mph with peace corps

[Riki819]

---

Members don't see this ad.

i know that some public health schools have a combined program with the peace corps. i was wondering if any of you knew more about it.

 

[swim2006]

i know that some public health schools have a combined program with the peace corps. i was wondering if any of you knew more about it.

I know at BU most people are in the international health concentration and complete all coursework and the concentration paper before they go to the peace corp and they get 5 credits for doing the peace corp. The thing is that being accepted to BU's MPH does not guarantee that you will be accepted to the Peace Corp. below is a link for information at BU about the program

http://sph.bu.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=472&Itemid=574

 

[thirdclius]

check out Loma Linda U's public health program. They have it on at least both International health and Environmental Health programs. also, Returned Peace Corps volunteers can use their experience to fulfill the internship requirement of the MPH program so they don't need to do another internship.

 

[publichealthfan]

I jsut came back and it is definitely something I suggest you do if you are definitely interested in both. I wish I had done it before going into the Peace Corps -such relevance. If you are not sure then I don't suggest rushing into it because it is a big decision to make.

 

[snoofle]

are you referring to the Masters International program? those are affiliated with the peace corps..you do like a year or year and a half of school then go..im applying to the MI program thru Tulanes school of public health

 

[publichealthfan]

Are you posting in reply to my comment???

I will jsut respond anyways- yes i was referring to the MI program wiht Peace Corps. I did teh Peace Corps first and am back now and am looking into my MPH. I wish I had started my MPH thru an MI program somewhere and then gone into the Peace Corps.. but I had someone in my group who did and she said it was great just hard to get motivated to actually do the work. She is back now and working on her thesis.

 

[snoofle]

did your friend spend the full 2 years over seas and then return to finish school? ive been trying to contact peace corps and the MI office at Tulane and noone is available to answer my questions

 

[publichealthfan]

she did finsih her 2 years and then came back.. she did it/is doing it through loma linda university...
feel free to pm me if you have specific questions!

 

[Peace&Health]

i know that some public health schools have a combined program with the peace corps. i was wondering if any of you knew more about it.

uc berkeley mph program

 

[johnnyquest2009]

I am like PublicHealthFan, I just finished my Peace Corps experience and am now applying to MPH programs. Like he/she said having a MPH before going into the Peace Corps helps out alot, but at the same time I am glad that I did Peace Corps first, so that I can relate my experience while studying. Several of my friends were in the MI program, one from GW, another from Michigan. Both girls had all there classes before entering Peace Corps for 2 years and 3 months, then one had to go back to defend her thesis. Like Publichealthfan said they had a hard time being motivated to do their work, esp, when one had no power, had to chop firewood, haul water, etc etc everyday.

Also one thing to note: My friend was thinking about quiting a year or so into the Peace Corps, but if she did she would have had to go back to classes to finish her degree. About 20% of my program didnt make it the two years, as it can be very hard at time. So if your planning on doing MPH/Peace Corps make sure that you really think you can make two years 3 months in a developing country living at level as the host country.

 

[publichealthfan]

yeah- to give you an idea from my group- we started with 14 and ended up with 4.....

 

[gunnabdr]

I jsut came back and it is definitely something I suggest you do if you are definitely interested in both. I wish I had done it before going into the Peace Corps -such relevance. If you are not sure then I don't suggest rushing into it because it is a big decision to make.

CAn you tell me more about what you found interesting in the Peace corp? I'm really thinking about doing the masters international program with the peace corp and getting a masters in public health. I'm a little scared of going away for two whole years, but then again it would be a great opportunity to do some hands on projects pertaining to my interests of international health. So what did you do and can you tell me a little of the good and bad?

 

[johnnyquest2009]

I will give you my thoughts on Peace Corps. (Although it is important to remember that every country/program is very different and what I say could be right on target with what your experience could be, or it could be far from it) Also, each volunteer is placed with a different agency/community so their experiences are all very different also. I loved my time, but many hated it too.)


