Which is best for Epi?

[theaznfishy]

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So I've been accepted to Columbia, Boston, LL, Drex, Tulane, and some other places. I was wondering if anyone knew anything in terms of whether the Epi. programs are delicious, or maybe undelicious? I'm leaning towards Columbia just out of ranking and prestige but to be honest I've only been to LLU (from an interview) so I'm sort of shooting in the dark. Can anyone give me advice on what you've heard or have experienced from any of these places? Thank you.

PS: What is a Merit Award constitute? Is it because I'm poor 🙁

 

[Stories]

I'm a BU alum, so I can tell you a bit about the epi program there.

The program is very open. There are many "tracks" you can choose, although none are officially recognized. They give you a choice of classes to choose from and you can select what you want to take pretty liberally. The only requirements are the two epi methods classes (Epi Methods and Intermediate Epi) and two biostat classes (Intro Biostat and Intro SAS). All other classes are available for you to choose as you want. The capstone is simply a 4 hour exam that you pass after you've taken intermediate epi that is comprehensive covering quantitative problems and analysis/critique of a published paper. If you have another field of interest, it is also very easy for you to dual-concentrate in another field (I doubled in Environmental Health).

The medical campus (where SPH is located), is a bit far away from the main BU campus, but a bus connects the two campuses for easy transport. SPH itself is pretty nice as is the med campus, although the surrounding area is not. I lived closer to the main campus and commuted on the shuttle everyday. The area in which the main campus is located is pretty nice. Boston itself as a city is pretty fantastic. I love Boston.

And to let you know what I'm doing: I was just accepted to Yale SPH to do my PhD with a full fellowship and one of my classmates was accepted to UWash SPH for her PhD and also with a full fellowship 🙂 So I can definitely say good things about BU's alums.

Merit scholarships are given out on a basis of your potential to do well in the program. They are simply there to try and entice you to come to that school. The vast majority of schools offer little in the way of scholarships/fellowships/funding at the master's level, so this is one way they try to attract students.

 

[zose]

Stories, I was accepted to BU for epi and I am glad to hear of your positive experience there. Did you attend BU full time and were you able to complete the program in 3 semesters (particularly with a dual concentration)? Also, do you know how easy it is to acquire an assistantship or employment at the school? Lastly, there are some good names in the epi department (in terms of textbook writing), but how are they as teachers? Thanks so much.

 

[Stories]

Stories, I was accepted to BU for epi and I am glad to hear of your positive experience there. Did you attend BU full time and were you able to complete the program in 3 semesters (particularly with a dual concentration)? Also, do you know how easy it is to acquire an assistantship or employment at the school? Lastly, there are some good names in the epi department (in terms of textbook writing), but how are they as teachers? Thanks so much.

I attended BU part-time, but worked full-time as a research assistant. I still finished in two years (I did my practicum in the summer semester of my 2nd year), and never felt strapped for time. I know that I finished faster than the majority of my other part-time friends, and the majority of my full-time friends finished about 40 credits in 3 semesters, and were/are enrolled part-time in the 4th semester to finish up their last credits.

Finding an assistantship, while not hard, is not easy. It is often about lucky timing and being in the right spot at the right time because most of the RA positions do pay a significant portion of your tuition costs (which makes going to school that much easier on the wallet). You also get wonderful experience. I'd recommend that you seek out professors in the first week and asking the department administrator(s) if there are any job openings.

Ann Aschengrau was my adviser and mentor, and I felt she was a wonderful teacher (I took EH757 Environmental Epi with her). Both of the basic methods classes I took were well taught, EP712 Epi Methods with Dan Brooks and EP813 Intermediate Epi with Sherri Stuver. I know that EP712 is taught on a rotational basis, so I'm not sure who will teach it this coming fall. I can also definitely recommend EP752 Cancer Epi taught by Tizzy Hatch and Marianne Prout, which I think was one of my favorite classes while at BU.

Hope this helps.

 

[swim2006]

Stories, I was accepted to BU for epi and I am glad to hear of your positive experience there. Did you attend BU full time and were you able to complete the program in 3 semesters (particularly with a dual concentration)? Also, do you know how easy it is to acquire an assistantship or employment at the school? Lastly, there are some good names in the epi department (in terms of textbook writing), but how are they as teachers? Thanks so much.

I am a BUSPH alum...dual epi and MCH and I finished in 3 semesters. I agree with Stories about employment at school. Although to reap the benefits (tuition reimbursements) of being employed by BU you would need to work full-time and school part-time. Tizzy was my advisor and she was great but I never took a class she taught. I also had Dan Brooks and he was great. I have had some friends say that Tim Lash is a good teacher as well (tough but good).