Undergraduate Public Health

[indya]

I am currently looking at colleges which to attend for my bachelor's degree. I am very interested in public health, and I am pretty sure I want to study it at the undergraduate level, if not at the graduate level as well. However, as I have looking at colleges, especially those listed on the US News rankings for public health, most seem to not have public health programs for undergrads. My first question is: Have any of you done undergraduate degrees in public health, and if so, would you recommend it? Secondly: The only schools in the top 15 or so with PH undergraduate programs are UWashington, Tulane, BU, and Hopkins, as far as I can tell. How are these programs? And lastly: how accurate are these rankings? I was told by a mentor of mine working in PH that Tulane is as well respected as Harvard and Hopkins for public health, yet it is ranked number 13 on these rankings.

Or should I just forget about formally studying public health at the undergrad level and just wait until I can study for an MPH?

Thanks for any help on this issue.

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[AJ414]

You should look into Washington University in St. Louis!!

 

[Big Dog]

The two H's (Harvard and Hopkins) have been standing atop the PH food chain for a long time, and for a reason.

Generally, PH is a graduate program as you are finding. But any top PH school that offers a program will do it well. Cal-Berkeley also offers an undergrad program.

Better to gain a liberal arts education, IMO, work in the PH field for a couple of years, and then get your MPH.

 

[behealthy]

UC- Irvine has a good program. It's a bit younger, but I was happy with it! PM me with questions...

 

[slideways75]

You should look into Truman State University in Kirksville, MO. Kirksville is a smaller town but our program is AMAZING! As our senior exit exam the university pays for us to take the CHES exam plus we are a SABPAC approved program. All of our faculty are amazing and will do everything to help you get where you want to go. We also have to opportunity to do undergraduate research and attend all major conferences. The program at Truman is one to look into. Not only do we have do the classroom stuff, but we also do service learning activities and some of our classes have projects built into them where you are working for a community group and building health materials for them. It's great and I love it!

In case you are wondering, I am a senior health science major at Truman State. Let me know if you have any questions!!!

 

[tranm3]

I'm currently doing my undergraduate in public health (with another degree in medical anthropology and global health) here at UW.

I feel that already having a base of public health knowledge has been great. I have already taken classes in epidemiology and health services and there are common topics, issues, and vocab that comes up continually in this field and it's been really helpful to be familiar with them already. The Public Health major itself isn't completely integrated into the UWSoPH but I think this is in the works and will make the major even stronger.

I'm planning to ultimately get an MPH in Nutritional Sciences, fyi.

 

[RU2012]

I'm currently studying public health as an undergrad at Rutgers and I would highly recommend going to a school that has an undergrad program in it. You can get a better feel for what area of PH you would like to go into by sampling different classes, so you're better-equipped to make the right choice before taking out ridiculous amounts of student loans for grad school. Also, Rutgers (as well as other undergrad PH programs, I would imagine) offers many opportunities for volunteering, health outreach in the local community, trips abroad, research, and public health certificates that you can put on your resume.

I would look into undergrad programs as long as you're fairly certain you want to do public health in grad school, because I'm not sure how many opportunities are available with just an undergrad degree in it. Good luck!

 

[Kevin36]

I did a public health undergrad at Central Michigan University and it was a great experience. With that said, the public health field is full of people with graduate degrees, so it can be tough to compete with them. Because of this I did a MSc in epidemiology. I felt I already had the basics down from the core courses so skipped the MPH. If you want to work in public health this isn't a bad route from my experience. Get the general stuff down in undergrad then choose a focus area and really focus on it via an MS.

I also think having two degrees in public health helped me get into the DrPH program at UIC.

 

[waystinthyme]

UNC-Chapel Hill has a very good undergraduate public health program. which discipline are you interested in? PM me if you have questions...

-waystinthyme

 

[Kevin36]

I think we will start seeing more undergrad PH programs. Isn't it an objective of the ASPH? Also, starting PH salaries are many times small and the work doesn't really warrant a graduate degree.

Just my 2-cents

 

[Globalhealth85]

Clemson University in South Carolina also has an undergraduate Department of Public Health, with BS degrees in Health Science (with concentrations such as Health Promotion and Education) and International Health (which is basically a dual degree in Public Health and a foreign language, etc.) I agree with others when they say an undergraduate degree is great at getting you familiar with the common vocabulary and issues public health involves, and helps you develop a focus BEFORE graduate school. I graduated as a Certified Health Education Specialist as well, taking the CHES exam at the end of my senior year.

 

[douglasleer]

Is there any special admission requirement if I want to apply for Undergrad Public Health program?
What if I'm an International student, and went to college in China.