wizrd

Hey all,
 
Does anyone know how the different community health/social behavioral tracks stack up compared to one another? US news and world reports is cool and all but gives no real feel about the concentrations.
 
so far go into
UCLA (CHS)
Emory (BSHE)
BU (SBS)
Michigan (HBHE)
Pitt (BCHS)
Columbia (SMS)
 
Hoping to at some point get a doctorate so it's important to have a research component.
 
Any tips or insights would be helpful!
 

i know not getting a response from a school is frustrating. i get it. but ucla has 5 departments: community health sciences, epi, health policy and management, environmental health and biostats. one cannot just say don't apply to ucla. we have no idea which department(s) were difficult to get information from. just because one department didn't reply doesn't mean they all don't. moreover, during application time departments become overwhelmed. when i was applying i emailed schools and often had to call when i did not get a response to my email (this happened at multiple schools including columbia and berkeley). there are only a few staff and hundreds of applicants with questions.  my point is, make decisions about school applications based on more than a few unhappy people posting on a message board. afterall, we know that people who are most unhappy will take the time to post or fill out a survey or an evaluation whereas those that are satisfied are much less likely to do so. what we have here is a very biased group of people! 

I'm giving u a subjective, emotional based advice:
 
1. Columbia. Why? They hv nyc, which means many internship chances. Plus... '100 Girls' the movie was made at columbia
2. Emory. CDC around the block!
3. BU. best program. Boston has many options for jobs, etc. Plus, I have never been there, but I love New England, summers in Cape Cod, etc.
 
So....I would choose Columbia, then BU then Emory last.

Tenure is only diminishing now because it can--right now, what used to get you tenure might not even get you a job, just like UGs are half expected to publish before applying to grad schools.  When the boomers retire there will be a sudden flux requiring lucrative offers to attract the best qualified candidates.  The quickest way for academia to implode is to resort to adjuct dominant policies which would ultimately cut out their own source of revenue.  Bear in mind, students pay money to schools to ultimately work at schools--if working at schools is no longer an option, then they will likely not pay the money to schools.  Any pessimistic claim on the future of academia is likely espoused by embittered candidates. 

I hear this a lot, but in reality, it looks like many universities are just filling those positions with adjuncts, no? The glory days of tenure seem to be diminishing

It's true, right now it's a bit rough.  States are cutting funding, the slow pick up from the recession, etc--but demographically, the baby boomers are preparing to retire which should open up a significant amount of jobs in the future.  It'd be foolish to base your job prospects 7 years from now on the job market of today.

Hey all,
 
Does anyone know how the different community health/social behavioral tracks stack up compared to one another? US news and world reports is cool and all but gives no real feel about the concentrations.
 
so far go into
UCLA (CHS)
Emory (BSHE)
BU (SBS)
Michigan (HBHE)
Pitt (BCHS)
Columbia (SMS)
 
Hoping to at some point get a doctorate so it's important to have a research component.
 
Any tips or insights would be helpful!