I worked at the SPH at Hopkins for about 5 years. An MPH for most people was a sort of junk degree added on to an MD or MSN. Fun to study but rarely used on it's own merit. And expensive. I think a Hopkins MPH is $63K (that's tuition only. Room/board etc is extra. That's a ton of debt for entry jobs in public health that might may $50K).

Those who were serious about public health all went on to get PhDs in public health.

I worked in a school of public health where many people earned MPHs. From what I've seen in employment surveys of alumni, it's not uncommon for students to get jobs after graduation where the degree was not needed or they weren't working in the public health field. And then for others, many of the jobs they do get in the public health world don't really put a dent in the large student loans they took out going to that particular school.

It pigeonholes you a bit for locations that degree might be in demand (eg. DC or Atlanta).

Probably closer to the bottom in terms of ROI for graduate degrees.

Hate to sound cliche, but it really really depends on what you plan on doing with your MPH.

For example, I have multiple MPH friends who are epidemiologists or research coordinators at local health departments. For a health department, those are both very respectable positions.

In another scenario, I work for a federal contractor doing research. We have some MPH or MS (epi) here, but the majority are PHDs. So for them, if they want to assume a principal investigator role, that's largely out of the question because a Phd is typically required.

Others have gone on to healthcare administration and never looked back.

Someone else mentioned booze allen- another great example. Consulting is certainly an option and they are likely more concerned that you have a master's or not, rather than whether its an MPH vs some other M degree..

just my thoughts..

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An MPH degree is the most useless degree. The biggest regret and mistake of my life. I am 38 years old and pretty much on unemployment! I graduated from Drexel school of public health....a fucking retarded school that mislead their students! DO NOT GET THIS DEGREE. ITS A FRAUD. you will end up unemployed. I should have been a dentist. This MPH degree was the biggest mistake of my life JUST SAY NO KIDS!!!!!!!!

Well, on the face of it, you wouldn't qualify for any jobs requiring decent writing skills or basic empathy (are you really an adult using the word "retarded" as an epithet?), so I'm not sure which advanced degree would have been the ideal choice for you.

Agreed - pretty sure the MPH is not the issue here...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An MHA from a good school will probably earn you more.

It will if you do finance. Not if you do leadership or soft skills.

I disagree.

Anonymous wrote:An MHA from a good school will probably earn you more.

It will if you do finance. Not if you do leadership or soft skills.

An MHA from a good school will probably earn you more.

If you can do policy, government, research, or healthcare operations you will always have work. If you graduate with a masters and no relevant work experience and no contacts, that is your fault and you wasted your own time.

NOT a useless degree. I make 120K as a director in a nonprofit writing research papers and doing policy analysis. Tons of opportunities in the DC area, I regularly get recruited by consulting firms, think tanks, and other nonprofits. Before this job I was at a health related association.

It's probably not going to make you rich but you can make a good living, doing interesting work, and have a good amount of opportunities and decent work life balance.

DS has an MPH and she has worked for CDC and NIH. I have a lot of friends who work for DoD with an MPH. They do pretty well and play important roles in their organizations.
I will say that they are limited in terms of taking leadership positions. Those are often for people with PHDs in epidemiology or DrPHs.

Do you think most MPH holders regret their decision to go to graduate school for public health?

It is a great degree to have as a compliment to another degree (MD mph, JD MPH etc). Otherwise I think it really depends on how you do the degree. MPH from a top school with a focus on management will get you much farther than a degree from a less prestigious program in health and human rights.

I interviewed at Booz Allen and they told me if I had an MPH they would hire me in a flash. (I didn't.)

The Hopkins School of Public Health is awesome and I can't imagine anyone who graduated from there saying that their degree is useless.

I know two people with one and both said it wasn't worth it. One decided to get her MBA for better job prospects.