How to know if Public Health is right for me?

[Allosteopath]

I find myself at one of life's impasses as a Canadian with an undergraduate degree I have now twice unsuccessfully applied to medical school in Canada. With the thought of a second gap year impending I have searched for some other careers that might interest me and I must say that public health does seem to have considerable appeal.

I have two major questions that are undoubtedly intertwined.

How do I know if Public Health may be for the career for me?

What are the major careers exist for this field, and who might be interested in them? (From what I understand there are many different avenues but this just wants to tear me in different directions)

Lastly, how do you find the lifestyle outside of work?


Thanks, please add any additional information which might be helpful!

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[LookForZebras]

Start by reading a lot about it, and find a few areas that sound interesting. Then seek out people who work in those areas and ask to have a call or meeting with them. Most people are more than willing to do this, and are excited to help out someone consider their field. I did a ton of this when I was deciding what to do within the field of preventive medicine. I still keep in touch with some of the people I spoke with.

I'm a physician in public health, so am more familiar with some public health fields than others (mainly those with a clinical or medical component). From my experience, though, most public health roles allow for a great work-life balance. If you work at a county or state department of health, for example, you get lots of holidays, great benefits, and there is not the expectation that you'll dedicate every waking hour to the job.

 

[751866]

I find myself at one of life's impasses as a Canadian with an undergraduate degree I have now twice unsuccessfully applied to medical school in Canada. With the thought of a second gap year impending I have searched for some other careers that might interest me and I must say that public health does seem to have considerable appeal.

I have two major questions that are undoubtedly intertwined.

How do I know if Public Health may be for the career for me?

What are the major careers exist for this field, and who might be interested in them? (From what I understand there are many different avenues but this just wants to tear me in different directions)

Lastly, how do you find the lifestyle outside of work?


Thanks, please add any additional information which might be helpful!

I think the answer will depend on what you want to do with your life. If you want to do research (acting in an sort of statistical capacity), Public Health/Epi usually isn't the degree for you, contrary to popular opinion. If you want to work as a project manager type in research or a general coordinator, MPH might be better suited. Policy for public health would be doable with an MPH or Epi masters.

I'd probably look into:
MPH from a top program
Epi masters from a top program (not an MPH or MSPH with epi conc.)
MS in biostatistics (not an MPH or MSPH with biostat conc.)
MS in biomed engineering

the latter two would be more geared toward research with the MS in statistics or biostats allowing you to be most equipped for a statistician role (assuming you only want master level education). If you get master in biomed engineering you'd work more on design and basic science research with translational components whereas a biostats MS you could take a couple courses in PH or epidemiology to pick up some vocabulary (but not much else is needed). It's harder to be adequately prepared for statistical roles by doing an MPH/Epi program with extra stats courses than if you went into MS biostats/stats. The engineering role is probably the most separate in terms of course work but the MS in biostat and biomed engineering would be the most rigorous and respected due to that rigor, generally speaking. If MPH or Epi degree are what you want, the caliber of the school is much more important because these are relatively softer degrees.

Find out what roles and career choices interest you before picking the degree path. MPH and Epi will by far be the easiest of the four, but that shouldn't be a driving factor to choose them.