classroom building is on the med school part of campus. I just thought this might be of interest to any of you who eventually want to attend DMS. I know there has been at least a handful of CECS grads accepted into DMS over the past couple years.
 
Originally posted by mosaic
The input from everyone has been really helpful - thank you! Mass51, did you have any prior coursework in epi or biostat? I wrote my BA thesis on international health, but other than that I don't have a background... also what are some differences between the MPH and MS degrees in CECS? and how rigorous is the coursework?

I started my MS degree in Epidemiology right after undergrad last yr,with no background at all, and I've almost made it to teh end with no problems
 
yeah, I really didn't have much background in public health either. I finished my undergrad coursework a semester "early," so spring semester I just wrote my honors thesis and I took a few classes in the School of Public Health. I made sure to mention this in my application, though I'm not sure how much it helped. I wouldn't worry if you don't have much background in public health.
 
I may be mistaken, but I believe that the MPH program at Johns Hopkins is only a year, and it was ranked number one in the country by US News. Columbia has a year-and-a-half program that they will usually let you accelerate into a year (only health policy and management though, I don't think you can do this with any other concentration), and that's what I am doing now.

However, I would definitely recommend doing something like AmeriCorps if you already have some post-bacc schooling under your belt. I did AmeriCorps last year in an HIV clinic in Brooklyn, and I had a more or less positive experience. However, if you apply to AmeriCorps, you should make sure that you look into the programs before deciding to do it. Many of the programs are a bust (though they often look great on paper). Make sure that you meet the people who run the program and try to get a decent feel for the environment. I would also recommed talking to previous members to get an idea how they feel about the program.

Best of luck.
 
Originally posted by ColumbiaMPH
I may be mistaken, but I believe that the MPH program at Johns Hopkins is only a year, and it was ranked number one in the country by US News.

yeah... but it is only for professionals (e.g. md's). people with a bachelor's degree must do the 2 year program. at least that's how it was a few years ago. jh is a great school. but when you go for 1 year vs. 2, you learn 1/2 as much! the people at my school who went for 1 instead of 2 came out with much less knowledge than those who went for 2 years.
 
at my school you can only do the 1 year program if you have a doctoral level degree as well. You end up taking ~34 credits over two semesters, so it's more than 1/2 the credits of the 2-year program (~45 credits). But I definitely think the more time spent studying public health, the better.
 
Top