I'm thinking about applying for the DVM/MPH at Tufts. I already got accepted into the DVM program and if I decide to apply for the dual degree I need to have my application in by March 1st. My concern is that it is a 4 year program and I might be taking away from other opportunities by only taking the Public Health classes in the free elective time. Its nice that you graduate with both degrees in 4 years, but it is time consuming and more tuition.
I'm a drop out of the DVM/MPH program at Tufts, so what I have to say may be different from some students who are currently in the program. But I personally think that there's no way to get as much out of a MPH completed in the same 4 years as a vet degree as you would with doing the MPH degree on its own.
The advantages of the program are 1) it's cheaper than doing a MPH degree on its own and 2) it saves you time, so you can start working after vet school and start moving your way up the career ladder.
I'm close friends with all of the students my year who are DVM/MPH students, and it seems like all of them have more negative than positive things to say about the program. Basically, they constantly feel like they don't have enough time to devote to the MPH coursework and that in general, a lot of their MPH assignments seem like "busy work" to them that they feel will not be helpful in their career. Classes are mostly taken with MD/MPH students, and often the subject material is irrelevant to veterinary medicine (although there are some veterinary specific elective courses you get to take in 2nd and 3rd year). 3 out of the 4 remaining people in the program in our year (we started with 6) have told me that if they hadn't already committed so much time and weren't so far in the program, they'd drop out, although I know that for two of them, they feel like the MPH degree is a "now or never" type situation, and if they weren't doing the dual degree, they wouldn't pursue an MPH afterwards. And I think the students in the class ahead of mine and below mine who are in the dual degree program have more positive things to say about it.
Also, I should point out something that I wasn't clear about until I started classes in the beginning of first year - classes are not just on Tuesday afternoons (selective time). That's when the bulk of the class time is, and the time when you'll have to make the 2 hour round trip commute into Boston. But every other week or so, there's some sort of evening course in Grafton on Monday or Wednesday nights with required attendance.
And keep in mind you'll have to take a class the summer before vet school starts (or else have a crazy hectic fall semester first year), and you'll only have 6 weeks free during the summer between 1st and 2nd year (it used to be no free time, but they've changed it for the current first years so they have 6 weeks free).
My plan is to get a veterinary specific public health degree
after I graduate - my top choice is to do the Masters in Preventive Vet Med (MPVM) program at UC Davis, but I'm also looking at other vet specific public health programs at Univ. of Iowa, NC State, Univ. of Guelph, or Univ. of Utrecht in the Netherlands. I have a friend who graduated from Tufts, and then went on to complete the MPVM at Davis after getting his DVM, and he told me that he felt like the MPVM program was a full time job - that there is no way he would've been able to do both a DVM and a public health degree that has a heavy workload as the MPVM degree and to do both adequately. And personally, every time I get behind in my vet school coursework, I feel a sense of relief that at least I don't have MPH assignments to deal with on top of everything else. But that may be less of an issue for students who don't procrastinate as much as I do.
So there are lots of pros and cons to doing the dual degree program, and I think it really depends on what your ultimate goals and priorities are.