NP/MPH

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kyrae04

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Hello! I am a recent graduate (as of 3 weeks ago, woohoo) with a BS in Biology. I was originally set out for med school but after my low GPA and dating a med student, I am thinking of going down a different path. Also, I am going to be taking 1-2 years off this year and possibly next (much to my father's dismay) to gain some relevant experience, save some money, and figure out my next step.

I am very interested in public health and medicine. I started off my public health journey thinking I wanted to get my MHA and go into administration, but I realized I want to be more involved with the policy and patient care parts of healthcare. Since I am interested in the patient care aspect of healthcare, I am contemplating either a PA/MPH or NP/MPH (leaning more toward the latter).

Unfortunately my GPA is not where I would like it to be, with both my overall and science around a 2.9. Most NP/PA schools want at least a 3.0. I was slightly above the 50th percentile on the GRE with absolutely no studying, and am currently studying to retake it this summer.

Long story short, I guess my question is this: Should I pursue an NP/MPH degree (either dual or separately) with my scores next application cycle? I know I can improve my GRE and I am a fairly decent writer, with the possibility of several great rec letters. I am in the process of getting a job in the hospital, hopefully as a PCA, nurse assistant, etc. I am also beginning a research project with a very well known member and professor in the public health community.

OR, with all that, should I pursue an MPH degree separately to have an improved GPA then go for an NP/DNP program? I wonder if the extra cost and time of all that, while obviously not desirable, are worth it in the long run if I can get a well paying job to pay off my loans and eat more than ramen right away? Unfortunately, I am already ~$32,000 in debt from undergrad.

Anyone with experience, in/went through the same situation, or whatever, I very much appreciate your time and input.

Thank you!
 
Also, with the combination of the NP and MPH degrees, what career possibilities are there? I am more than well aware of job possibilities of each individual degree, but am curious what I can do with both of them! I am really interested in the ED, oncology, hospital based, psychiatric, and surgical NP specializations.
 
I don't want to be rude, but 11 days ago didn't you open up a thread about JD/MPH??

After a little bit TOO MUCH constructive criticism I did end up saying something on the lines of: Invest your time wisely right now and look into what you really have a passion for. It does seem as if you do have a passion for public health, but I am guessing that you are scared of what simply just an MPH degree can get you in the real world.

I personally went through a struggle of figuring out what I wanted to do. In HS I always wanted to become a physician, I was amazing at math and sciences in high school, but I really didn't have school counselors or teachers that explained how challenging becoming a doctor was. I knew it would be hard, but really never knew just how hard it was to get accepted into medical schools. Yet, I still wanted to be a physician all throughout HS. When I got accepted to Michigan State I was pre-med and still really didn't do much research on how competitive medical schools were. I really reflect back in my time between my junior year of HS and freshman year of college and regret not doing research on my own time. Really, I just floated by in HS and easily got a 3.9 my final 4 semesters taking the college road math and science courses and they were the easiest classes to me, but challenging to several students. When I was a senior I did a job shadow with my family friend podiatrist, who I was once a client of his. It was practically just a 4hr experience and I didn't take much into it because it was simply for an English grade. So when I got into a residential college at Michigan State in which on orientation among the 30 students it was 22 were pre-MD/DO, 6 were pre-vet, and the other two were who knows what. I would say by our junior year it hit us that probably 70% of every incoming Lyman Briggs student is pre-MD/DO, while most HS students enter freshman year back in 2009 with no understanding of masters of public health or physicians assistant because everybody's brain is on becoming a doctor because back in HS they were the kings of the sciences and mathematics. Then they got to this honors college at MSU and realized they were average at best, just like me! So my first year I was pre-MD because at the time I still didn't really know much about how competitive MD schools were. Then half way through my 2nd semester of freshman year I realized how hard it was so I was in a confusing road in my life. At the time, I had no clue that my at the time what I believed was my passion, podiatry, was not actually affiliated with MD schools like this residential college for most pre-med students had me believe. So I went down the PA route. I was in that aspect of my mind for a while and really thought my grades were competitive enough at the time.
Then in my senior year when I started to take the 450+ level physio & biochem courses my grades took a toll and I was going crazy because I knew PA school was out of the picture. I was finally informed about how podiatry school was its own set of admissions, so I went down that route. For over 12 months I was jacked to apply to podiatry medical school because I knew it was in the medical field and that my grades were competitive to get in. I shadowed my podiatrist twice a week in the summer of 2013. My issue was that when I shadowed the doctor I thought to myself "well podiatry is really the only path I can now go down with my Human Physiology degree, so I better like it." Well, as I shadowed the podiatrist I loved some of the things he did, but there were some things I told myself that I could not see myself doing this every day till I am 65 or so. But I told myself it was my only option so I put a smile on for the doc and my family.
Back in September 2013, I got an invite for an interview to a podiatry school and that was when I realized I really did NOT have a passion for this. You would expect that I would be jacked to get this invite. I really opened it not caring what they said. When I read it, the words barely moved me. I really could care less about whether they agreed to an invite or not.

