Course Based or Thesis Based MPH?

[shaketheshock]

Which one are you doing, and why? What is your career goal?

 

I've been offered a spot at the second place I applied to, but they don't have anyone that could supervise my thesis so I am going through some pretty hefty pros and cons at the moment. I have to admit, part of wanting to do a thesis is for the ego boost. What I'd like to do is go into public mental health/mental health policy analysis.

[soylatte5]

Having already been through an MPH program, I highly recommend a thesis. 

 

 

Beyond an "ego boost," you should gain more applied skills on top of course work for the long run regardless of the type of work you plan on doing. I personally didn't find most of my course work fulfilling because most of them didn't provide me with any solid technical skills, I gained all of these by taking electives and research experience. My thesis work was definitely my greatest accomplishment in grad school as I was able to travel to a developing country, manage my own project, design my own survey, collect data, analyze data, and publish. These experiences combined have made me a well qualified candidate for many jobs - qualifications/experiences that many of my colleagues lacked. In this economy, the more experience you gain, the greater chances you have at landing a job. Public health is particularly focused on applied work so the more experiences you can gain the better whether it's research, programmatic, or policy. This often times means seeking these opportunities out whether you write a thesis or not. 

 

[Previously shared in another thread] This blogger sums up my thoughts perfectly and most of his suggestions apply to any health topic area, not just global health (at least imo):

http://www.bdkeller.com/2014/02/is-there-a-global-health-bubble-or-should-you-get-an-mph/

Edited March 26, 2014 by soylatte5

[shaketheshock]

Thanks for responding, yeah I would also be pretty bummed not being able to do the research I am interested in - in addition to the course-based MPH being at a lesser-ranked school (though the applicability of the rankings is questionable if you ask me). Hrmm..

[CanMPH2014]

This really depends on what you want to get out of your education and what you want to do in the future.  I believe Lakehead has a practicum component which allows you to (1) network outside of school; (2) experience what it is like to be in the field.  I am not sure if U Vic offers a practicum component as well.  In my opinion, I think thesis is great if you want to stay in academia, but I think the current trend for many employers is that they prefer people with work experience (and having the right network also helps).  Also, I think it is important to look at what each school offers and what is the most suitable for you.  

 

Congrats on Lakehead    

[awkwardsparkle]

University of Michigan HBHE (where I did my MPH) has a Capstone requirement but no thesis. I have not found a lack of thesis to be much of a hindrance, and found that I was able to gain skills and practical knowledge from my classes without the added pressure of a thesis (as well as having the time/energy to TA classes). However, for what it's worth, it's a top 5 US school, and you do have to do a summer placement.  I also did an independent research study with a professor in my final year. Even without a thesis requirement, you can still find and do publication-level research at a School of Public Health, which I think is also pretty ego-worthy! If the research you're interested in is at one school over another, I don't think a thesis requirement should make or break it? But if it's really what's driving you, then go thesis =)

Edited March 26, 2014 by awkwardsparkle

[themmases]

I want to do original research in epidemiology as my career, or provide study design and biostatistical consulting on medical research as a backup (i.e. being a co-investigator but not necessarily a primary investigator myself, for plan . For that reason, I only looked at programs that offer an MS in epidemiology or a related concentration, or MPH programs where the capstone experience could be a thesis or similar. Some places didn't call this a thesis, but the capstone requirement was about doing your own research and producing a publishable report, which I counted. Most of the schools I looked at that offered this option gave a few examples of recent project titles, so I could confirm people were really taking the written report option there.

 

I've never seen any programs that had no capstone requirement at all though-- most MPH programs I looked at seemed to require an internship. I already work in medical research and I'm not interested in doing the same work again as an intern with the same or less responsibility, so I avoided programs where an internship was the only option. I do a lot of the data collection and editing for projects at my job now, so for me writing a thesis is the next step up in responsibility. For people who know they want to go into public health practice after the MPH though, it's probably a great opportunity to get to know people in the field (I know many newly enrolling MPHs also have work experience already).

[shaketheshock]

I was told by the person who wrote me that the coruse based degree is preferred by employers because it apparently prepares graduates with more broad public health knowledge. I e-mailed back to ask about my career goals and if it would still be a fit and I haven't heard back yet. Neither school has said a thing to me about funding and apparently nobody will know for months - yet we are supposed to accept or decline right now. What worries me is that there is no capstone project (and not sure about doing an independent research study??) for the course based MPH either. I think in order to keep myself as specialized in mental health as possible I will stick with my mental health-based thesis. What do you guys think?

 

Is everyone else doing a thesis??