Harvard SM, Job Prospects, Continuing to PhD

[mihyang]

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I am considering Harvard's SM in Epidemiology as one of my top choices, but I have a few questions, and I was hoping someone here would be able to answer them for me.

I have two years of full-time research experience working in a genetics research lab, and I am comfortable with doing research. However, I am also concerned about job prospects after graduation. The SM does not have a practicum requirement, requiring a thesis instead. I have envisioned the practicum as a stepping stone for job offers after graduation, and I am concerned that with a thesis instead, I will have to work much harder to get these offers after graduation. Is this a correct assessment, or will I be just as employable with a thesis under my belt? I was also wondering if most SM students go straight to pursuing a PhD afterward.

I've heard that if you decide to pursue a PhD, if you can muster it, you should do the PhD at the same school you do your MPH (or your SM, in this case) so as to get the classes out of the way, whereas doing your PhD at a different school means you will have to take additional courses at your new school because the ones you took don't necessarily transfer over. If this is the case, and I choose Harvard for my SM, intending to eventually pursue a PhD, what is the likelihood of getting funding for my PhD? I received a bunch of loans as my "Financial Aid Package" for my SM, and I am not really interested in going 200k in debt for an SM and PhD.

The main thing that draws me to Harvard is their Obesity Epidemiology and Prevention Program. It's the only school I've applied to with a program that specifically focuses on obesity, as opposed to just having faculty interested in obesity. Has anyone done this program and have any comments on it?

Thanks for reading this incredibly long post!

 

[intlhealth2010]

I've heard that if you decide to pursue a PhD, if you can muster it, you should do the PhD at the same school you do your MPH (or your SM, in this case) so as to get the classes out of the way, whereas doing your PhD at a different school means you will have to take additional courses at your new school because the ones you took don't necessarily transfer over. If this is the case, and I choose Harvard for my SM, intending to eventually pursue a PhD, what is the likelihood of getting funding for my PhD? I received a bunch of loans as my "Financial Aid Package" for my SM, and I am not really interested in going 200k in debt for an SM and PhD.

I'm a little confused. Why would you not get funding for a PhD? I was under the impression that PhD students usually get tuition covered and stipends on top of that. Is Harvard different? Could someone please clarify.

 

[PH2011327]

I am considering Harvard's SM in Epidemiology as one of my top choices, but I have a few questions, and I was hoping someone here would be able to answer them for me.

I have two years of full-time research experience working in a genetics research lab, and I am comfortable with doing research. However, I am also concerned about job prospects after graduation. The SM does not have a practicum requirement, requiring a thesis instead. I have envisioned the practicum as a stepping stone for job offers after graduation, and I am concerned that with a thesis instead, I will have to work much harder to get these offers after graduation. Is this a correct assessment, or will I be just as employable with a thesis under my belt? I was also wondering if most SM students go straight to pursuing a PhD afterward.

I've heard that if you decide to pursue a PhD, if you can muster it, you should do the PhD at the same school you do your MPH (or your SM, in this case) so as to get the classes out of the way, whereas doing your PhD at a different school means you will have to take additional courses at your new school because the ones you took don't necessarily transfer over. If this is the case, and I choose Harvard for my SM, intending to eventually pursue a PhD, what is the likelihood of getting funding for my PhD? I received a bunch of loans as my "Financial Aid Package" for my SM, and I am not really interested in going 200k in debt for an SM and PhD.

The main thing that draws me to Harvard is their Obesity Epidemiology and Prevention Program. It's the only school I've applied to with a program that specifically focuses on obesity, as opposed to just having faculty interested in obesity. Has anyone done this program and have any comments on it?

Thanks for reading this incredibly long post!

Thank you Mihyang! These are my thoughts exactly and i'm so glad you started this thread! Ive searched the depths of the harvard website but can't seem to find much information. I am not sure if you have seen this but I found it interesting

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/administrative-offices/career-services/graduate-information/

There are lists of 2010 graduate employment locations, partial list of job titles by degree (2010), partial list of employers/recruiters by category (2010), employer demographics by degree, and salary info by degree (2010). Hope this helps! I am also hoping that visiting the school will clarify many of these questions.

