Master's in Health Administration or Master's in Public Health

[brittdog]

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Hello, so I want to go to Medical School after I am done with graduate school but I am in-between about if I should attend Emory MPH- Health Management program or USC MHA program. I am aware that I have to attend a post bacc program after I'm done with my master's degree but I'm not sure which one I should pursue. Or what program would compliment my med school application better?

Would it benefit my application if I went to a program that gave me the ability to conduct research?

Both programs consist of taking business oriented classes (accounting, finance, marketing, human resource). However, in the Public Health program I would be responsible for taking Intro to Global Health, Epidemiological Tools, and Behavioral and Health Education. Both school's programs are excellent schools for Public Health and Health Administration. I just need guidance on which to pursue?

 

[Goro]

Neither of these will help you get into medical school.

 

[brittdog]

Neither of these will help you get into medical school.

I am a non traditional medical student.
I decided that I wanted to go to Medical School after I decided to purse a Master's degree. I know that by pursuing solely either one of these degrees will not help me get into to Medical School. I was just asking for advice or guidance on how I could gear the degree towards my non traditional medical school application. I am aware I have to do Post-bacc program and gain clinical experience, etc. However, my GPA is on the lower side (3.4) and I was originally attending graduate school to work somewhere in the sector of healthcare consulting or government organization but I have always had a passion for clinical medicine and I have decided to pursue that pathway. For that reason, I was wondering if there was anything I could do in my power to boast my application such as holding a leadership position, networking with professor who hold joint MD degrees, advice along those lines. This particularly wasn't' the advice I was looking for.

 

[Goro]

An MPH can push the envelope towards service to others and understanding the needs of the underserved.

Would it benefit my application if I went to a program that gave me the ability to conduct research?

Yes, especially in a the public health arena..

 

[lumya]

OP, I have an MHA program. USC is a very good program for the business side and I think an MHA is very good degree if you want to work in health administration. I pursued my degree without knowing that I wanted to a clinician. About half of my class work at fancy consulting gigs or have high-ranked admin positions in hospitals, the other hates their jobs (seriously, like half my program has left the field). It prepared a lot of people well for project management and the field itself opens you to a lot of options for different careers outside of clinical practice.

However, if I had to do it over again with the goal of entering medical school, I probably would've done an MPH. There's more research and a lot of the courses were tailored towards social determinants of health which is very important to understand in the practice of medicine. But, if I was really honest, I probably would've just skipped the graduate degree and did a post-bacc or took longer to graduate undergrad and finished my pre-reqs that way.