MPH - worth it?

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GCS-15

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Hey everyone - I'm a senior in college and just got into a 1 year masters in public health program (woot!). I was planning on applying to med school in June, getting the MPH, then entering med school next year. I originally wanted to get the MPH because I want to go into policy making/public work as a physician and think the knowledge could be an asset, even for patient care - but I'm looking into it and many doctors working in public health don't actually have an MPH.
So now I'm wondering: is it worth it? It's going to cost ~ $25K and I'm having second doubts if I should enter the program, or save the money. Anyone have any advice? Gotten an MPH and think it's useful/not useful? Should I post this in the residency forums and see what they say? Didn't know if it was appropriate for that.

Thanks!

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I don't have an MPH and don't know if it's worth it, but you can definitely earn an MPH while in med school or even after med school.

Many people use it as a "break" year more formally referred to as a "gap-year" between 2nd and 3rd or 3rd and 4th year in med school.

And of course, it does cost money and you don't get a living stipend, so many sure you have a way to pay for that or get housing.
 
I have a similar graduate degree (medical ethics) and for me, it was absolutely worth it. If your application is competitive enough to get into medical school now (unlike mine was at the time), then I would urge you to consider what the above poster said about getting an MPH during med school. Many med schools have an MD+ program where they will pay for your MPH tuition and you usually do the coursework either before your M1 year (thus deferring to the next MD class), or between M2-M3 year after you take Step 1.

If your application is not ready, then you might find that 1 year for an MPH won't be enough time. For example, if you have a lower GPA and want your graduate GPA to be included for consideration, adcoms won't even get your fall semester grades. Also, you would have very little to talk about in a personal statement or secondary regarding your experience in grad school. So don't be afraid to take more time off to pursue an MPH and beef up experiences you can talk about. After my graduate degree, I used it to work in clinical research and teaching. Not that you want to take as much time off as I did, but I guarantee you that any passion you show for "the other sides of medicine" will really help shape your medical career in unique ways.
 
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I'm just about finished with an MPH in Epidemiology and for me it was worth it. I think the people who wind up thinking it wasn't worth it typically fall into one of several categories: 1) didn't really have a good plan for how they intended to use the degree (2) chose a program that wasn't a good fit (3) only did what was necessary to earn the diploma (4) thought it would be a med school application booster by itself. This list isn't all inclusive.

I think the first two points are pretty self explanatory. If you don't have an idea for how this will compliment your medical training, you might be best served by saving your money until you figure it out (maybe during med school, maybe fellowship, or once practicing).

Three is something I think a lot of people miss. You can take the classes, do your project, and get the degree just fine. But there are a lot of opportunities during the MPH to really get your hands dirty and learn a ton Outside the classroom. Cool things I've done: clinical research in a busy county ED as a field experience, volunteered at our very interdisciplinary student run free clinic, did an extra field experience evaluating new diagnostic tests, served as a grant proposal reviewer for Ryan White Outreach Services grants. There are lots of experiences to just say yest to. So for someone like me who is currently aspiring to be an ID doc who does clinical research, it worked out well.


Now, the other question is the cost. Depending on what you ultimately do, you can often get more help paying for the MPH by doing it later during training (ie several fellowship programs around here allow you to do it at no additional cost to you). So there's also the issue of rising med school tuition every year you delay, as well as the possibility it might take you longer than a year (esp. if you're trying to make the most of it).
 
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Thanks for the comments everyone! Looks like I have a lot of thinking to do aha.
 
I'm curious, is this the UCD MPH? It's one of the only 1 year MPH's that I'm aware of, so that's why I ask. I know a couple med students at UCDSOM who completed their MPH before matriculating, and have nothing but good things to say about the program.

Yes, it is the one in Davis! There are a couple of other one year programs too tho. I think Emory, northwestern, and George Washington all have a one year track.
 
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