<p>My daughter is interested in attending grad school for an MPH. Her interest is more in Communication area and it seems George Washington University has a Public Health Communication and Marketing track. I am clueless about grad school and was wondering what others might know about this program or any other MPH programs.</p>
<p>What do you want to know about them? I’m getting my PhD in sociomedical sciences from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia, so I know a bit about public health in general and the MPH programs at Columbia in particular. GWU was one of the schools I looked at when I was applying, also for its health communications program (I’m interested in social marketing and the effects of media on health behaviors of adolescents) but I ultimately did not apply there. I don’t remember exactly why I didn’t though - I think I was focusing mainly on programs that were in the top 10, since I knew I was competitive for those programs. (And Yale, but that was because there were researchers there in my area.)</p>
<p>Very generally, MPH programs are not extremely competitive. Columbia’s program has a wide variety of students here, from students who have MDs and other clinical doctorates to students who came straight here out of undergrad. The students are doing a LOT though - research, great practical work and internships with public health organizations in the area, etc. I’d say probably most of the students worked for 2-3 years before coming to Columbia, although there are many that came straight through.</p>
<p>They have Master of Health Science degrees (which is what they call their master’s degrees for students without professional experience) in all the typical fields - biostatistics, environmental health sciences, epidemiology, mental health, microbiology and immunology, and population, family, and reproductive health, with different concentrations (like the biostats MHS has a concentration in biostats and one in bioinformatics) - but you can add on a graduate certificate in health communication. Or she can get a master’s in health administration and still add the grad certificate.</p>
<p>GWU’s school of public health is well-respected, and that program is a pretty strong one. She could also look at Johns Hopkins.</p>
<p>Do you have an insight to the MPH at College Park, MD? Respect for? Difficulty getting in? Assistanceships? Fellowships?</p>
<p>A great place to check out MPH programs is [APHA:</a> American Public Health Association](<a href=“http://www.apha.org%5DAPHA:”>http://www.apha.org)</p>
<p>(American Public Health Association)</p>
<p>[Masters</a> of Public Health [ MPH ] | Student Doctor Network](<a href=“Public Health Degrees (Masters and Doctoral) | Student Doctor Network”>Public Health Degrees (Masters and Doctoral) | Student Doctor Network)</p>
<p>Check out this place, too. Great wealth of knowledge on the MPH.</p>