<p>I want to major in public health and in my masters, do a degree in epidemiology. But I found out that few colleges have public health as undergrad. Which other majors can I take so that I can do Public Health for my masters?
And no, I m not planning to attend Med school.</p>
<p>My husband was a sociology major and is an epidemiologist with a PhD in public health. My D also has an interest in public health. There are so many aspects to public health; you can approach it from many different angles. I really don’t think you need a specific major, but some that may work include psychology, anthropology, neuroscience, biology, environmental studies, and sociology. You can put together an inter-disciplinary program that really gives you what you want. If you poke around on various college websites you will see that they sometimes have a page devoted to that sort of a public health concentration across disciplines.</p>
<p>I think this page for the 5 College Consortium in Western Mass has good information. <a href=“https://www.fivecolleges.edu/chs”>https://www.fivecolleges.edu/chs</a></p>
<p>While public health is primarily a graduate field, it’s not that difficult to find a fair number of schools with undergraduate programs. Even if there is no public health major at a school that interests you, sometimes, there is a major, minor, or certificate program in global health or a relevant subspecialty track in an international studies major. IMO, though, if you’re planning to get a master’s in public health, it’s better to major in something else at the undergrad level.</p>
<p>Depending on one’s area of interest, a broad range of undergrad majors can provide suitable preparation for a graduate program in public health.</p>
<p>For your stated interest in epidemiology, you should get some quantitative skills. So, statistics comes to mind. </p>
<p>Other suitable majors: microbiology, nursing, anthropology (focus on medical and biological anthro), sociology (demography, sociology of health care, statistics), public policy, political science (health policy, statistics), economics (quantitative skills, health economics), psychology (health psychology, quantitative skills, developmental psychology, mental health, social psychology), environmental science, geography (GIS, medical geography), international studies (global health, development), history of science/medicine (history of public health), chemistry (environmental chemistry/toxicology), nutrition, ag economics (food policy, development), area studies (e.g., African Studies, if you have an interest in global health).</p>
<p>The main thing I would do is look for a school where you can have opportunities to do both social science and biological science research as an undergrad. And has a good stats class, as @zapfino suggested, which will be a crucial skill if you want to truly excel at the research. </p>
<p>Regardless of major, if you can work experience doing all three into your undergraduate studies, you should be an excellent candidate for an epidemiology-oriented graduate program.</p>
<p>If you are intersted in epidemiology, you can study it as an undergraduate at the University of Rocheseter. My daughter is in a 3/2 program at UofR. She majored in Epi and is getting her masters in Public Health with the one extra year. Under their 3/2 program you apply for the masters portion during your junior year. Then your senior year is spent doing both undergraduate and graduate classes. She also was able to get all of her pre-med requirements in because of the flexible curriculum. </p>
<p>BTW, Coursera offers an online epidemiology course that you may want to explore when you have some free time. <a href=“https://www.coursera.org/learn/epidemiology”>Coursera | Online Courses & Credentials From Top Educators. Join for Free | Coursera; </p>
<p>Thank you so much guys.
I was also thinking about Uni of Rochester.
Is Bachelors in Public Health a BS or BA degree?</p>
<p>And yes, could you tell me about Health Economics as major in undergrad?
Do most colleges have it as major?
havent found one </p>