Is an MPH what I should be looking at?

[Phosphene]

So my problem is that my interests are too broad, I think, and I hate uncertainty. I'm interested in social epidemiology, the translation of research to effective policy, developmental disabilities, and probably a whole bunch of other things I'm not even aware of yet.

I'm wondering if maybe I should consider a JD/MPH or a JD with a public health law concentration. I haven't taken the LSAT or GRE, but my undergrad GPA was 3.8 and I've done some policy research in the past. I'm not sure I want to be a lawyer, though, and a lot of people I talk to just sort of shrug and say "Well, I figured it out in law school/public health school/PhD program/I knew from the time I was 6 years old exactly."

Also, I'd rather not shell out for a dual degree if I'm only going to need one.

I'm currently working full-time in medical writing and editing, which doesn't leave me with a ton of time to explore other interests and avenues. I would say that my communication skills are much stronger than my quantitative abilities, but I'm good with statistics. Probably informational interviews, and lots of them, are the next step.

What would you do if you were this all over the map? I outsource only my most important decisions to the internet.

I should add that I'd only be interested in public health/mental health law and public interest work in terms of law, so likely not making major $$$. My major concern with the MPH is that it's open-ended in terms of career prospects.

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[PublicHealth_2018]

The best thing about MPH, in my opinion, is that it is open-ended in terms of career prospects for the most part. That's one of the reasons that drew me to the program. With that being said, I wouldn't get a JD or MPH or really any graduate degree unless you were sure about it. It's a hell of a lot of money and time to waste on something that you just aren't passionate about.

Based on what you told me, you could consider getting an MPH with a focus in health policy. Once you graduate, you would have a lot of different prospects for jobs from consulting firms to research to government organizations. I currently work in a consulting firm in behavioral health policy (and I have an MPH). I would look into it, you can research different programs online and look into what courses are offered in the health policy track. But also remember not to pursue it if you aren't sure about it.