Well your placed in a developing country far from anything you could ever imagine. We landed at night, and although it was June there was snow on the ground, and we were immediately sent far from the capital to the northern provincial city, where we were placed in small towns (usually 4 to 6 other volunteers placed in the same town) We lived with families who didn’t speak English, and we had yet to learn the local language. I remember hiding in my room overwhelmed, and thinking how the hell did I let myself get into this.

First three months: non-stop training: language, culture, learning about the health system, and major health risks, security training: aka: How to fight off rapid dogs, drunks/stalkers, etc etc.

After that: You are placed in the community that you will live in for the next 2 years.
While some volunteers told Peace Corps to place them were they can be best suited, I straight out asked to live in the capital, and that I wanted to work in certain areas, and that was what I was given. In my program, I full heartedly believe this is what you had to do. My program had already decided the 55 spots where we would go, and then they slotted us into these positions. The volunteers who stated where they wanted, were placed where they wanted, the ones that said “place me where I can be best utilized” were given the left over spots. Aka: the barren dessert, or the barren steppe. Many of the placements were decided politically. Peace Corps wanted good relationships with certain agencies, etc. Or; one example: Peace Corps wanted the use of a school in the second largest city for summer training, so offered a volunteer in return for the use of the school rent free, or someone is friends with someone so they gave them a volunteer, (and let their friend hand pick which volunteer they wanted)

The Experience: I loved my time there: There were times that I was on the verge of a breakdown, and times that I was on top of the world. I cant name one person in my program who didn’t have some type of breakdown/depression as some point in their service. (mine came about 7 months into the experience, coincided with the –50 F winter)
The Work: I was lucky because I was placed with an International Agency that was doing grass roots style work: Therefore I had the cash support, the name recognition, but still working at the grass roots level. Other volunteers where placed with local hospitals, etc, where their was absolutely no money, no resources, etc etc, while others where placed in larger policy style agencies (WHO, UNFPA etc) These volunteers ended up being glorified translators.
My work: I worked within poor slums of the capital, training doctors on confidentiality, teaching male community volunteers: police officers, taxi/bus drivers, miners, construction workers etc on being HIV/AIDS, sexual health peer educators, implemented teenage boys life skills clubs, leadership summer camps. Worked with local schools on introducing healthy lunches, implemented community health campaigns, trained community volunteers on general health, and social work techniques, lead fathers’ support groups, worked with National Aids Foundation on their internal evaluation report, worked with prisoners, and military regarding sexual health, trained teachers how to apply florid to children within the orphanages, raised money to create several green houses that were used to supplement diet, and create income. That is the tip of my work experience. But again, mine was very different than others: I was lucky to be placed with an agency with money, and who had lots of faith in me, and in a country that is relatively isolated from the world.

If you want more info, please message me.

 

[publichealthfan]

Okay, so here is my two cents as well.

I agree with Johnnyquest. Each and every person's experience is and will be different and so what may work for me is not necessarily true for what will work for you. I LOVED my experience, but my group started out with 14 and at the end of the two years we had 4 left.. I believe there are 2 reasons that people stay and complete their service- either they absolutely love it, or out of sheer determination and stubborness... but the latter two will only get you so far..

Okay, so my training was very similar as well. We were on an outer island and put with families who knew little to no english. I lived in a 6 by 6 hut type thing that was on stilits off the ground. We had intense language, culture and technical training. It last 10 weeks i believe and then we went back to the capital city. During our training, the trainers and staff said they were monitoring us to see where we would be a good match. We also filled out a survey with questions like "do you want to be near another volunteer" , "do you want to be near the airstrip", "is it important for you to have more than one flight a week to your island", etc.. and they would try their best to match us up... However, with my program, unlike jq's program, it wasn't so much a ask and you shall receive.. the one capital city volunteer was already pre-determined and the rest of us were placed on outer islands.. a lot of people requested closer islands (to the capital) and received ones that were a little bit further away, just because that is the way it worked out...
Okay- I think training was worthless, and a lot of my group agrees. The technical training we recieved was a joke and the other things were helpful but just the approach taken was a bad one. that being said, they try to improve on training each year, and since Health and Community Development volutneers have a much more broad "job" than education volunteers, it is hard.

