An MPP with a lot of Clout or MPH?

Graduate School
1

Hi, I’m a former pre-med student with lots of public health experience. I’ve been super into public health since undergrad, and I was planning on getting an MPH after one more year of work experience.

But then I was emailed by Harvard about their MPP program through the National Name Exchange, their program ranks number 1 and allows for a huge degree of flexibility around coursework and concentration. And from my previous experience with the NNE there’s going to probably be some amount of funding involved, especially with my current economic status.

But there’s no question if I will get funding for the MPH either, and for my MPH I’m applying to JHU, Columbia, Emory, and GW. My focus has been Global Health Policy, Qualitative Analysis, Social Epi. With thematic focuses on Health Equity, Sexual Health, and HIV/AIDS.

My question is should I apply to an MPP just for the clout? Or stick with an MPH, I don’t know much about MPPs. But I do know I can tailor an MPP to focus on Health Policy, and certify through the Harvard school of Public Health in Public Health/Epi, making a makeshift MPH that has additional focuses in economics, in-depth policy analysis, statistics, and project management that should be useful to employers and broaden my employment horizons. And there’s some topics unique to MPP programs and the field of policy that I’m interested in from a health related view point, like poverty, human rights, and race-related disparities. Lastly, there are many international development jobs that require a greater depth in Economics than what an MPH can provide, and a MPP can provide that.

But what would employers think when they see that, would they would greatly prefer someone with an actual MPH. Would the lack of in-depth knowledge in Biostatistics and Epidemiology be that detrimental to a career in health policy? Would it stop me from getting jobs in many Public Health agencies?

Does it even matter, should I just apply to both? I’m planning on getting a DrPh after my master’s regardless, and most DrPH programs don’t care what your master’s is as long as you have the core requirements, which I would get through my certification.

2

I agree that the MPP can broaden your professional horizons beyond what the MPH would, given that you already have experience in the area of public health.

3

The answer for now is just apply to both and see what happens in April. This is especially true since you aren’t 100% sure the NNE provides funding.

The longer-term answer is that it depends on what you want to do for your career. You said some of your focus areas are global health policy and quantitative analysis, both of which you can study in an MPP program. You can bring a thematic focus on public health broadly speaking, too, if you are allowed to cross-register for classes at the Harvard School of Public Health or if the MPP program has some health-policy focused classes. Many graduate programs are flexible and allow you to shape them to what you want, more or less.

But no, you shouldn’t apply to an MPP program just for the “clout.” Clout doesn’t matter if it’s not within the field you want to work in. You should only apply to the MPP if you are genuinely interested in studying public policy, and if you think it’ll be useful in your future career as a professional qualification.

And do not go to the MPP if your plan is to “make a makeshift MPH.” Just go get an MPH. You should only go get the MPP if you actually want an MPP. Remember that although flexible, graduate programs ARE focused degrees that are supposed to allow you to specialize in a specific area - there’s no good program that will allow you to focus in 4 different fields. You might take some classes in each one of them.