MPH in Canada

[greaper]

Hi Friends,
Would really appreciate your help for info on MPH in Canada.
My queries about Canada are:

What is the status of a MPH guy?
What is the pay?
Does one get a good job after MPH there?
Is it open for international students?
How difficult is the admission?
How much is the average tuition fee?
What is the average lenght of study?
Is it easy to get a waiver or scholarship?
Where all can you work once you get the degree(eg, USA)

Thanking in advance.

Regards

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[Crazy Canuck]

Hi Friends,
Would really appreciate your help for info on MPH in Canada.
My queries about Canada are:

What is the status of a MPH guy?
What is the pay?
Does one get a good job after MPH there?
Is it open for international students?
How difficult is the admission?
How much is the average tuition fee?
What is the average lenght of study?
Is it easy to get a waiver or scholarship?
Where all can you work once you get the degree(eg, USA)

Thanking in advance.




Regards

I will try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities. The first thing to point out is that there is no MPH per se. Most people get a MSc degree in epidemiology. There are courses that address other areas (e.g. health policy), but no programs that would focus 100% on health policy...you have to take the statistics courses, the research methodology courses, but there are many electives available. That being said, an epidemiology student can do a thesis in health policy using an epidemiological approach.

There are two ways that you can get an MSc in epidemiology. The more common way a thesis-based master's degree. It's a two year program where the first year is coursework and the second year is thesis work. The other type is a course-based program, which is about 18 months long. Instead of doing a thesis after course work, students do a work placement and get paid for it. They are required to write a report and give a presentation of what they did on their work placement. The University of Toronto (U of T)is the only school that I know of that does this. Interestingly, they say that their program is like an MPH. Queen's may offer a course-based masters soon, pending approval from an accredation committee. Other universities may be making the switch. It's best to ask about that. The course-based program is for students who already work as clinicians or researchers and want to upgrade their skills, or for students who want to directly enter the workforce after getting their master's degree. Thesis-based programs are good for those who are considering getting their PhD.

Graduate degrees are a open to international students as long as you can demonstrate proficiency of the English language (TOEFL) and score well the GRE for those schools that require them. Tuition is much much less than the US. At my school, it's currently about $4000 CDN per term (with 3 terms per year) for international students. Not bad, eh? There are some opportunities for funding. For thesis-based programs, supervisors may hold grants to support students. Funding may also from external granting sources (especially in second year), but they may be only open for Canadian citizens. Might be worth investigating though. For the course-based master's degree at U of T, you get paid for your work placement, which lasts through the first summer. There's also an option to do another work placement second term.

Admission can be competitive. One program had 120 students apply for 20 spots. However, this higher than usual. It's still pretty competitive. But students have no problem finding a job after graduation. Most programs boast a 100% graduation rate. In some cases, employers wanted students to work for them before they even graduated. I am not aware of any restrictions from working in the US after graduation. In fact, I know of a student who worked with the World Health Organization after she graduated. My totally unscientific guess as to how much graduates make is in the area of $40,000 per year, but that's just based on a few job ads.

So, that's epidemiology in a nutshell in Canada. Hope that helps!

 

[knitwitty]

Hey, great post CrazyCanuck!

There are a lot of international students in MSc programs, however most of these are physicians who are in Canada doing a fellowship.

MSc epi programs are about as competitive as medical school... about 10-20% acceptance rate (not sure if this is accurate... it's just what I've heard). Usually you need above a B+ (3.5) to be considered, and maybe a 3.7+ for a decent chance.

Half of the students are physicians, and the other half is made up of students coming either coming straight from undergrad or making a career change.

Tuition waivers are sometimes given to students with good grades, maybe an A- (3.7) or above. Grad students in Canada receive funding from CIHR (Canadian Institutes for Health Research) and from provincial graduate student scholarships. I believe international students can apply for both (but I'm not 100% sure). The deadline for these scholarships, unfortunately, is usually between Sept-Dec of the year before you apply to your Master's degree (so the deadline has already passed for admission for Sept 2006).

Good luck

 

[junard]

Hi Friends,
Would really appreciate your help for info on MPH in Canada.
My queries about Canada are:

What is the status of a MPH guy?
What is the pay?
Does one get a good job after MPH there?
Is it open for international students?
How difficult is the admission?
How much is the average tuition fee?
What is the average length
of study?
Is it easy to get a waiver or scholarship?
Where all can you work once you get the degree(eg, USA)

 

[rayjay]

Hi Friends,
Would really appreciate your help for info on MPH in Canada.
My queries about Canada are:

What is the status of a MPH guy?
What is the pay?
Does one get a good job after MPH there?
Is it open for international students?
How difficult is the admission?
How much is the average tuition fee?
What is the average length
of study?
Is it easy to get a waiver or scholarship?
Where all can you work once you get the degree(eg, USA)

Troll?

ps. unless they changed it, I'm pretty sure UBC was offering an MPH when I was looking, although that was about 4 years ago so I could be wrong...

 

[mesa]

Hi everyone, I have some questions about MSc epi programs in Canada regarding steps I should undertake before applying to increase my chances of acceptance.
I am a Canadian IMG with an MBBS who is interested in clinical epidemiology along with health care research. I am a recent graduate and currently undergoing a 12 months clinical medicine internship program (outside canada). And I plan to apply for MSc epi programs in the fall of 2012, as well as take one of the licenseing exams of MCC .
My question is with little post-grad experience other than my internship how can I improve my chances of getting into grad school in Canada? Are there courses available by any of the university (say a 6 months course of research methodology) which can improve my chances? Or even a spot at a research facility at any job title which could also be helpful with my application?
Thank you

 

[kumagee]

Hey, great post CrazyCanuck!

There are a lot of international students in MSc programs, however most of these are physicians who are in Canada doing a fellowship.

MSc epi programs are about as competitive as medical school... about 10-20% acceptance rate (not sure if this is accurate... it's just what I've heard). Usually you need above a B+ (3.5) to be considered, and maybe a 3.7+ for a decent chance.

Half of the students are physicians, and the other half is made up of students coming either coming straight from undergrad or making a career change.

Tuition waivers are sometimes given to students with good grades, maybe an A- (3.7) or above. Grad students in Canada receive funding from CIHR (Canadian Institutes for Health Research) and from provincial graduate student scholarships. I believe international students can apply for both (but I'm not 100% sure). The deadline for these scholarships, unfortunately, is usually between Sept-Dec of the year before you apply to your Master's degree (so the deadline has already passed for admission for Sept 2006).

Good luck

Hey , this discussion about MPH is interesting , I have been actully searching for the masters of public health course in canada, found it in UBC, Waterloo, UFT and Mc masters... I am actually a International medical student , but not covered MD yet as I have not been able to get through the USMLE 2, still trying, but as a second option considering this. Would there be any additional advantage to secure admission with my 2 years of clinical experience ( rotation ) in US? ...Thanks !!