is MD/MPH any harder to gain admission to?

[SixStringPsych]

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Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. My application shows that I have a keen interest in community/public health and to be honest I think I'd very much enjoy doing an MPH alongside my MD. But, I also am not sure if I want to apply MD/MPH to every school that offers it...because I'm not really sure I want to tack on the extra courses.

Would it look bad to highlight that I love the public aspect of a certain school (like in a school-specific secondary question) and not apply MD/MPH? Would it look better to apply MD/MPH? Is it any harder this way? Easier?

Thanks!

 

[LizzyM]

Many schools let you put off the decision until after you matriculate.

 

[A7X]

MD/MPH is pretty cool.

 

[tennisguitar]

If you can get acceptance to an MD program, you should have no trouble getting into any school's MPH program. I don't think it's necessarily bad to hold off on the MPH though and shouldn't affect you in the MD admissions process. While MD education is largely standardized, there are certainly better and less-better schools of public health. So holding off until later on might not be a bad idea if you have a sincere interest in a great public health education.

 

[Jimsy]

Just curious..what's the purpose of getting an MPH?

 

[274631]

Just curious..what's the purpose of getting an MPH?

I can't speak for OP but I am getting mine now and I think it would be extremely helpful for me because 1)it gives me a population level approach to health which I think a lot of medical students and doctors do not get and is very important to understanding the people you serve and their health concerns and 2)I want to do public health research in the future so the skills I am gaining would be directly useful for my future career. I have no desire whatsoever to do bench research.

An MPH can also give you skills in epidemiology, biostatistics, give you training in health policy and management if you want to do hospital administration, etc. I think it is a very useful degree, even if you do not end up using it directly. Just my 2 cents.

 

[starlight15]

Thanks for asking OP! I'm actually in a similar situation and was wondering the same thing. Wasn't sure if not applying to MPH now would be something that looks bad considering my interest in the field. I just don't know if I want to take 5 years to get my degree instead of 4 (non trad)

 

[ZuluHotel]

I am also interested in MD MPH and so far I haven't seen any schools that require you to apply for the MPH at the same time as the MD, and at some schools you actually can't apply until you are a first year med student. So in general it looks like applying to the MPH as an M1 is the most standard path. Check the individual programs you are interested in though!

 

[AxiomaticTruth]

I can't speak for OP but I am getting mine now and I think it would be extremely helpful for me because 1)it gives me a population level approach to health which I think a lot of medical students and doctors do not get and is very important to understanding the people you serve and their health concerns and 2)I want to do public health research in the future so the skills I am gaining would be directly useful for my future career. I have no desire whatsoever to do bench research.

An MPH can also give you skills in epidemiology, biostatistics, give you training in health policy and management if you want to do hospital administration, etc. I think it is a very useful degree, even if you do not end up using it directly. Just my 2 cents.

Hey I have an interest in public health teaching, along the lines of Neil deGrasse Tyson or perhaps the surgeon general (but more realistically toned down of course). Would an MPH degree help with this? Or is this more with population administration and research?

 

[274631]

Hey I have an interest in public health teaching, along the lines of Neil deGrasse Tyson or perhaps the surgeon general (but more realistically toned down of course). Would an MPH degree help with this? Or is this more with population administration and research?

I think an MPH would definitely help. Most of the professors at my school who are doctors have an MPH. I think what you can do with an MPH is really broad and depends a lot on how you use it. What area of public health are you interested in?

EDIT: Just realized academic teaching may not be the type of teaching you are referring to lol. But regardless I think an MPH would be helpful if you want to do anythign in the field of public health. I think it gives you a perspective and skill set you would not necessarily just get from getting an MD.

 

[rosaceae]

I definitely want to pursue an MD/MPH as well (hopefully I get into one of the schools on my list that offers it!). I know a few docs who have MPHs and they do a lot of clinical research abroad and they are very into global health, which I believe an MPH helps a lot with

 

[AxiomaticTruth]

I think an MPH would definitely help. Most of the professors at my school who are doctors have an MPH. I think what you can do with an MPH is really broad and depends a lot on how you use it. What area of public health are you interested in?

EDIT: Just realized academic teaching may not be the type of teaching you are referring to lol. But regardless I think an MPH would be helpful if you want to do anythign in the field of public health. I think it gives you a perspective and skill set you would not necessarily just get from getting an MD.

Oh yes! Academic teaching is one thing I would like to do! Much like how Dr. Michio Kaku was a professor for many decades and at the same time was the go-to guy to explain the universe in TV programs and newspaper quotes, I would like to do something similar with medicine.

