Yes, public health is a good degree, esp. Masters. It will be heavy in statistics and some programming. But those are good skills for all kinds of jobs.

What schools offer PH majors at an affordable price? No more than 30k for OOS.

Thanks for the comments and I work for a fed govt agency and feel that she will be able to land a job with a Public Health degree and be successful.

Anonymous wrote:You can get a job in public health. It is a good choice. You cannot get a job with sociology. Its too general of a degree. Will have to go on for something else later.

Sociologist here. Yes, if your dd made certain choices as an undergrad, she could get a job - at least in DC which has a wide variety of research-type jobs. But she'd have to be dedicated to learning statistics and understanding how to use statistical software like SPSS or other database software for different kinds of qualitative and quantitative research. I think a kid who has really shown they know their research methods and software can get employment.

But....most kids in college don't think that way. They want to focus on subject areas. That's understandable but it's not what will get them a job. (I regularly nag my psych major dd to pay attention in her stats and research methods courses!) So basically, pp is correct, your dd would have to go on for graduate work. But that would be true even if your kid got a job in research coming out of college. She wouldn't be making much and wouldn't have much responsibility so of course she should eventually go on for a grad degree.

BTW, I'm in government contracting and I see a lot of opportunities for research and program evaluation in health care. I think it's definitely worth it to explore public health as a career option -- but she should get good research skills wherever she goes!

I'm in public health, and did a public health-like minor in collage. I love my work. I do not make a fabulous salary, but by US standards (not DCUM standards) a good one.

But it is not a career for someone who asks her mom to "look into it for her." If she is interested in public health, she should look into it herself. The field is for the curious, the dedicated, and the resourceful, because you are always trying to do more with less, learn how something is done that you don't know how to do, and function in a place where you don't really speak the language.

Sorry, I don't mean to be snarky, but seriously, if she wants you to research her career options I think you should be having a different conversation with her than the one about public health.

I loved the Hopkins school of public health. I mostly met docs, but there were a lot of people who were in the peace cops or from other countries.

Also, thinking ahead to grad school, doing Peace Corps and getting a Masters is a great one. Hopkins has such a program. File it away!

An undergraduate degree in public health doesn't mean much, but a graduate degree in public health is totally viable - and great for folks with an inter-disciplinary/systems-level bent. My partner and I both work in public health, and the large majority of people we know have undergraduate degrees in biology or nursing (epidemiologists, biostatisticians, health services managers) or the social sciences (health policy, behavior change research and programming, health systems strengthening, monitoring and evaluation).

In this area, GW and Hopkins both have undergraduate public health programs - maybe it would be helpful for her to have a look at the curricula?

You can get a job in public health. It is a good choice. You cannot get a job with sociology. Its too general of a degree. Will have to go on for something else later.

What do you think about it? DD loves helping others and being involved with events in her community like the back to school vaccination drive to feeding the homeless. Should she take up Sociology instead? She asked me to look into it.