Interested in Social Marketing: Grad Programs

Graduate School
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<p>Hi all. I haven't been on this board since I was working on my undergraduate admission and now I'm starting to think about grad school. Time really flies!</p>

<p>I'm currently a Junior at the University of Wisconsin studying Journalism and Strategic Communication. I'm interested in going into the field of social marketing (using traditional marketing techniques to change common attitudes and behaviors for the better, for those of you who aren't familiar). This is a relatively new practice and not many universities have graduate programs with this focus.</p>

<p>After graduation, I'd like to work on communication campaigns related mostly to public health (think the Truth campaign, Verb campaign), but also for charities, nonprofits etc (think One Laptop Per Child). Though I'll likely start out working for a government agency or established marketing firm, I'd one day like to start my own consulting business (something like Big Think Studios: <a href="http://www.bigthinkstudios.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.bigthinkstudios.com/&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

<p>I'm much more interested in the creative side of social marketing than the foundational public health or business side that go along with most of the programs detailed below.</p>

<p>After some extensive research, I've come up with a few possibilities:</p>

<p>1) Get an Masters of Public Health from George Washington University, where they offer a concentration in Public Health Communication and Marketing and courses in social marketing</p>

<p>Academic</a> Programs | School of Public Health and Health Services | George Washington University</p>

<p>2) Get a Master of Arts from the school of Media and Public Affairs MBA/MPA from GWU and combine it with a certificate in Public Health Communication and Marketing (the same courses from the MPH that are of interest to me) - this is really 3 different options
<a href="http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/pch/phcm/whatwedo/degree_programs.cfm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/pch/phcm/whatwedo/degree_programs.cfm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>3) Get a Masters in Public Communication from American University, which apparently can be easily tailored to focus on social marketing </p>

<p>AU</a> School of Communication | Public Communication</p>

<p>4) Get a Masters in Health Communication from Tufts University
Curriculum</a> - School of Medicine - Tufts University</p>

<p>5) Get a Master of Arts in Communication from John Hopkins University with a concentration in either Health Communication, or Corporate and Non-Profit Communication, both of which offer courses in Social Marketing etc.
<a href="http://advanced.jhu.edu/academic/communication/requirements/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://advanced.jhu.edu/academic/communication/requirements/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>None of these really seems the "perfect" program for me. </p>

<p>The GWU Health Communication certificate seems to offer best focus on social marketing, though I'm concerned that I will only be exposed to health marketing and miss out on nonprofit marketing. I'm also not 100% clear about whether the certificate can be taken only alongside the MPH or if it can be combined with other masters programs. If it can, I'm not sure whether an MBA, MPA school of Media and Public Affairs Master of Arts would be best.</p>

<p>The Tufts program seems to narrowly focused on health communication and I'm concerned that the American University and John Hopkins programs wouldn't give me enough focus on social marketing.</p>

<p>So needless to say, I'm kind of confused!</p>

<p>Any advice about which of those programs listed above (if any) would be best for my interests and aspirations would be greatly appreciated! I'm also open to new ideas.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance!</p>

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<p>anyone?? ANY advice you have would be very helpful.</p>

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<p>I’m interested in knowing why you don’t think the school programs you have picked out will be a good fit for you. Social marketing is a fairly new concept and so there aren’t any full-blown programs in the field. That’s not to say, though, that you couldn’t get the MPH from GWU and work at a non-profit applying your social marketing skills to their nonprofit work, or vice versa.</p>

<p>The MPH from GWU actually sounds like a perfect fit for your needs. You can likely also take classes in non-profit marketing and organization while you are there.</p>

<p>You could also consider doing a joint MPH/MPA program (the PA being public administration). This will take 3 years, and the MPH program will teach you the health marketing side; the MPA program will likely teach you the non-profit side. See if GWU allows the completion of this degree.</p>

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<p>I’m new on this site and several years behind on this post but i’m interested in knowing what the author of this post resorted to doing and what was / is the outcome. </p>

<p>I find myself in same quandary presently and seeking on the line of approach / study. I’m specifically interested in studying Social Marketing and Nof for profit marketing at the graduate level (Masters Programme)</p>

<p>I’m based in Nigeria and plan to study abroad, there’s no field of study relevant to this in Nigeria</p>

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Wow. I am literally in the exact same position as you (expect my undergraduate degree was in Biology). I got accepted to the Strategic Communication program at American University and I plan on getting a certificate in Public Health, Health Communication, or Social Marketing afterwards. But, I am also more interested in the creative side as well (which none of these programs really cover). I feel like I would have to get a degree in creative Advertising for that but there would be no focus on non-profits or promoting social good in that type of program. I too feel like none of these programs are perfect.
The reason I applied to American is because of the location, the fact that there are faculty members conducting research on social marketing, and the customizability of the program.
I know this thread is old and I’m sure you have long since graduated. I am wondering which program you ended up choosing and your opinion on my current plan.

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Start a new thread, @whiterain1499, or try to PM the OP. This thread is 7 years old, and old threads are to be used for reference only.