Is Public Health for me?

[jman128]

I graduated with a degree in biomedical science last year with a 3.8 gpa. I was originally pre-med but I realized that medical school was not the right path for me. Since then I have taken the GRE just because and got a 157 on verbal, 160 on quant, and 3.5 on writing.

I feel like with other careers such as doctor, dentist, PT, etc, its much easier to see if you like that career. Public health seems all across the map. How do I gain experience? Where do I even go and who do I talk to? How do I find out if this is for me? Which schools are good and which are bad? How much money to people in public health make?

Just very confused.

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[deleted462159]

Well, you can start by talking with people in the Public Health department at your school, or local community health agencies, etc. Maybe you can shadow them or volunteer/intern for a bit. You also need to decide on which concentration of public health you like (epidemiology, biostats, etc.), not just "public health." And in general, public health is not a field to enter if you want a doctor's salary. But you can make a good living and have a rewarding career as well.

 

[Veggie Monster]

I graduated with a degree in biomedical science last year with a 3.8 gpa. I was originally pre-med but I realized that medical school was not the right path for me. Since then I have taken the GRE just because and got a 157 on verbal, 160 on quant, and 3.5 on writing.

I feel like with other careers such as doctor, dentist, PT, etc, its much easier to see if you like that career. Public health seems all across the map. How do I gain experience? Where do I even go and who do I talk to? How do I find out if this is for me? Which schools are good and which are bad? How much money to people in public health make?

Just very confused.

I also was in your situation. I was Political Science/Pre-Med and thought I wanted to go to medical school but ended up going to grad school studying healthcare management.
You should look into healthcare management. What jobs/internship did you have during college?

 

[Leukocyte]

I graduated with a degree in biomedical science last year with a 3.8 gpa. I was originally pre-med but I realized that medical school was not the right path for me. Since then I have taken the GRE just because and got a 157 on verbal, 160 on quant, and 3.5 on writing.

I feel like with other careers such as doctor, dentist, PT, etc, its much easier to see if you like that career. Public health seems all across the map. How do I gain experience? Where do I even go and who do I talk to? How do I find out if this is for me? Which schools are good and which are bad? How much money to people in public health make?

Just very confused.

I do agree with you that it is confusing and not straight forward. This is because public health is a multi-deciplinary field that includes a conbination of many disiplines (Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Health Administration and program planning, Envimental Health, Health Behavior, and Clinical Preventive Medicine). It is importatnt for the public health professional to have an understanding of all those specialties, but you have to choose one to focus on. The key is to focus in what area of public health you what to be in. That is why the MPH degree is broken down into many degree pathways...Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Health Administration, Enviromental Health, Health Behavior. So see what "concentration" you are interested in, then go from there.

Good Luck.