 

[SixStringPsych]

Oh yes! Academic teaching is one thing I would like to do! Much like how Dr. Michio Kaku was a professor for many decades and at the same time was the go-to guy to explain the universe in TV programs and newspaper quotes, I would like to do something similar with medicine.

I really feel this too. I want to be a public face for my specialty, but not like Dr. Oz haha. I really want to write books and stuff for the lay public.

 

[Slickyfats]

I really feel this too. I want to be a public face for my specialty, but not like Dr. Oz haha. I really want to write books and stuff for the lay public.

An MPH wouldn't really be necessary for this kind of thing, basic knowledge with the title of an MD would be suffice. It would REALLY depend on what you want to do. From my anecdotal understanding, surgery residency programs don't really give a **** if you have an MPH or not, and I can extrapolate that a lot of procedure based medicine works the same way.

Besides if you really want to be a face as such, run for political office. There's something like 16 MD's in congress. Other than that, write books, etc. An MPH doesn't seem necessary for any of those things and may be a waste of time for many.

Also, there are residency programs that are specifically IM/MPH programs if you're interested.

 

[The Buff OP]

I can't speak for OP but I am getting mine now and I think it would be extremely helpful for me because 1)it gives me a population level approach to health which I think a lot of medical students and doctors do not get and is very important to understanding the people you serve and their health concerns and 2)I want to do public health research in the future so the skills I am gaining would be directly useful for my future career. I have no desire whatsoever to do bench research.

An MPH can also give you skills in epidemiology, biostatistics, give you training in health policy and management if you want to do hospital administration, etc. I think it is a very useful degree, even if you do not end up using it directly. Just my 2 cents.

Sound like a good degree. 👍 I want. 🙂

 

[LizzyM]

An MPH wouldn't really be necessary for this kind of thing, basic knowledge with the title of an MD would be suffice. It would REALLY depend on what you want to do. From my anecdotal understanding, surgery residency programs don't really give a **** if you have an MPH or not, and I can extrapolate that a lot of procedure based medicine works the same way.

Besides if you really want to be a face as such, run for political office. There's something like 16 MD's in congress. Other than that, write books, etc. An MPH doesn't seem necessary for any of those things and may be a waste of time for many.

Also, there are residency programs that are specifically IM/MPH programs if you're interested.

But surgical residents and medical students who end up matching in surgical specialties do earn MPH degrees and use the skills acquired in epidemiologic and outcomes research, clinical trials, and contributions to health policy and management.

See:
http://surgery.ucsd.edu/systems/Pages/default.aspxand
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/research/labs/CenterforSurgeryandPublicHealth/default.aspx

 

[274631]

Oh yes! Academic teaching is one thing I would like to do! Much like how Dr. Michio Kaku was a professor for many decades and at the same time was the go-to guy to explain the universe in TV programs and newspaper quotes, I would like to do something similar with medicine.

I really feel this too. I want to be a public face for my specialty, but not like Dr. Oz haha. I really want to write books and stuff for the lay public.

I don't think an MPH would be necessary for either of these things. It sounds like you guys are aiming to kind of break medicine and disease down in order to explain it to the public. If I'm wrong let me know. But even though it won't be necessary, I would still say it'll be helpful. Instead of just explaining the effect a disease has on the body, you can explain its occurrence in the population and why it affects certain groups of people differently from others, etc.

 

[magicm]

A little off topic but related to the MD/MPH

Does it make a difference where you do your MPH ? for instance is it better to do the MD/MPH in a middle of the pack medical school or just do the MD and do an MPH after at a different school (ie. London, Tulane, Or the harvard program for MDs)

 

[Jennyfishy]

I was looking into these programs too! But aside from schools that have a separate application for the program up front like UCLA, I pretty much selected regular MD programs because anything can change in the first or second year 😛. That's just basing it off my experiences with seeing people change their undergrad majors like...2 or 3 times and ending up in totally different career paths, haha.

 

[LizzyM]

A little off topic but related to the MD/MPH

Does it make a difference where you do your MPH ? for instance is it better to do the MD/MPH in a middle of the pack medical school or just do the MD and do an MPH after at a different school (ie. London, Tulane, Or the harvard program for MDs)

There is a bit of an "old boy network" when you get a degree at a big school with lots of MPH grads.

Doing the MPH after during residency, fellowship or beyond does help you focus your pubic health work in a subject area most related to your area of interest in medicine. On the other hand, doing the MPH during medical school means you already have the skill set when you go on residency interviews and to use during residency (for population based research studies, for example).