Prior MPH Degree: How does it look to Med Schools?

[jdg2115]

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Not sure if this is the best place to post, but thought i'd give it a try.

I just graduated from an ivy league with an MPH degree. I am now applying to post-bacc programs for the fall. Does anyone have any insight into how Medical School admissions committees view students with prior MPH degrees? Does it add to the app, or could it even possibly subtract (due to the fact that my focus was originally public health, and now my interests have shifted to more clinical aspects of health)?
😳
Thanks!!!

 

[drizzt3117]

Not sure if this is the best place to post, but thought i'd give it a try.

I just graduated from an ivy league with an MPH degree. I am now applying to post-bacc programs for the fall. Does anyone have any insight into how Medical School admissions committees view students with prior MPH degrees? Does it add to the app, or could it even possibly subtract (due to the fact that my focus was originally public health, and now my interests have shifted to more clinical aspects of health)?
😳
Thanks!!!

I'm sure a MPH will add to your application, especially if you can get some good recs from faculty, esp ones who are associated with a medical school.

 

[braluk]

Ive heard many mixed things about an MPH. Some see it as one of those degrees that don't really confer any advantage to your application unless you have some prior background in it, some won't care, and some may think of it as an advantage. If you search around through this postbac forum, Im sure you will find many helpful and useful tips about how to frame your MPH positively to any of those schools. Good luck!

 

[lawnboy313]

Someone in the UConn program has a Yale MPH--I have to think, based on how competitive the program is, that it only helped her application.

 

[relentless11]

An MPH can only add to your application, but how far it will go is anyones guess. Ultimately, it will come down to your undergrad GPA and MCAT score again (among everything else). One can ask the same thing about a PhD degree in some medical science like pathology and biomedical engineering. Even these degrees which are certainly more involved than a masters has a variable effect on gaining admission to med school

Short of having poor grades in the MPH program, I cannot see why med school would frown upon the degree considering many schools offer MD/MPH programs. However I wouldn't bet on it being a deciding factor in gaining admissions either. In a time where bachelors degrees mean little, a masters is starting to become a more common degree too.

 

[qwopty99]

i think the MPH would help. i can't see why it would hurt.

how much it helps, however, really varies.

if ur competing against an undergrad with 3 years of pre-med, no extra-curriculars, and nothing going him except GPA/MCAT, then the MPH will probably win out.