ZeroFlux

I don't know if anyone here has background in admissions, so you may not get a detailed analysis of your credentials and chances for admittance. In terms of what you want from a program, I suspect that Rollins (Emory) could meet your critiera. However, I imagine that many of those other programs would work as well. In terms of your aims, I'm not sure what you want to hear. There are a lot of good schools on your list. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get a great public health education at each and every one of those institutions. To a large extent, you will get out of an MPH program what you put in. My advice would be to make the most of any opportunities that present themselves to you. You may have a strong interest in international relations, but stay open to new possibilities based on the interests of your professors, academic colleagues, and potential employers. Best of luck on your quest.

No, I don't think it would be "career suicide." You might benefit from browsing the Public Health Employment Connection. You can check out some open positions, what skills they request, what sounds interesting to you, etc. It would be wise to become familiar with interesting jobs titles / descriptions and their related skill sets so that you can better prepare yourself in any program you attend. I really don't know much about the merits of top-ten schools and institutional prestige, though I attended a supposedly "top" school myself. In my experience, building useful skills, networking, and persistence have been the most important tools for success. Attending a well known school may have its advantages, but I don't think it's necessary for professional viability. Just realize that the economy and job market are still on the mend. With the sequester, many government-funded public health gigs are in short supply. Hopefully the situation will be better when you emerge from your grad program. Ultimately, don't overthink this. Top 30 vs. top 20 vs. top 10 probably doesn't matter all that much, at least in my estimations. Having Johns Hopkins on your resume will indeed get you a few initial brownie points compared with University of South Florida, but it's so rare to get a job from a resume alone (at least starting out). If you want to work in public health, then pursue an MPH (hopefully without accumulating massive debt), work hard, focus on marketable skills, and make sure to network with everyone you can. Fortunately, public health isn't like a field like investment banking, where computerized application systems will automatically sift out applicants from less prestigious schools. On a side note, one of my best friends received his Master's in speech therapy and has enjoyed his work in that field immensely. But public health is a heck of a field too.

I think the best source of information for this is your school's financial aid office. They'll be able to provide you with the most accurate and relevant answers to your experience, credit history, etc.

I have personal experience with coursework in Emory's Health Policy & Management. Overall, the program is pretty strong. There are many opportunities for work study in Atlanta, though perhaps a little less than might be found in D.C. I can't speak to the strength of other schools, since HPM is not my primary area of focus. The degree certainly isn't cheap from Emory, however. Do you know if you're gravitating towards policy or management?

I'm at Emory and also considered UNC - Chapel Hill (among other schools outside of the Southeast). 1. One of the most important decision considerations for me was the likelihood of landing a decent job afterward. 2. I matriculated at Emory due to the great work placement opportunities in Atlanta, strong national ranking, and aid package offered. Plus, I enjoy being in the South. 3. Don't know much about online programs. 4. Cost matters a lot to me. Most people don't go into this field in order to make tons of money. 5. Greatest strength of my program is the emphasis on work study. Greatest weakness is the quality of in-class instruction. But by no means are these sentiments shared by all my peers. Many of them feel like they've learned a lot from the classes. Indeed, some departments have been much better than others, but I'd prefer share critiques over private message. Hope that helps.

I think RockStar is right. Most of the funding comes in at the doctoral level (or in combined degrees). Unlike other disciplines, it seems harder to enter a doctoral public health program straight out of undergrad. At the MPH level, there are a few good merit scholarships that will cover potentially all tuition, but I imagine they're pretty competitive. Still worth a shot though. For example, https://source.wustl.edu/2009/05/master-of-public-health-program-offers-fulltuition-scholarships/

I think you have a fair amount of flexibility. It's really about your skill set and your work history. Keep in mind that health policy and epi are going to be pretty different fields with some key differences in skills. Since you're interested in both health econ and epi, it might be wise to actually do an MPH first. The MPH will expose you to both those fields. Depending on what concentration / program you choose, you can focus your electives in the other field (or even switch into that field after a semester if you feel compelled). My experience is with the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory. Here, the Health Policy and Management (HPM) folks get a fair bit of health econ, some accounting, etc. Other MPH programs probably have more dedicated health economics programs. I'm not sure how much econ you've taken for your political science degree, but getting up to intermediate macro / micro would be great. For advice, I think it depends on financial aid, location, etc. If you get a health economics degree, you should be qualified to apply to many PhD public health programs. If you get an MPH with some economics, you should be qualified to apply to many PhD econ programs. I have a little econ background, but not enough to give advice about the job market. Ultimately, I don't think you have any bad options here. You're not locked-in to a certain track at the Master's level, though it will certainly influence the direction of your career. Let me know if that helps. Edit: As an aside, Emory public health students can take as many classes--in any department--as they want. It's all included in tuition. So you could take elective work in more advaced econ here if you were an HPM or Epi public health student. Not sure if other PH programs offer similar deals.

Which PhD programs are you considering? Many, if not most, will want an MPH first. While I'm not one to normally fuss about GPA, a 3.2 might be a little low for PhD programs, especially without an MPH. Why would you want to skip the Masters? A two-year introduction to public health could be very useful to you, it seems. Even if a school allowed it, jumping into a 4-8 year commitment to public health with limited work experience in a related field sounds a little risky to me. How do you know you'll connect with it enough?

Radjojo, you'll be fine. MPH programs love people with some good work experience. And you have a great story to tell in the essays. Don't doubt yourself. From my experience, most MPH students just have a bachelor's and maybe some moderate volunteer background. You're a great candidate.

USF is solid. I'm not too familiar with UM or FIU's programs, but I don't think you can go wrong with USF.

Don't worry about the marketing appeal of your degree. Both schools are great. Your work and networking connections are what will truly make your career. If you want to work in D.C., it makes a lot of sense to go to GWU. Get some good work experience there on your resume and you should be set. Since you know that you enjoy DC, it would be a no-brainer for me.

I'm not an admissions officer, but I think you're positioned well for an MPH program. Just having a prior Masters should elevate you above many other applicants. Also, don't undervalue yourself; there are quite a few anthro students in public health. I think that medical anthro is a great background for PH, depending on what you want to pursue in the field. Paul Farmer is a hero to most of my PH friends. Now, if you're asking about what to take to prepare you for an MPH, you'll need some more statistics. Most of my anthro friends took no quantiative coursework in their programs. Especially if you're interested in epi, you'll want to learn some stats. Most MPH programs should have the option to start with Stats 101, but a headstart never hurts. As for bio, if you're interested in something like immunology or vaccine development, I could see its usefulness. I haven't found too much utility for bio in my (limited) public health experience, however. Depends on where you'd like to specialize. Hope that helps.