To Stay or Go: Part-Time MPH Program

[medception]

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Hi all,

Posting in this forum as well to get feedback. Was wondering what everyone thought of this before I make a decision:

I am a current full-time health policy consultant in DC who recently enrolled in the part-time/online MPH program at Johns Hopkins last June 2017, hoping to build on my knowledge gained from work over the past 3.5 years and to take rigorous courses in health policy research methodology. I am about 9 months and 8 credits (out of 80) into my program with a perfect 4.0. My ultimate goal is medical school/graduate school with the intention of becoming a primary care doc with a health policy research background, as all of the CMS/CMMI initiatives I work on have further inspired my passion for primary healthcare redesign and payment reform.

Unfortunately, I am seriously considering dropping out of the program for the following reasons:

1) The majority of these said research methods-type courses are only offered on-campus, which is near impossible to do with my work schedule (I tried), and did not realize until after I began the program that the online course selection is actually fairly limited. Reducing my hours at work is not an option because....you know...salary and bills.

2) I don't feel as though I am learning anything due to the survey-course nature of the online courses, and I am completely self-funding this $65,000 degree (my company is not paying for it because they require a commitment if you take their money). The quality of the education is abysmally poor (or maybe I just have high standards coming from a rigorous undergrad science background 😕)

3) The program will take me another three years to finish, as taking more than one course per quarter is too stressful given my insane work commitments.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[She-Hulk]

Hi all,

Posting in this forum as well to get feedback. Was wondering what everyone thought of this before I make a decision:

I am a current full-time health policy consultant in DC who recently enrolled in the part-time/online MPH program at Johns Hopkins last June 2017, hoping to build on my knowledge gained from work over the past 3.5 years and to take rigorous courses in health policy research methodology. I am about 9 months and 8 credits (out of 80) into my program with a perfect 4.0. My ultimate goal is medical school/graduate school with the intention of becoming a primary care doc with a health policy research background, as all of the CMS/CMMI initiatives I work on have further inspired my passion for primary healthcare redesign and payment reform.

Unfortunately, I am seriously considering dropping out of the program for the following reasons:

1) The majority of these said research methods-type courses are only offered on-campus, which is near impossible to do with my work schedule (I tried), and did not realize until after I began the program that the online course selection is actually fairly limited. Reducing my hours at work is not an option because....you know...salary and bills.

2) I don't feel as though I am learning anything due to the survey-course nature of the online courses, and I am completely self-funding this $65,000 degree (my company is not paying for it because they require a commitment if you take their money). The quality of the education is abysmally poor (or maybe I just have high standards coming from a rigorous undergrad science background 😕)

3) The program will take me another three years to finish, as taking more than one course per quarter is too stressful given my insane work commitments.

Any thoughts are appreciated!

I think that $65,000 is too expensive for an online degree that is survey-level and that you can't take the courses that you want. Maybe the first courses you have to take are survey level, but I've seen that a lot of online MPH programs, even through reputable schools, are kind of watered down options in a few areas without a lot of hard skills being learned.

 

[wwmmkk]

I'd leave. $65k isn't worth it for a graduate degree that isn't teaching you how you want to be taught. I agree with @She-Hulk's sentiment about the quality of online programs in general. If you can't commit to an in-person experience, it doesn't seem like the right time for an MPH for you. There are also plenty of MD/MPH programs out there, and it seems like with your current work schedule that kind of format might work better than trying to earn your MPH in advance.

I also think leaving would be super easy to spin in a positive light in future applications if that's something that's holding you back. "I left because I found the online program format wasn't conducive to deep learning, and I look forward to a more enriched experience at X Institution."

 

[Pudu2009]

Agree with @She-Hulk and @wwmmkk. It is not worth it to continue. I would suggest focusing all of your efforts on applying to medical school this summer, finish med school, and if you're still interested in primary healthcare redesign and healthcare reform, try to get your MPH during residency. The great thing about doing your MPH during residency instead of an MD/MPH is you can often get your MPH funded by your residency. Another option is to do an MS in health policy prior to med school, as MS is more academically research focused while MPH is more practice-based. But, definitely leave your current program.

 

[medception]

Hi all,

Thank you so much for your reply's - this is extremely helpful. One additional question: If I choose to leave and later decide to pursue a public health Ph.D program instead, how will it look to admissions committees that I dropped out of my MPH, when I hear many programs prefer a previous masters? I know of a few people who went directly into Ph.D programs at Bloomberg, but none that previously dropped out of an MPH/other public health masters program.

 

[Optimistic81]

Such a tough decision. What did you decide to do?

 

[medception]

Such a tough decision. What did you decide to do?

The timing of your post is actually pretty great. Just last week I respectfully told my supervisor that I was leaving the company to return to the full-time MPH, as this arrangement just wasn’t working and I wanted the degree more than I wanted to stay at my job.

To my surprise, my supervisor was shocked and asked me what it would take for me to stay.

Long story short is that my company is letting me stay in my position for 8 hours/week over the next year so I can finish the MPH in May 2019 🙂

 

[Pudu2009]

This is great news! Glad everything worked out the way you originally wanted.

 

[Optimistic81]

The timing of your post is actually pretty great. Just last week I respectfully told my supervisor that I was leaving the company to return to the full-time MPH, as this arrangement just wasn’t working and I wanted the degree more than I wanted to stay at my job.

To my surprise, my supervisor was shocked and asked me what it would take for me to stay.

Long story short is that my company is letting me stay in my position for 8 hours/week over the next year so I can finish the MPH in May 2019 🙂

That's amazing! Congratulations! I'm glad everything worked out for you. 🙂

 

[medception]

Thank you, all! Was very happy with the outcome