 

[PH2011327]

I'm a little confused. Why would you not get funding for a PhD? I was under the impression that PhD students usually get tuition covered and stipends on top of that. Is Harvard different? Could someone please clarify.

I know that some schools explicitly state that full funding is provided for PhD students (CDE at yale is an example...at least for cancer epi). I think Columbia (epi dept) is one example where full funding is not always offered and the dept will help assist in funding but ultimately the student must be proactive. I haven't been able to find much info on harvards phd funding and would very much like to know.

 

[mihyang]

Thank you Mihyang! These are my thoughts exactly and i'm so glad you started this thread! Ive searched the depths of the harvard website but can't seem to find much information. I am not sure if you have seen this but I found it interesting

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/administrative-offices/career-services/graduate-information/

There are lists of 2010 graduate employment locations, partial list of job titles by degree (2010), partial list of employers/recruiters by category (2010), employer demographics by degree, and salary info by degree (2010). Hope this helps! I am also hoping that visiting the school will clarify many of these questions.

Thanks for posting that! I hadn't seen it before. It looks like most people with an SM2 go back for more school...

I'm a little confused. Why would you not get funding for a PhD? I was under the impression that PhD students usually get tuition covered and stipends on top of that. Is Harvard different? Could someone please clarify.

I just spoke to someone in the Epi department at Harvard and they said it is not typical of PhD students to get full funding for all 5 years. They offer a variety of aid, including partial tuition for a few years, a stipend for a few years, and full funding for a few years, but nothing as grand as full funding + stipend for all 5 years.

 

[mezmerized7]

Not all PhD programs provide full funding, so please take this into consideration if or when applying to programs. Learn from my experience, so you don't have to go through it yourselves. I know that Harvard is one of the schools that does not guarantee full funding.

 

[Stories]

I know that some schools explicitly state that full funding is provided for PhD students (CDE at yale is an example...at least for cancer epi). I think Columbia (epi dept) is one example where full funding is not always offered and the dept will help assist in funding but ultimately the student must be proactive. I haven't been able to find much info on harvards phd funding and would very much like to know.

As a current Yale student, I can tell you that all Yale EPH students are 100% funded for a minimum of 4 years with full tuition (http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/financial/costs.html) and stipend (http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/financial/stipend.html).

At other schools I was accepted to (two cycles ago), at 3 of the 5 schools (not including Yale) they called me up a few days after my official acceptances to talk about funding. Most funding options came in the package of a TA or RA option (usually accompanied by tuition waivers).

So every school varies.

 

[intlhealth2010]

Thanks for explaining mihyang . I guess I'm a little clueless lol. For whatever reason I thought it was pretty much guaranteed if one is accepted for a PhD full funding + stipend comes with it. I'll be taking this into consideration whenever I decide to go for a PhD , if I end up doing so that is.

 

[PH2011327]

In terms of job placement (post-degree), is there much difference between an MPH in epi vs an MS in epi? Do potential employers view one as more desirable than the other?

 

[mihyang]

After attending Harvard's Admitted Students Day, I can answer a lot of my own questions. I know there is at least one other person who had these same questions.

Talking to a few students about the lack of a practicum and how it affects job placement, I've been assured that the thesis is proof enough of your abilities. I spoke to a student who did the SM2 and then took a year off to work before continuing to the doctorate, and she said that with her degree from Harvard, they (her potential bosses) pretty much assumed she was capable of whatever they wanted to throw at her because her degree was from Harvard. So there's that name thing again.

There are a lot of SM2 students that pursue the doctorate (it's not a PhD, I think it's an SD). If you choose that route, you can finagle it so the whole process doesn't take longer than 5 years (by preparing during the last year of your SM to take an exam as well as prepare for your quals). It seems that if you do a good job during your SM2 and make connections with professors you want to do research with, you have good chances of getting into the SD program.

Funding really depends on the program. I talked to some people in the Epi department over the phone (I posted this earlier on) but they said their doctoral students are not fully funded for the full five years, but get partial funding in some way or another. For other departments this will vary, because every department has different funding situations.

