Yale or GW?

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AgentSik007

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I was hoping to get some feedback from posters here. I am currently deciding between an MPH in Health Policy and a MSPH in Microbiology and Emerging Infectious Disease with a certificate in Health Services Administration at GW. My goal for these degrees is not terminal but rather transitional. I would like to apply to medical school upon completion of my masters degree and if that does not pan out I would like to pursue a PhD. However, my major requirement is that these degrees remain highly marketable to future employers.

The MPH from Yale in Health Policy has the following advantages:
-It’s more selective than the big programs so the class size is small ( 15-18), there are 9 full time faculty members, faculty are very academia oriented so there is a lot of research going on in the field (advantage to med school?),
-Yale has a big name advantage for not only med school but for future employers ( particularly alums from all Yale programs),
-There is plenty of elective room so I can take classes at the law school or management school, health policy is what I am generally oriented to as far as personal interests go and it’s closer to home ( I’m a New Yorker).
Disadvantages of Yale include:
-Expense (most expensive out of all my choices including GW);
-New Haven is a **** hole;
-Within public health, in general, Yale is not significant ( I have the option of going to Columbia which is ranked higher but has a terrible student to full time faculty ratio for its health policy/management division and there is no significant research going on);
-And there is no science curriculum in the program for medical school ( however, I have no need to prove my self capable as I have an undergrad GPA of 3.9).

The MSPH at GW has the following advantages:
-It’s in DC (which is my second choice of living in another city besides NY) where there is a huge number of opportunities in public health including NIH, HHS, and etc.;
-I was awarded a merit scholarship (however Yale gave me grants but a merit scholarship looks more impressive on a CV);
-The curriculum allows me to take medical school classes (important for recommendations to medical school and for networking as well as admissions to see I am continue science related work);
-GW has a huge network of alums in the area (there is a lot of opportunity to intern and work);
-The class size is also small but not as small as that of Yale;
-The admissions director (who was formerly on the Michigan State Medical School admissions committee) personally offered her help when I apply to med school;
-Yale’s most significant Epi and Infectious Disease professor has migrated to GW and there is a lot of research opportunities in tropical medicine (they have a huge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation);

The disadvantages include:
-If I choose not to pursue an MD, in the long term I do not want to be at a lab bench ( but I am getting a health services certificate);
-The faculty seems to be much immersed in their own research (I’ve had difficulty tracking down my assigned advisor---omen?);
-GW is not as prestigious as Yale (as an overall brand name) and their acceptance rates are less selective than Yale’s;
-DC is further away from my friends and family than Yale;
-Most unappealing about the program is that it’s two years plus a summer semester of classes (which is unappealing because I can’t do a full-time internship in the summer as I would be able to at Yale, most students in my program do their required internship in the lab at GW…I really don’t want that, I prefer to diversify) plus the certificate I am doing will involve a heavier course load of an extra semester (probably ANOTHER summer).


Does anyone have any suggestions or any experiences they can share? This is a really pain in the ass decision, I just wish I was excited.

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Agent,

First and foremost congrats on your acceptances! GW and Yale are both great schools and they both have a lot to offer you as a student... I'm currently at the NIH and have worked with a couple GW Public Health faculty members (Glenn Geelhoed..very awesome guy, takes a lot of trips to Africa on missions) and I know they have a great infections/emerging disease program there.

I don't believe either school will be of much significant difference to med school adcoms as they percieve the MPH degree as some auxiliary degree that compliments MD training and they see it as something that's good to have. They are both great schools and either way you go, you really can't go wrong (in the grand scheme of things)

About Yale..if you can hop onto a faculty member's research that will def. help you get into medical school...adcoms drool at publications and research experience, so this can only help you. Yes, the Yale name may sway the laypeople of the world, but to knowing adcoms, they will not bat an eye to a Yale SPH degree. It's not to say that Yale isn't a great program, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not one of the "better" schools. I say this with knowledge as I work with many people who are or were adcoms at Johns Hopkins Med and they tell me that a Public Health degree is not really looked at with much respect...kind've sad, but it's the way the world works.

Your UGrad GPA is phenomenal. so you shouldn't have any problems with that...so I say good luck :)
 
Agent,

First and foremost congrats on your acceptances! GW and Yale are both great schools and they both have a lot to offer you as a student... I'm currently at the NIH and have worked with a couple GW Public Health faculty members (Glenn Geelhoed..very awesome guy, takes a lot of trips to Africa on missions) and I know they have a great infections/emerging disease program there.

I don't believe either school will be of much significant difference to med school adcoms as they percieve the MPH degree as some auxiliary degree that compliments MD training and they see it as something that's good to have. They are both great schools and either way you go, you really can't go wrong (in the grand scheme of things)

About Yale..if you can hop onto a faculty member's research that will def. help you get into medical school...adcoms drool at publications and research experience, so this can only help you. Yes, the Yale name may sway the laypeople of the world, but to knowing adcoms, they will not bat an eye to a Yale SPH degree. It's not to say that Yale isn't a great program, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not one of the "better" schools. I say this with knowledge as I work with many people who are or were adcoms at Johns Hopkins Med and they tell me that a Public Health degree is not really looked at with much respect...kind've sad, but it's the way the world works.

Your UGrad GPA is phenomenal. so you shouldn't have any problems with that...so I say good luck :)


Thank you for your input. Do you think I'll be better off with a lab bench degree then rather than just a Health Policy degree?
 
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I think it depends on what you mean "better off."

Obviously, the logical progression from doing infectious disease/microbiology even with a health services certificate will probably be more of a lab/research-type job, maybe some kind of epi... I mean of course I'm sure there's non-lab stuff possible too, but there are also people who focused in those areas vying for those jobs also. As far as I've heard, there are excellent prospects in this field with tropical biomedical research and all that... My undergrad advisor actually encouraged me to go down this track but I decided I wanted to focus on more the social aspects of global health. Also, a graduate from my university from 3 years ago did a similar program at UMich and got a research-type job at the Gate's Foundation in Seattle...

Health policy, on the other hand, would result in more of a planner/manager-type job which would focus on the more socio-economic factors of health so more suit-and-tie than labcoat... At least that's my impression. I think you could do equally well in this field and there are many possibilities in government, politics, non-profit, multinational, private sector etc fields.

I don't think with your GPA (and I'm assuming, science background), you need to do a public health degree in surch a research/lab field if it's not something you're passionate about and would want to do in the future. You could do Health Policy (or even rural basket weaving for that matter) and still be competitive for med school as long as you seemed to be passionate about what you're doing...

Both fields are quite valid and have rather good prospects... so I'm not quite sure in what way you mean "better off." Since you've mentioned you don't really want to end up doing lab stuff, you might want to perhaps strongly consider health policy over infectious disease, but that's just my opinion.
 
i agree with the post above, choose something that you'd be most passionate about and that'll just help you in your goals to become a physician.
 
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