<p>I go to Columbia’s public health school (as a PhD student).</p>
<p>Yes, most SPHs and MPH programs do assist you to some degree in finding an internship/practicum to do for credit. Most also have career offices that offer assistance in finding full-time employment. For example, Columbia has a career office that sponsors two career fairs a year, plus information sessions and other kinds of stuff. Our professors also have connections with possible employers all over the city.</p>
<p>Here at Columbia, there are opportunities for grad assistantships. You can apply to be a research assistant for a professor; there is usually a professor who needs one. You could work as a project coordinator, but that’s usually full-time work that may extend your time to degree. In your second year, you can serve as a teaching assistant in the core courses. The availability of TAships and RAships are going to vary based on the school and the kinds of opportunities there are there, plus the competition from other departments.</p>
<p>At Columbia, we have the Queer Health Task Force, which is a pretty active LGBTQ group. There’s also a thriving LGBTQ scene on the Morningside campus, comprised of grads and undergrads.</p>
<p>New York is a very expensive place to live. Rent can cost from $700-1000+ if you are sharing with roommates and $1200-1500+ if you want to live alone in a studio or one-bedroom. Many students commute from Queens or Brooklyn to cut costs, although I would say most MPH students live in Washington Heights, Inwood, or Harlem. (It’s the doctoral students that tend to settle far out.) Boston is also a pretty expensive place to live, but not as bad as New York. Providence is probably in the middle, and Storrs, CT is likely to be dirt-cheap because it’s a college down and kind of far from any major city.</p>
<p>Columbia has a strong alumni network but it is splintered by school. People who went here for undergrad don’t necessarily feel linked to grad school alumni, but Mailman graduates do feel somewhat linked by an alumni network. They have a far reach into the public health field, though. Boston U also has a pretty strong name in public health, particularly in the Northeast. They have a strong public health program. The other programs are not within schools and are relatively new, so their impact has yet to be seen. I imagine that the Brown name will get you pretty far on its own, and UConn has a large alumni network that may not care that you went for grad school as long as you have the UConn association.</p>
<p>As an additional note, if you have any kind of funding I would take the offer that offers you the most funding/is the cheapest to you personally. Columbia’s MPH program is great, but I’m not sure I would go $120,000 in debt to get an MPH here (tuition is around $40K + $20K living expenses = $60K, x 2 years). There’s very little chance of paying that off, since MPH graduates typically don’t make anywhere near that much money. So follow the money.</p>