The real training for me came when I went out to my assigned site. I was placed on a remote outer island with one flight a week to the capital city, which was nto really a sure thing either because the plane was broken half the time. I lived on an islet and so to get the the mainland, where everything was, I had to walk across if it was low tide, or take a canoe across at high tide. I had my own hut but I had a host family next door.
The Health and Community Development volutneers program had a lack of structure. basically, we had to find our own work and our own structure... obviously there was help from peace corps, but really, it was just us on our own trying to figure out what to do.
It was hard, I am not going to lie. An emotional roller coaster ride. You have your ups and downs and sometimes an up could last 5 minutes and you could be on another down again. But it was fulfilling. While I think teh country I was in needs to do a lot of work with it's structure and program for HCD volunteers, it was kinda more gratifying knowing that I did ALL of it on my own and wasn't helped by the Peace Corps.
When I refer to the peace corps- i mean the peace corps office in the country that I was in.
I think that if you are interested in the Peace Corps then you should definitley consider it..but if you are interested just for the hell of it, or for a resume builder, then it is not worth it.. You have to really want to do it.

Sorry for jumping around- feel free to PM me as well.

 

[johnnyquest2009]

Although our countries couldnt be any more different. (you on tropical island, and I was in an artic dessert) there are alot of the same principles. My group started with 55, ended with maybe 30,25. And yes, some volunteers who requested certain areas, like being near a mountain, or near a river, didnt get what they wanted, but for some it did work out. My point was to not have "oh put me where ever I am best suited" type of attitude. Some peeps ended up 60 hours by postal bus from the capital(aka: you get to sit on frozen goat meat on dirt roads). In my country there were about 120 volunteers, only 13 were health: 7 from my group, and the first year: 6 from the group that came before me, and the second year 6 that came a year later. So yes the spots were somewhat predetermined.
my group: 3 girls, 4 boys. I ended up in the capital working for European agency, one girl ended up with UNFPA (was suppose to be out west, but Bird flu forced her to the capital), one guy at ADRA, 2 girls in second largest city: aka 55,000 population. one at the nurse's college, other at hospital. 2 guys at provincial health departments. Also, my group had 8 volunteers in the captial(because of bird flu scare, while group before and after me had none)
Like P.health fan said, many of our volunteers lived in tents/yurts compared to her/his huts. Our training too was a joke. Like Pub. health fan said. Health volunteers will end up working in such a wide range of jobs that its hard to train them while education volunteers know what they will do.

Both of us had great highs, and very bad lows. like i said before, my first winter, and then when one of my student volunteers died of TB, watching day after day the families living in the sewers, watching one of my closest local friends die because the country doesnt have the ability to deal with brain trama, then watching my other friend be beating up by local police(their mentality, someone needs to be punished for this accident) . I dont know how many times I cried.
But I can say 100% it was worth it. Not because I did much for the community/agency/country, whatever, but because I learned so much about myself. I learned that I want a MPH, and I will do my best in this program, so that I can go back abroad (i still am now) and make a difference.

I know people are talking about doing Masters International, which is a great program, but I also suggest doing Peace Corps first. Because you go into your MPH with so much more understanding of the real situation

But like PublicHealthfan said, you shouldnt do Peace Corps because you want it on your resume, you need to do it because your heart is telling you that it is the right thing for you at that time. I am really sorry that this is so choppy, and lacks fluidity, but when it comes to talking about my two years in Peace Corps, so much emotion comes out of me.

I really believe without a doubt that whoever wants a MPH in global health really needs to experience a program like Peace Corps, where you get the chance to live/interact with people of a developing nation, and not just "visit" for a few weeks/ or month or so, but get to learn about them and understand the issues.