kdink

Hello everyone! I'm hoping someone can help me out here with some candid advice and comments. Basically, I've gotten accepted to a bunch of really amazing Master of Public Health programs in Epidemiology: Johns Hopkins, Emory, Columbia, University of Washington, and University of Minnesota. I'm a little overwhelmed right now with the amount of options and approaching deadline. I'm mostly between the Johns Hopkins Master of Health Science in Infectious Disease Epidemiology program and the Emory MPH Global Epidemiology programs. Does anyone have opinions or comments about those programs specifically? My goal is to work for the CDC in outbreak response and prevention, so I know Emory would be an obvious choice there, but I know people who are also working with the CDC at Johns Hopkins. I'm getting a better financial aid package at Emory, but Johns Hopkins has a pretty good Master's Tuition Scholarship I plan on getting as well. I currently live in Arizona, so the idea of moving to another hot and humid place like Atlanta doesn't sound that appealing to me right now (even though I want to move there eventually for the CDC). Both have their positives and negatives basically and here's what I've heard so far (please correct me if you disagree): Emory: large class sizes and small class sizes; definite connections to the CDC; thesis and applied experience requirements; 2 year program; faculty still works in the field; I like the global focus but I don't want it to limit me if I want to work nationally instead; I'm afraid it won't challenge me enough (I've already completed an honors thesis as an undergrad and since Emory has a thesis and applied experience I'm concerned the thesis will be less intensive and just like what I've already done). Johns Hopkins: small cohort size; personalized advising committee; approachable faculty; connections with CDC and Washington DC; just a thesis requirement; 2 year program (second year is mostly just thesis); renowned research faculty; better known internationally; they focus nationally and internationally but I definitely want some more global epi training; I'm afraid it won't be applied enough for my liking (although they say it is for students who want to go into applied epi); also afraid it will be too elitist and not inclusive I will be going to JHU's admitted student day this coming weekend, but I didn't have the opportunity to visit Emory so anything you can say about the overall vibe would be helpful too. Please help!