As a rising senior, I’ve become very interest in Public Health. I’ve visited Ohio State University and Johns Hopkins to inquire more about their programs, but I’ve also realized that PH is not a very common undergrad major. I live in the Ohio and while I have no problem moving 8+ hours away for school, my options are pretty limited in my region once you add PH to other criteria I am looking for.
Any advice as to which other majors would be good for undergrad study to move forward for MPH? What other pathways are common for people going to grad school (major/minor combos)? Other majors that would broaden opportunities before I’ve completed graduate studies?
If I get into UC Berkeley, I plan on majoring in Psychology with a minor in Global Poverty and Practice and then going for a Masters in Social Welfare and Public Health. That’s one example. I would recommend majoring in Sociology, Social Welfare, for instance. It depends on what you want to do, career wise, with your Masters. What interests you about public health?
There are many sub-disciplines (Biostatistics, Environmental Health Sciences, Epidemiology, Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Health and Social Behavior, Health Policy and Management, Health Services and Policy Analysis, Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, Interdisciplinary, Maternal and Child Health, and Public Health Nutrition). If you favor a particular sub-discipline, the undergraduate work to pursue may be indicated by that.
Another thing to go by is how much the courses available in a major correspond to the courses in a Public Health major. An example of the latter is the UC Berkeley Public Health undergraduate program, which I see is fairly flexible but substantially entails biology (with courses in physiology, the immune system, plagues, epidemiology, the mind, behavior and nutrition suggested), math and social sciences and includes an upper division course in each of health policy, environmental health and community health/human development. (I notice this program encourages specialization during undergraduate education for continuing students, saying: “Students who plan to continue to graduate school are strongly advised to concentrate elective units in only one or two areas of study.”)
You can major in pretty much anything and get a degree in public health. My PhD is in public health, and I have an undergraduate degree in psychology - and I had friends at my school of public health with degrees in everything from chemistry to English literature. Social science (psychology, anthropology, political science, sociology) and natural/life science (biology, chemistry) majors are the most common majors. If you have an interest in biostatistics or epidemiology, math and statistics are good majors.
I would emphasize a major that requires a lot of reading and critical thinking. Most of public health is built upon the social sciences, and as such an MPH involves reading and considering quite a bit of sociological/anthropological theory. There is also quite a bit of paper-writing, so a major that allows you to get pretty good at this is also a good idea. (There is, of course, a bit less of this in biostatistics. However, there is not less of it in epidemiology.)
Public health degrees also emphasize experience. At the very least, be sure to participate in extracurricular activities and internships that demonstrate your interest in public health (like peer health education, hospital/clinic volunteering, etc.). If you are interested in global health, studying abroad and learning another language are a good idea.