The best thing that happened to me was my senior seminar lab partner mentioned how she was going to a Masters of Public Health for Epidemiology with her Human Biology degree. That class work has always interested me. My human physiology 1&2 courses were boring as he!! and I really didn't enjoy it at all. Yet, the classes I enjoyed the most were my laboratory, mathematics, stem cells, and biophysics courses. Those excited me. After months of researching MPH schools I told my parents but they were not thrilled at all. I come from a family of a journalist turned special ed teacher aide and an engineer. My brother is a supply chain graduate with a great job at just 23 yrs old, one of my cousins is a marketing graduate with a great job, but my other cousin (the smartest one of all of us) is a D.O. student at the MSU med/DO school. So my parents assumed I was giving up simply because I have swapped from pre-MD to pre-PA to pre-Podiatry in my 4yrs at Michigan State.

I started working as a nurses aide at a rehab center and it has taught me that I never, ever want to be working as a physician or PA. I literally cannot stand half my patients and I realize that most my patients are elderly, which makes up most of the podiatrists patients. I know that the current work setting would be different in a private practice, but even getting out of med school is challenging enough to me. My current job (well one I haven't quit yet) has taught me I hate becoming a doctor, nurse, or PA because you have to rely on other doctors, nurses, and PAs but the issue is that most people are lazy and don't help you out unless the work they help you with benefits them.

Yes, this seems like a bunch of rambling, I AGREE, but my point is to sit down and talk to yourself and your family about your aspirations in life. Had I actually researched MPH schools maybe I would have changed majors earlier in my undergrad life, get more lab experience, taken the GRE and get into an amazing MPH program. My issue with undergrad is that I have way too many regrets about my college studies because I hated my physiology major and now it can't get me any entry level
 
I don't want to be rude, but 11 days ago didn't you open up a thread about JD/MPH??

After a little bit TOO MUCH constructive criticism I did end up saying something on the lines of: Invest your time wisely right now and look into what you really have a passion for. It does seem as if you do have a passion for public health, but I am guessing that you are scared of what simply just an MPH degree can get you in the real world.

I personally went through a struggle of figuring out what I wanted to do. In HS I always wanted to become a physician, I was amazing at math and sciences in high school, but I really didn't have school counselors or teachers that explained how challenging becoming a doctor was. I knew it would be hard, but really never knew just how hard it was to get accepted into medical schools. Yet, I still wanted to be a physician all throughout HS. When I got accepted to Michigan State I was pre-med and still really didn't do much research on how competitive medical schools were. I really reflect back in my time between my junior year of HS and freshman year of college and regret not doing research on my own time. Really, I just floated by in HS and easily got a 3.9 my final 4 semesters taking the college road math and science courses and they were the easiest classes to me, but challenging to several students. When I was a senior I did a job shadow with my family friend podiatrist, who I was once a client of his. It was practically just a 4hr experience and I didn't take much into it because it was simply for an English grade. So when I got into a residential college at Michigan State in which on orientation among the 30 students it was 22 were pre-MD/DO, 6 were pre-vet, and the other two were who knows what. I would say by our junior year it hit us that probably 70% of every incoming Lyman Briggs student is pre-MD/DO, while most HS students enter freshman year back in 2009 with no understanding of masters of public health or physicians assistant because everybody's brain is on becoming a doctor because back in HS they were the kings of the sciences and mathematics. Then they got to this honors college at MSU and realized they were average at best, just like me! So my first year I was pre-MD because at the time I still didn't really know much about how competitive MD schools were. Then half way through my 2nd semester of freshman year I realized how hard it was so I was in a confusing road in my life. At the time, I had no clue that my at the time what I believed was my passion, podiatry, was not actually affiliated with MD schools like this residential college for most pre-med students had me believe. So I went down the PA route. I was in that aspect of my mind for a while and really thought my grades were competitive enough at the time.
Then in my senior year when I started to take the 450+ level physio & biochem courses my grades took a toll and I was going crazy because I knew PA school was out of the picture. I was finally informed about how podiatry school was its own set of admissions, so I went down that route. For over 12 months I was jacked to apply to podiatry medical school because I knew it was in the medical field and that my grades were competitive to get in. I shadowed my podiatrist twice a week in the summer of 2013. My issue was that when I shadowed the doctor I thought to myself "well podiatry is really the only path I can now go down with my Human Physiology degree, so I better like it." Well, as I shadowed the podiatrist I loved some of the things he did, but there were some things I told myself that I could not see myself doing this every day till I am 65 or so. But I told myself it was my only option so I put a smile on for the doc and my family.
Back in September 2013, I got an invite for an interview to a podiatry school and that was when I realized I really did NOT have a passion for this. You would expect that I would be jacked to get this invite. I really opened it not caring what they said. When I read it, the words barely moved me. I really could care less about whether they agreed to an invite or not.

