I have seen a few people here comment about Berkeley and some wanted to hear others' thoughts on the SPH there. I attended Berkeley as an undergrad and declared public health as my major my junior year so I will share my thoughts.
1. The SPH is underfunded. During my time at Berkeley they almost removed the undergrad BA in public health due to lack of funds for the administration of it. The school also introduced a 4+1 program as a measure to get students who had done their BA at Berkeley to do their MPH there as a fifth year. My understanding is that the school needs your tuition money. At least for undergrads there were never any paid research assistantships or stipends to support student travel/research/internships during the summer.
2. There are lost of TA positions. I am not saying as a proportion of grad students but just in general. The fact that there is a public health BA means there are tons of undergrad public health courses for you to be a TA (or GSI) in. The big size of the school means there are tons of students so lots of sections that need TAs. for some classes like Biostats we even had a TA for theory and another one for the lab where we learnt R or STATA.
3. Professors are busy. Best public research institution means research is everyone's number one agenda. To get close mentorship from a professor join someone's lab or research group. Most professors have grants and will have grad students working with them.
4.Bay Area network includes UCSF, Stanford med school, lots of research opportunities there esp UCSF. The school also has strong connections to Kaiser Permanente, Blue Shield, Partners in Health, PATH and others. I will say though that the Bay Area is not a global health hub. For Health Policy and Management grads tend to end up at consulting firms like ZS and Deloitte. Also if you are into the start-up scene there are lots of opportunities to pitch and win funding.
5. Cost of living is very expensive, compare to New York. The cost of living even changed a lot in the four years I was there, tech companies moved to Oakland and Berkeley, gentrification, you know the rest.
6. UC Berkeley in general and the school of public health in particular are diverse and very liberal. The school is way ahead of the curve on diversity from student body to faculty in high places.
7. Berkeley is HARD. so everyone will be busy with their work, expect that and its easy to get left behind or feel like an imposter or get lost due to its sheer magnitude. I feel like overall mental well being of students is very low. Its super important to stay on top of wellness and create community.
My 2cents. Best wishes everybody.
<— me, trying to grab the attention of the last two schools that I need decisions from
