Masters in Public Health.

A masters in public health is a professional health degree where most complete an internship of several weeks in a public health agency. Like any degree, I feel the value that you derive from it depends on the type of experiences that you wish to derive while pursuing the degree.

There is one group who already work in healthcare as nurses, doctors, veternerians, dieticians, social workers, environmental safety assessors, etc. and want further training to advance and fulfill their job roles within the public health system.

Then there is another group who wish to break into the public health field in areas such as health promotion, health research including applying epidemiology and biostatistics in public health agencies such as CDC, WHO , etc,

There are some who use the MPH as experience to get into other programs such as medicine , nursing, and law.

As for job prospects, public health field is not always the best funded . I would not be getting excessive loans for a highly accredited mph degree from a Ivy League school. At the end of the day, Passion for public health training and gaining experience in the field means more than just getting a mph. Volunteer work with public health agencies is a way to see if you enjoy working in the public health field and determine whether you wish to pursue a mph as well .

Hope this answers help and if not, I am would be happy to and we any other questions.

This might answer some of your questions on a MPH. Excerpt: Like with any position it all depends on your network and who you know. If you are truly passionate about public health I would recommend applying for some research assistant positions at some reputable university's with solid public health programs.

I did this at Brown University, worked on addictions research and ended up obtaining my masters in behavioral science for virtually no cost all while working and gaining experience, publications, and a robust network. I can't mention the value of the network enough. Leveraging this will help you get positions once you are out.

Next it's important to consider your 5 and 10 year goals before committing. What do you want to do? What is your ultimate goal? Public health is largely research oriented and thus academia is the field and PhD is king. This means you have to realize and accept you will need to work hard and make little money for a number of years prior to "making it"....and by making it I mean living comfortable.

You also must be open to relocation as PhD programs are very difficult to get into and you must be willing to apply around the country and move to where you are accepted if only for a short time.

I think it's a great career and a noble profession. I however decided to use my degree towards something else and went into business. My original intent was PhD in clinical psych but my passions changed and so I changed my direction.

Best of luck to you! https://www.reddit.com/r/publichealth/comments/3iklnl/is_it_worth_getting_your_masters_in_public_health/

God bless!