The best thing that happened to me was my senior seminar lab partner mentioned how she was going to a Masters of Public Health for Epidemiology with her Human Biology degree. That class work has always interested me. My human physiology 1&2 courses were boring as he!! and I really didn't enjoy it at all. Yet, the classes I enjoyed the most were my laboratory, mathematics, stem cells, and biophysics courses. Those excited me. After months of researching MPH schools I told my parents but they were not thrilled at all. I come from a family of a journalist turned special ed teacher aide and an engineer. My brother is a supply chain graduate with a great job at just 23 yrs old, one of my cousins is a marketing graduate with a great job, but my other cousin (the smartest one of all of us) is a D.O. student at the MSU med/DO school. So my parents assumed I was giving up simply because I have swapped from pre-MD to pre-PA to pre-Podiatry in my 4yrs at Michigan State.

I started working as a nurses aide at a rehab center and it has taught me that I never, ever want to be working as a physician or PA. I literally cannot stand half my patients and I realize that most my patients are elderly, which makes up most of the podiatrists patients. I know that the current work setting would be different in a private practice, but even getting out of med school is challenging enough to me. My current job (well one I haven't quit yet) has taught me I hate becoming a doctor, nurse, or PA because you have to rely on other doctors, nurses, and PAs but the issue is that most people are lazy and don't help you out unless the work they help you with benefits them.

Yes, this seems like a bunch of rambling, I AGREE, but my point is to sit down and talk to yourself and your family about your aspirations in life. Had I actually researched MPH schools maybe I would have changed majors earlier in my undergrad life, get more lab experience, taken the GRE and get into an amazing MPH program. My issue with undergrad is that I have way too many regrets about my college studies because I hated my physiology major and now it can't get me any entry level


Hughesn2,

Thank you for your reply. I did post a while ago about the JD/MPH, just to get more info about it. After more research and talking to some people in the profession, I decided it wasn't a)a good fit for me and b)a wise investment. I was a Biology major after 5 years but when I came to college I was undecided on a major (between the medical or legal route). I am now trying to narrow down what I want to do, and have all but ruled med school out, due to my academic performance, the time commitment it requires, and the money it requires. I want to do something in the medical field, hence looking at PA and NP programs which I am very passionate about, but also in public health which I am very passionate about. I feel the pressure of time (ignoring it from family and friends for now! haha) because I do not want to get stuck taking time off and not going back. I am planning on retaking the GRE this summer to improve my application with that, but I have seen that many (if not most) PA schools don't even require it. If I go the NP route and kill the GRE (easier said than done, of course) I am hoping my lower GPA will be somewhat overshadow by test scores, rec letters, and essays.

It sounds like our paths were/are fairly similar, I coasted through high school with a 4.0, not really knowing how to study and had picked becoming a doctor as my life goal when I was 8 years old... I never really researched what it took to actually get there, and due to my lack of "needing to try" in HS I was not at all prepared for college; my grades obviously suffered.

I do not want an MPH alone, because while I am passionate about public health (policy, promotion, helping those who cannot afford insurance, etc.) I do want to do something medical and more patient-oriented, rather than sitting in a cubicle crunching numbers or running a non-profit. I realize there are other specializations such as biostats, epidemiology, etc. but they do not interest me enough to pursue a lifelong career.

I guess my main question from all this, and merely for informational purposes at this point, is a mixture of whether an MPH is worth pursuing at all, if I should do a dual degree of NP(or PA)/MPH or do them separately, or if I should get my MPH, do really well, and apply to an NP program with that (hopefully) much higher GPA. Like I said before, I would rather do them in some kind of merged program so I do not have to spend the money and time getting my MPH then going back and spending my time and money to go through an NP program.

Thanks again for the reply!
 
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