JDM

Hi all, I am 1 year out of undergrad and have been aspiring to be an epidemiologist for the past 4 years. 3/4 of the graduate programs I applied to were programs in Epi because of this. However, in the last year, I've started to wish that I had applied to more quantitative programs. While I'd still like to be an epidemiologist, I'd like for the route to be a data scientist to be open. I feel that a masters in biostats would have provided me less constraining options. I have narrowed down my options to either the MSc. Epidemiology program at LSHTM or the MSc. in Health Data Science at the University of Manchester. To me, it seems like Manchester is catered to both being an epidemiologist and a data scientist and it is the more financially sound program. However, I'm afraid that it might be a mistake choosing a program that is only 2 years old and less prestigious in name. LSHTM will teach me Stata while Manchester will teach me Java/R/SQL, although I suppose I can learn these on my own as well. While I could take another year off and apply later, I'm afraid that I may not have the LSHTM option again if I apply to their Medical Statistics program. If I go to their epi program now, I could leverage the degree prestige to get into Epi/Biostat combined PhDs like the one at UCSF. Can anyone spare a thought on this situation?

Hi, I did the program at Columbia. Roughly half of the people in my cohort had never taken a statistics class so there was a lot of catching up to be done. The 7 week intro to biostatistics class they provided me was more comprehensive than the one I took at Berkeley (which grad students in the Epi/Biostats MPH must take as well). I took a graduate biostat class in Berkeley in Categorical Analysis with Stata. At the end of the SIBS program, I was able to use R to perform the same modelling techniques taught to me in the Berkeley class. The most useful thing to come out of the experience was the letter of recommendation as I was accepted to 4/4 of universities I applied to, albeit they were programs in epidemiology and data science. I believe the letter played a huge role in my application. My advisor ony mentored 2 students and that was the case for most so they got to know us. I also wrote my own letter of recc and just asked them to sign it and turn it in so maybe it wasn't that generic. Accepted to UK Schools LSHTM - Epi Imperial College - Epi Leeds - Epi & Biostats Manchester - Health Data Science Edit: It was definitely worth it for my classmates who chose to go to Columbia. We were promised $10k automatic scholarships if we chose to got Mailman although I don't know if they still offer that to their participants.