As for the obesity program, it's in its first year, so there is a lot of excitement about it. (just in case anyone was wondering)

Other impressions about Harvard:

They put in a lot of effort to sell students on the Harvard brand. Not in the sense that "Harvard will get you anywhere" but there were a few instances in which the name was able to get opportunities that wouldn't otherwise have been available. I thought this was really interesting. They also emphasized however, that getting in does not mean you're guaranteed a life of success. You have to put in the work and effort to make the degree work the way you'd like it to (which is similar for most schools).

The students blew me away. Harvard talks a lot about how the students are a great resource, and the people I spoke to are pretty amazing. Even the admitted students I spoke to all had interesting stories. Harvard prides itself on its diversity, and they do have a huge percentage of international students.

Harvard also had this event called One Harvard, to foster communications between all of the graduate schools. I met students in the School of Divinity, Education, and Business, and we chatted about general questions people had. Harvard is in the minority of large schools who do this (I can't think of any others off the top of my head who try to get all of their different graduate programs together) so this brings about the opportunity for collaborations between the different schools for projects and such. Also, it's supposed to be not that difficult to take courses in the different schools once you take schedule and start time into account.

Personally, I really liked Harvard, but I don't know that I want a program that is heavily research focused at this point in my life. The huge amount of debt I'll end up going into also makes this a difficult decision.

I am considering Harvard's SM in Epidemiology as one of my top choices, but I have a few questions, and I was hoping someone here would be able to answer them for me.

I have two years of full-time research experience working in a genetics research lab, and I am comfortable with doing research. However, I am also concerned about job prospects after graduation. The SM does not have a practicum requirement, requiring a thesis instead. I have envisioned the practicum as a stepping stone for job offers after graduation, and I am concerned that with a thesis instead, I will have to work much harder to get these offers after graduation. Is this a correct assessment, or will I be just as employable with a thesis under my belt? I was also wondering if most SM students go straight to pursuing a PhD afterward.

I've heard that if you decide to pursue a PhD, if you can muster it, you should do the PhD at the same school you do your MPH (or your SM, in this case) so as to get the classes out of the way, whereas doing your PhD at a different school means you will have to take additional courses at your new school because the ones you took don't necessarily transfer over. If this is the case, and I choose Harvard for my SM, intending to eventually pursue a PhD, what is the likelihood of getting funding for my PhD? I received a bunch of loans as my "Financial Aid Package" for my SM, and I am not really interested in going 200k in debt for an SM and PhD.

The main thing that draws me to Harvard is their Obesity Epidemiology and Prevention Program. It's the only school I've applied to with a program that specifically focuses on obesity, as opposed to just having faculty interested in obesity. Has anyone done this program and have any comments on it?

Thanks for reading this incredibly long post!

 

[PeriEpi2011]

I also attended the Harvard admitted students open house last week and was similarly impressed.

It was very clear the the harvard 'network' is very unique - I thought they emphasized connections with alumni, many of whom are very impressive. Somewhat along these lines, as an HSPH student, you can take classes at just about any other harvard graduate school (business, government, medicine, etc). The fact that all harvard schools are in the top 5 makes a huge difference in this regard.

The other factor that I would add to the above description of the school is that HSPH is a very innovative place to be. I came away thinking that harvard really pioneers new approaches to epidemiology specifically. This made some other schools seem like rigorous practitioners of classic methods, with less focus on critiquing the methods from a macro level... Not to say other schools are not innovative, but this aspect of harvard was a clear focus of the open house (for epi anyway).

i also went to a couple classes on monday and was impressed with the class structure - a lecture format, but with a lot of discussion. the students were confident and eloquent, and seemed comfortable asking real questions to an international guest lecturer.

all in all, i was very impressed. funding is a huge problem, but, for me, the benefits of harvard significantly outweigh the cons...

good luck to everyone finalizing their decisions!

 

[aaftmb]

they rlly drilled the harvard name--you can't turn down harvard because it will open opportunities for you like no other. seemed to be the message.

i am not saying i agree, but that was what i got from the open house.

as for the epi department--i rlly came away excited to be going to harvard. they made it seem like harvard is rlly on the frontier of teaching the new epidemiological methods that will come into play in the future.

i loved the school. everyone was so friendly. its going to be a tough few years, but i am stoked.