Help!! UC Berkeley or Yale?

[bubble1]

I'm debating between UC Berkeley (MPH in Infectious Diseases) and Yale (MPH in Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases). I've been going over the pros and cons of both MPH programs again and again and I'm having a tough time deciding between them.

Some points I'm considering:

UC Berkeley

- Resident tuition is about half of what Yale would cost

- Berkeley grad schools for public health, public policy, business, and law are all ranked among the best in the nation

- The Bay Area is pretty awesome

- Berkeley is pretty urban and only about half an hour from SF

Yale

- Much smaller program, more accessible faculty

- The campus was gorgeous, though it felt a little claustrophobic to me

- I'm not very excited about living in New Haven :|

- Much more research going on in Infectious Diseases (my primary interest)

- The program seems to really take care of its students - helping students get lots of work and research experience through networking and alumni connections

- Apparently, there's a lot of fellowship funding for summer internships

I'm looking to branch out from lab research and take classes in policy, management, and epi. Although I was pretty swayed by Berkeley's cost, Yale's Open House left such a great impression on me that I had to reconsider.

I'd like to know people's reasons for choosing either school, as well as opinions on the overall quality of both programs.

[liszt85]

More research in primary area of interest + more work opportunities and networking + accessible faculty + summer fellowships = Yale = my vote.

I'm confused though, you said your primary interest was Infectious Diseases and UC Berkeley's degree is called MPH in INfectious Diseases whereas the one at Yale does not but still does more research on it than UCB?! If UCB does good work (albeit lesser amount than Yale) in this field, and if its costs significantly lesser, I might reconsider and opt for UCB, especially because the degree would specifically be a MPH in infectious diseases and a degree from the top ranked school, UCB, would surely find you jobs even if the networking might be better at Yale.

I started my post by voting for Yale and am ending it by voting for UCB Sorry its not more helpful than this.

[cogneuroforfun]

The name of the degree doesn't matter. MPH in Infectious Diseases won't mean much if you'll end up doing much less research on infectious diseases! Clearly Yale is the way to go

The climate difference, in weather and cities, is big, but you'll have to decide if that's important enough for you to choose the worse research fit, right? As for cost, that is definitely something to consider.

[liszt85]

The name of the degree doesn't matter. MPH in Infectious Diseases won't mean much if you'll end up doing much less research on infectious diseases! Clearly Yale is the way to go

/quote]

Mine's a neutral opinion

[TulipOHare]

I vote Yale. Close research match + lots of help getting a job = win.

[fes_alum]

Another thing to consider about Yale is that traditional letter grades are not assigned at the graduate level (you receive a pass, high pass, or honors). This is done to prevent competition among student and to promote a environment of scholarly learning. Graduate students at Yale seem to be much more supportive of each other than at other schools. At my current school (or the one I just resigned from), there is no "graduate community" and the graduate students seem to be less supportive of each other, especially outside of their own labs/program. Personally, I think graduate school should be about sharing interests, learning from each others' experience, and fostering an environment conducive to learning. Yale's graduate program definitely achieves this ideal.

As for New Haven, it may not be as nice as the Bay area but it definitely grows on you. Plus, you're only an hour and 40 minutes by train from Grand Central Station in New York, which allows for frequent day trips to the Big Apple very possible.

Good luck making your decision!

[bubble1]

Thanks, everyone! The main drawback of Berkeley for me is that I'd have to work harder at lining up internships and work experiences for myself. There are also much fewer people that do research on infectious diseases at Berkeley.

Do the US News Rankings really matter that much here? Berkeley is ranked wayy higher than Yale is...

[cogneuroforfun]

Do the US News Rankings really matter that much here? Berkeley is ranked wayy higher than Yale is...

While its definitely nice to be going to a "highly ranked program," it really comes down to research: if you want infectious diseases (mmm!) and Berkeley doesn't have them, then it doesn't really matter what the rank is. People who are looking to hire you after getting your degree should (hopefully) know who the big names in the field are. If Berkeley has none and Yale has several, the "name" and reputation of going to the supposedly higher-ranked program probably won't mean much.

Then again, I'm only really familiar with academia situations. It would be good to get other MPH student/prospective opinions.

[Aceflyer]

While its definitely nice to be going to a "highly ranked program," it really comes down to research: if you want infectious diseases (mmm!) and Berkeley doesn't have them, then it doesn't really matter what the rank is. People who are looking to hire you after getting your degree should (hopefully) know who the big names in the field are. If Berkeley has none and Yale has several, the "name" and reputation of going to the supposedly higher-ranked program probably won't mean much.

Then again, I'm only really familiar with academia situations. It would be good to get other MPH student/prospective opinions.

I second cogneuroforfun's post. I would further add that a rank of 8 vs. a rank of 16 doesn't seem to be that huge a difference to me... but this is just from the biological sciences perspective, though. It may be different in the Public Health world. I know that for law schools, for example, US News ranking matters a hell of a lot when it comes to getting the top jobs and internships. It does seem though that internships are important... so if Yale's program is better at getting you that experience and better at getting you a good job after graduation, I'd go with that, personally. Especially given that you also say that Yale's program has a better research fit for you.

[Stories]

Thanks, everyone! The main drawback of Berkeley for me is that I'd have to work harder at lining up internships and work experiences for myself. There are also much fewer people that do research on infectious diseases at Berkeley.

Do the US News Rankings really matter that much here? Berkeley is ranked wayy higher than Yale is...

One thing to remember: health schools (not including Medical and Dental) are ranked on one criteria: peer assessment which is obvious.

Yale's SPH is very small compared to other schools (smaller than Cal's by far). They also don't accept many students (especially at the PhD-level where they take 5 per year for the entire school, not per department), so the name doesn't proliferate nearly as much. But Yale's faculty is very geared towards their students and they try and give all the resources necessary to make every student succeed (for instance, no PhD student is accepted without complete funding).