Decision Making

[eal33064]

As acceptances start to come in I was curious on what you are all using to compare programs. How are you going to choose between similar programs....rank, size, location etc

 

Congrats everyone!

[katethekitcat]

Ranking is not a consideration for me. I don’t think it’s that important – faculty and research could be strong in a niche area even if the public health program isn’t ranked high overall. I also haven’t found what I consider to be a “good” list of public health school rankings. All I’ve seen is the U.S. and World Report, and they don’t have the best logic for why schools are ranked as they are. Ideally, I’d like to see a list similar to what’s done in the philosophy world – they have the “Philosophy Gourmet Report” in which philosophers rank faculty lists from various programs; the lists are blinded and do not include the university’s name. If anyone had heard of such a thing, let me know!

 

My two most important factors are a.) the research being done by the faculty b.) cost. I want to focus in  antibiotic resistance and infectious disease, so there pretty much have to be faculty working in that area, preferably with tuberculosis or MRSA. However, I really, really don’t want to go into debt. Sadly, these are contrasting values, as the programs with (A) are very expensive; for (, the programs that either give me in-state tuition or fully funded me don’t have the exact research priorities I want. I can possibly make it work, but it also has the potential to really steer me off track.

 

So, basically I’ve got some decisions coming up.

[worldpeace]

1) Research Interests

2) Type of school (i.e. clinical vs research)

3) School's environment and accessibility to resources - it doesn't help if there are a lot of research topics that you're interested but you don't have access to them! 

[123hardasABC]

1.) Location. It doesn't matter what I study, if I hate where I am, I'm not going to study well

2.) Program/research. Rankings don't matter if they don't spark my interests

3.) Cost. I would eventually like a PhD; I can't spend all of my money on a Masters

[MadtownJacket]

1.) Location. It doesn't matter what I study, if I hate where I am, I'm not going to study well

2.) Program/research. Rankings don't matter if they don't spark my interests

3.) Cost. I would eventually like a PhD; I can't spend all of my money on a Masters

 

Same here.  Location is key for me.  I applied to schools where I could see myself living in the region for the long-term, since schools typically have strong relationships with businesses in the area.

[eal33064]

The research vs clinical aspect is interesting. How have you been getting a real feel for that?

[worldpeace]

The research vs clinical aspect is interesting. How have you been getting a real feel for that?

I think by visiting/talking to the schools you're applying to is a great way to learn whether or not they're research or clinical oriented. For instance, Yale is heavily focused on research, even the staff at the Open House said so. In addition to talking to them, reading their websites and looking through student profiles can give you some insight!