drphstudent

Sure. PM me.

You've probably already made this decision, but I thought I'd add my 2c, as I had to make this choice and it wasn't easy. So, I was deciding between funded Berkeley and funded Hopkins (similar generous packages). Being from the east coast, and Hopkins being Hopkins (my dream school for a while), I was really torn. I chose Berkeley and it was for the reason you hint at above - ultimately it came down to the fact that I wanted a more flexible program and the option to do work outside a school of public health. I know that if I had gone to Hopkins, I would have gotten a really strong education in the department in which I had been accepted, but Berkeley's DrPH is extremely flexible and they really encourage students to enroll in courses across the university. And that's attractive as their departments of statistics and demography, and schools of policy and business, as well as programs in other social sciences all rank within the top 5 or 10. I'd also be remiss to say that Berkeley SPH - while not Bloomberg - is generally a strong school as well. Their Epi PhD is #1 (NRC rank), and their Policy and Management doctorate is up there as well, so there is a lot of interesting work being done within the SPH too. I'd imagine if you were looking to get on a track and coast along on that for 3 or 4 years, Hopkins might be a safer bet. You can certainly take advantage of a slew of electives at Hopkins, so I don't want to give the impression that it's an objectively rigid place in terms of curriculum, but relative to Berkeley, their DrPH program is much more rigid and your options for taking courses outside of Bloomberg are very limited relative to Berkeley (I assume you are aware of the geographic separation of Bloomberg from the rest of the university). Though if you are a self-starter, and have interests that may not be met solely within a school of public health, the Berkeley program is a good option. It's curious that you ask about the SD at Harvard as well, as that is a research degree, whereas the DrPH programs at Hopkins and Berkeley are more practice-focused. Wheww... If I had gotten into Harvard too, even if it was the SD, that would have been an even more difficult choice. Ended up not applying. Is that helpful? Would be interested to know what you decided. Cheers.