General Is a loan worth it for MPH ?

[tantacles]

Hi, I am a Foreign Medical Graduate; Accepted for MPH at Hopkins without scholarship. However, I wish to do a Residency post MPH, I really want to do MPH; not ‘cause I want a career focused in Public Health, but for the skills I would learn. I understand it wouldn’t increase my earning potential, but I do not expect either.

Having said that, I would like to know, would it be worth taking 80k loan for MPH Degree or should I wait and apply later in my career when I am little more settled financially? Will I be able to payback the loan in 10 years even with “average” jobs post masters or Residency stipend?

I understand it’s mostly a personal decision, but I will appreciate any input I can get. Thanks!

While it is a personal decision, I think it's also important to look at the numbers.

Assuming you get this degree and defer payment for 10 years (paying nothing) at an interest rate of 6%, the final total of your loan you will need to pay off will be $143000 (and that's before you start paying it, so the number will ultimately be higher!).

There are programs, assuming you are going into medicine, where you can do an MPH in the middle of your medical training, which may be a better idea financially, and this is what I would suggest you pursue.

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[LizzyM]

Two other questions to ask yourself:

Based on what you know about residency positions in your chosen area of medicine, do you expect the MPH to improve your chances of being selected for a residency?

Although you wish to do a residency, if you do not get a residency, would having the MPH make you more employable to the point where you could pay off the loan with the additional income you would earn with the MPH compared with the employment you would get without the MPH?

If you think that the MPH will not make you a stronger residency applicant, and you expect to get a residency, do not do the MPH. If you suspect that you may never be selected for a residency, and if the skills you will acquire with the MPH will open doors to employment that you would find fulfilling, then the MPH may be a good investment in your future.

 

[lord999]

I feel that a book recommendation is in order: Getting What You Came For, by Robert Peters. This is more addressed at PhD's than professional Master's, but the matter I would bring up is this. You realize that Preventative Medicine is a possibility if Public Health is a concern. However, if you intend to be a practicing physician with an MPH, the order that I recommend it be taken in is to finish your residency then use a program like the NIH MRSP to integrate yourself into the public health field as well as getting an in-place MPH funded by an entity. Quite a number of the MRSP's and fellowships that HHS issues are actually done through JHU (although UM - College Park is the preferred institution for statistical demography and National Center for Health Statistics analytical work).

NIH Clinical Center: Medical Research Scholars Program

Bluntly, you are more courted as a practicing health care provider for further education opportunities than you can be right now without that status. I would recommend you do your residency in what field you choose, then let the US Government or universities court you for postgraduate training. A number of practicing physicians at Academic Medical Centers used their faculty benefit to acquire further education at the institution's expense.