I got into Cornell Engineering, Johns Hopkins Public Health and Economics, Emory Public Health, and NYU Biostatistics.
Would you rank these schools in prestige/connections/job outlook?
Which of these programs would help me become most successful?
I am thinking:
Thanks Vandemory1342
Yes, I am talking about graduate programs.
Would you put JHU’s public health program over Cornell’s Engineering?
Maybe I am missing something…
What does Cornell engineering have to do with the other three?
What kind of field do you want to go into?
Isn’t this a bit like saying “I got into Penn Nursing and MIT nuclear engineering. Which is better for jobs?” ??
Because offhand I would say that Cornell Engineering is a lot better for engineering jobs, whereas the other three would be better for public health/biostatistics jobs. Duh…So I guess I am missing something??
Also if you got into Cornell Engnieering for graduate school, that would have to be a particular department within engineering, no? which one? Does it have anything whatsoever in common with these other three programs? Does it lead to the same types of careers? What is it you want to get jobs in, exactly?
Also, shouldn’t this whole thread get moved to the Graduate school sub-forum?
for most employability (generic):
For a general job in PH,
For a quant job in PH
Yeah, this list doesn’t make sense without the context. If you wanted to be a biostatistician, I would say that Cornell engineering is your worst choice. If you want to be an engineer, the only choice that makes sense is Cornell.
So what do you want to do? Success is relative - it’s in how you define it and what your career goals are.
Emory’s SPH is actually better than NYU’s.
Masters or Ph.D.?
Sorry for lacking the context. I am a healthcare professional and I would like to advance my career in pharma/healthcare administration through studying analytics/quantitative program. Cornell’s systems/industrial engineering seems to help graduate placement in pharma industry. Also, Johns Hopkins public health also places people in healthcare sector. I feel that since I am already in healthcare profession, I don’t need another healthcare degree since it feels like a duplicate, which is what lead me to apply to engineering program to broaden my background.
Consider an MBA to ‘broaden’ your resume. In b-school, you could take a few extra quant electives if that is your interest.
Usually your graduate degree is meant to be more specific and technical than your undergrad that way you can advance your career by being in the smaller pool of candidates with more technical expertise. I wouldn’t pursue an engineering degree just to “broaden my background.” If you’re passionate about systems engineering and want to work as an industrial engineer/systems analyst then go to Cornell; it’s great for that. I agree with @bluebayou in going down the MBA route instead. An MBA amplifies your prior work experience with an analytical business background and can be leveraged to much better recruiting than jumping from healthcare to systems engineering back to healthcare. FWIW, I work @ a top pharma/biotech and when we recruit graduate levels applicants, we evaluate them on a very specific skill set that’s related to the position and how they’ve demonstrated that through their research/projects. Disjoint between your previous work experience, your graduate degree, and the current job you’re seeking will be a mess unless you’re trying to career switch.
If you still have time you should check out JHU’s MHA program. I think it’s much more catered to what you want, health administration, and it has much better placement/recruiting.
JHU MHA outcomes-
https://www.jhsph.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/degree-programs/master-of-health-administration/student-achievement-rates.html
Here are the career outcomes for both programs. SystemsEng is very techy and non-healthcare. MPH is healthcare focused and sort of academia-centric.
Cornell Engineering outcomes-
http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/resources/career_services/students/statistics/upload/Systems-Engineering-report-3.pdf
Thanks @Jsteez and @bluebayou
I am on my last semester of my MBA program with a masters degree in Business Analytics at Kelley. However, I feel like I need an engineering degree or a quant degree at a prestigeous school in order to compete with other applicants. I feel that MPH in health administration is very close to what I am looking for, but cornell seems to have the IVY brand that would help me become a competitive applicant. I have a Bachelors and PharmD with 4 years of hospital experience and 2 years of startup business management experience, but I am having difficulty finding a position in a big pharma. Hundred-some applications and a several interviews didn’t land me my dream job in pharma. I feel that if I have a prestigeous school in my resume, I would be competitive enough to able to compete with the other applicants.
Thank you for the outcomes reports. It is really helpful.
Since you have a pharmD and an MBA, pursuing more school is a HUGE waste of time and money. Kelley is a prestigious business school and your pharmD experience should look extra competitive in the world of big pharma. Additionally, the ivy brand of a master’s degree is not as big as you think, maybe if it was an MFin from Columbia or MIT or something like that, but it’s not. Your applications are probably being overlooked since you’re actually overqualified for analyst roles. If you want to make it up the ladder in big pharma business your best bet is to jump from healthcare consulting to business development in pharma. Go on glassdoor and vault and research good healthcare consulting groups and apply as an experienced hire. You’ll be considered at an associate level at all groups and then can move to big pharma after a year or two of business strategy experience. The dream-job entry MBA positions are given mostly to the young MBA interns that did rotations with the company or rotations with a rival company. The experienced MBA roles are mostly given to the previous young MBAs (they move up) or are snatched from our rivals (also with previous experience).
At this point you need to think of opportunity cost. Every year you’re wasting in master’s programs which IMO isn’t going to help at all is a year lost of valuable work experience, salary, and money spent. Who knows, you might actually get that job you want in the next 6 months? But if you give up and start a master’s you will not, and when you finish your Master’s you may not get that position either, but you’re in a worse position because all that time and money is gone. I probably applied to 300+ different positions and interviewed with 20+ groups in pharma and healthcare ibanking/consulting before actually getting one offer… That’s the way things are now. I would recommend having someone go over your resume from the career office at Kelley and advise you with your situation. They’ll be way more helpful than responses on CC. There’s a reason why B-schools advertise their 6 month job placement rates, not everyone gets that job before graduation.
