Question about "general MPH"? pros/cons?

[digitalfigment]

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Hey folks, I'm hoping you all could help me out with my several questions.

I have applied to the University of Texas School of Public Health for an MPH. For those that know, they have regional campuses outside of Houston (the main campus). I applied to the Austin one, but the central campus has academic responsibility for the program...so it is ranked as highly. I am interested in Epi; however, they only offer a general MPH. From what the administrators told me, I can get all the required coursework that would more or less amount to majoring in Epi in the end if I sought it out. I believe them. However, I am more concerned with the job prospects of a person with an "general MPH." When you are applying for a job, would it look bad that I didn't major in Epi (even though I have the same knowledge base)? Will potential employers even have a way of finding this out (especially if I clearly know my stuff)? Do they care about what public health track you took (or didnt take)?

 

[BETHANYP12]

I was looking back to find the answer to this question myself and I saw yours from last year. I am wanting to go to UT in Dallas at UT Southwestern, but wanted to do Epi also. What happened with your situation? Did you find out the answer to the question? I could go to UNT in Fort Worth, I would just rather go UT b/c it is so close to my house.

Hey folks, I'm hoping you all could help me out with my several questions.

I have applied to the University of Texas School of Public Health for an MPH. For those that know, they have regional campuses outside of Houston (the main campus). I applied to the Austin one, but the central campus has academic responsibility for the program...so it is ranked as highly. I am interested in Epi; however, they only offer a general MPH. From what the administrators told me, I can get all the required coursework that would more or less amount to majoring in Epi in the end if I sought it out. I believe them. However, I am more concerned with the job prospects of a person with an "general MPH." When you are applying for a job, would it look bad that I didn't major in Epi (even though I have the same knowledge base)? Will potential employers even have a way of finding this out (especially if I clearly know my stuff)? Do they care about what public health track you took (or didnt take)?

 

[Stories]

From what the administrators told me, I can get all the required coursework that would more or less amount to majoring in Epi in the end if I sought it out. I believe them. However, I am more concerned with the job prospects of a person with an "general MPH." When you are applying for a job, would it look bad that I didn't major in Epi (even though I have the same knowledge base)? Will potential employers even have a way of finding this out (especially if I clearly know my stuff)? Do they care about what public health track you took (or didnt take)?

If you want epidemiology jobs, it's definitely beneficial to have "Epidemiology" on your resume. It's much easier to do this than explain yourself in an interview (if you get one) or cover letter. It's beneficial particularly when you don't have real-world experience to have "Epidemiology" on your resume because employers know immediately that you have the training necessary rather than looking through and sifting through the papers to figure out if you do or not.

And on a side note, while you can basically follow the same curriculum, there's no guarantees to an employer, so it's definitely to your advantage to do the one with the title.

 

[cocobobo]

I agree with Stories, it is much better to have an Epi MPH rather than a general MPH. As for the UT SPH regional campuses, they will tell you that your path will be the same as Epi students in Houston, but in my experiences, students in the other campuses (Austin, SA, Dallas, Brownsville, El Paso) are at a disadvantage to the Houston students. There are less classes offered in the regional campuses, and the ITV classes aren't the greatest. You won't get the same in class experiences as you do in person.