Is anyone pursuing an MD/MPH?

[rubyness]

Our school is now offering an MPH program. They have said they will work with us to integrate the MPH coursework into our MD program. My question is, where does one find the time to pursue two degrees at once? It seems as though the time I would spend studying for my medical classes would be taken up by MPH class time (according to the schedule they've given us). If anyone is pursuing multiple degrees, would you offer some insight into your time management approach?

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[dnt107]

to the best of my knowledge, the mph would be tacking on an extra year to your medical education such that you wouldn't be studying both at the same time...but that being said, i believe there is some flexibility as to when you choose to take it...be it after 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year...but i'm not positive on this and i'm sure it varies at different places. if there is some overlap between the mph part and md, i don't think its more than a few months and you may be able to incorporate that into your 4th year free time. i'm only a first year but i'm also looking into an mph.

 

[Katie]

I am an MD/MPH student at Tufts and it is possible here to do both degrees in 4 years. While other students have "selectives" on Tuesday afternoons, we have a few extra classes every semester for the first 2 years that go toward our MPH, a summer Public Health Externship between 1st and 2nd year, a 6 week public health rotation during 3rd year, and some kind of 8 week rotation during 4th year so that we miss out on 2 elective rotations. Not a bad deal for an extra degree. So far the extra work hasn't been that bad, but you may hear me singing a different tune next semester when we take anatomy. I don't know what other schools offer an MD/MPH program (Yale I think does and am sure Hopkins does) but they are out there, and SLU is working on developing a combined degree program as well. If you have any further questions let me know. good luck!

 

[rubyness]

Thanks, Katie. It sounds like your program is well organized and really tailored to the schedule of med students. Since ours is just getting off the ground, I don't think they've reached this level of planning. I will mention this structure at our next informational meeting. Thanks for the info!