Wait, you already have a PharmD and an MBA and you want to go back for another degree?!
Yeah, I agree with @Jsteez. Stop. The “Ivy” brand is not going to get you a job in and of itself; you already have great schools on your resume, and as Jsteez said prestige alone is not what gets you jobs. Your skill set and experiences get you jobs.
Everything else Jsteez said is excellent advice…you need to broaden your approach to the job market instead of going back to get another degree.
Dear TooOld4School,
Masters degrees
Dear TooOld4School,
Masters degrees
Dear @Jsteez and @juillet
Thanks for the advice, but I have already decided to join one of these programs. These programs are hybrid programs (some taken online and some taken on-campus) so I can have my full-time job while studying. There are some on-campus requirements, so I have to go to campus for some of these classes, but overall, I won’t be wasting any of my time because I will be gaining a degree while working full time. If anything, I will be wasting my efforts/slack time and some money that I am willing to spend on furthering my education/personal brand.
I narrowed my decision to between Cornell School of Engineering and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, but I can’t decide which school would benefit my career better in healthcare/Big Pharma administration/management in terms of branding my resume or finding connections/networking. JHSPH’s program seems much tougher than Cornell’s, but there are many Medical Doctors in JHSPH program which can be a good networking for me. However, my MPH would lose its brand since there are so many MD’s with MPH degrees. I was thinking that Engineering degree would be unique for a PharmD and give an edge as a quantitative professional. Also, I was thinking Ivy brand would be unique for a PharmD, because none of the IVY league schools offer a PharmD degree, so there are not many PharmD’s with Ivy degree.
I think the consensus answer is, ‘neither’.
Just because you will be working full-time doesn’t mean you won’t be wasting time. The free time that you spend getting the degrees could be spent doing pretty much anything else. (And the money is a considerable amount, too.)
Why is it that you think you need a prestigious degree - or another degree at all - when you already have a PharmD and haven’t even finished the MBA you are currently in? Have you even tried to find a job with the MBA + PharmD? I should think that an MBA plus a PharmD should be enough to start exploring within healthcare administration. What kind of access do you think another degree - either the MHS at JHU or the engineering degree from Cornell - will give you that you don’t already have?
If you want a job in healthcare administration, an MPH program is probably the better bet. A school of public health is going to have a lot more connections in the healthcare/public health industry, and JHU is the #1 school in the field with lots of alumni and professors connected to the right companies/agencies.
You seem to have this idea that ‘uniqueness’ is what gets you a job/makes you competitive, but it isn’t - not on its own, anyway. What gets you the job is having the skills and education that you need to do the job as advertised. For example, if you wanted to be an epidemiologist, it wouldn’t matter that you were the only applicant with an engineering degree in a sea of MPHs in epidemiology…the MPHs probably have the preparation and experience necessary to do the job, so unless your engineering degree was a really special one it wouldn’t necessarily make you competitive.
Similarly, if you’re applying for healthcare administration jobs that are looking for people with health backgrounds/degrees and prefer MHS then having an engineering degree isn’t going to make you stand out in a good way. The ‘uniqueness’ will only matter if you are applying for jobs that would require or prefer someone with both a PharmD and an engineering degree.
Also, in the work world nobody really cares about “the Ivy brand.” They do care about the prestige/reputation of degrees in some fields, but that’s going to be relative prestige within specific fields. The fact that the school is an “Ivy” isn’t in and of itself important. In health, JHU has way more prestige and influence than Cornell.
I’ll second I’ll second not going for a grad school degree.
You should focus on networking to get the job you want or take some short courses to get any skills you might be missing.
You truly don’t need another graduate degree.
Also, have you taken any engineering or math courses before? I’m skeptical as to how Cornell Engineering accepted you after being a science/business person…
Is this a part-time or online hybrid type program? Even then…
JHSPH is the better choice if you really must. JHU looks incredible in the healthcare world and you can take electives in pharmaceuticals/drug development. No one is going to look at your resume and be Wowed because of a part time Master’s of Engineering. First of all, it’s a part time program. Two, it’s systems engineering. Three, grad programs don’t really haul in the prestige factor unless it’s a super specialized full-time program or a PhD.
I’d ADAMANTLY recommend you get a prestigious/semi prestigious company on your resume. You are far more likely to get recruited to a top pharma, or just any F500 company in business development, if you actually have the experience they need. Neither of these programs make you substantially more competitive. Full time MHA would be a different story because they FORCE you to do a rotation with a company and get that experience you need.
At the end of the day you’re going up against applicants who have both top undergrad degrees and top MBAs PLUS work experience in pharma or healthcare ib/consulting. If you’ve missed that window to get the junior level work experience do not think you can break in later without relevant work experience. What is the job you’re doing now anyways? If it’s not related to business/drug development you’re really not doing yourself any favors and will still be as competitive in three years as you are now. Literally every single job posting at the big pharmas for business/drug dev. has MBA AND relevant work experience as a requirement. I can’t seem to understand why someone would think they would get the job over the candidate with a proven track record and experience.
Take the advice from someone who has this job @ a Fortune-50 Pharma…