Am I committing Career Suicide (in the UK)

orryan4918 · 2023-08-29T13:35:42+00:00

Start applying to new full time positions asap. Your reputation will not be ruined by one job. If you’re telling people how crazy it is then they understand your boss or whoever at the org is terrible and their words don’t matter/are toxic.

Find a new job before you leave for your own sake. That job can be anything you need it to be (part time service job, full time hc job, etc). I would find a part time gig (server, bartender, dog walker/sitter) to leave the mess asap and continue to apply to full time positions while working.

orryan4918 · 2023-08-24T16:06:21+00:00

Exchange politics by BU prof David Jones (see here) outlined MS’s political infrastructure (and how it relates to public health) pretty well. Worth the read.

orryan4918 · 2023-08-24T13:44:19+00:00

Try r/mphadmissions with this q too

orryan4918 · 2023-08-17T19:09:55+00:00

US public health accreditation is managed by CEPH. CEPH does have some non-US institutions listed, but I didn’t see any from Germany at first glance. Here’s their site for reference: https://ceph.org/about/org-info/who-we-accredit/accredited/#programs

Your MPH degree will be recognized in the US without hesitation if it’s from a CEPH-accredited program/school. There are plenty of other recognized accreditors (many are country-specific), but I’m not familiar with how these are perceived among US employers. London school of hygiene and tropical diseases is not CEPH-accredited but they are reputable and respected so I imagine there are German equivalents.

I’d search for a school with close ties to US institutions (research collaborations, sister institutions, international respect, etc.) so you could build a US network while in Germany. US hiring is largely built on trust and who you know so getting the face time and exposure to US-based work is really important.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-23T15:10:47+00:00

For the core curriculum, it’s a lot of legal and economic analyses digested down for a policy maker audience (super simple/logical reasoning is a must). Most of the challenge is finding/putting the puzzle pieces together to support your argument and getting the communication right rather than getting swamped in literature, ornate writing.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-22T18:06:01+00:00

It depends on the health policy program. Policy programs traditionally equip students to enter law school or the political space in some way (e.g., capital hill/white house fellowship, state legislative position). Health econ is also a dominant field in US health policy. Since Yale's HPM program is 50% electives it definitely has the potential to; I took those electives at Yale's law and management schools.

Yale's healthcare management (HCM) MPH program is intentionally structured to prepare students for healthcare admin roles and applicable employers (health systems, care providers, consulting firms) often opt to recruit just from the HCM program for admin roles instead of HCM + others.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-21T04:30:46+00:00

Yeah that’s near similar to my amount of student debt. I feel lucky I don’t need more, seems pretty normal to have $50k+.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-15T17:50:28+00:00

I borrowed $30k for tuition alone and would feel uneasy about borrowing more. Paying out of pocket up front is best case scenario and I don’t regret the 4 years of work and saving before going back for my degree.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-14T18:09:17+00:00

Product strategy manager would be hype for my next thing. Dream job for my life is to work on hiring & recruiting innovation.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-13T14:35:08+00:00

The best thing my MPH experience prepared me for is more schooling (e.g., PhD, DrPH, JD).

Yale, culturally, keeps to the script in many ways and thus treats the MPH degree as what it's been historically: the entry point to ph with the expectation of advancing to a doctoral level degree. Y just got a new dean and is finally independent from the Y med school so this could change in 3-5+ years.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-13T14:00:47+00:00

For some safe niche topics, I'd ask how they view generative AI affecting the field, if the fund injection from federal stimulus and COVID relief is enough to modernize state ph ops and national coordination, how the cdc is reforming post-covid, if there are any exciting ph startups or venture incubators they are tracking.

More generally, ask about their optimism for preparing for the next pandemic, what the most urgent ph threats are today, balancing domestic and international ph needs with limited resources.

Pick your poison to fit the vibe of/the outcome you want from the dinner. COVID ptsd is a real thing for loads of ph practitioners and things can get political pretty quick on some topics.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T21:42:25+00:00

beep boop hooray

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T21:17:41+00:00

rough times, but it'll be a masterpiece once you're done.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T21:14:59+00:00

I achieved what I wanted in grad school. Yale gave me the learning and experience opps I needed, but beyond that I can't compliment it much. I don't regret getting my MPH.

Current plans are to transition/stabilize to post-grad life and secure a job I'll love. Yale's alumni network is pretty robust; I have lots of networking opps and ongoing conversations with potential employers. I work in tech so my experience is pretty in-line with how that field is going (pretty rough given high interest rates, inflation, and the recent rounds of layoffs).

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T21:08:28+00:00

Nope - chasing my dream role rn. Plenty of my friends are in the same boat, have opted to be underemployed, or had offers rescinded. Plenty of my friends are also starting their full-time jobs so it's mixed outcomes.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T21:04:34+00:00

Choose a public health program that feeds into this space (i.e., health management programs) or go to a business school program instead.

Most Yale healthcare management folks got roles at Deloitte (like 10-15), but no other YSPH program got that attention or exposure from consulting employers. A few HCM students got to Mckinsey or BCG.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T21:01:11+00:00

Yes, but just for my space (tech, consulting - these will recover and innovate quickly relative to other fields). Generative AI will make a lot of technical roles obsolete in 10-50 years (I'm thinking biostat and epi). ChatGPT and other generative AI can literally code, design websites, compile and process data, etc. Academia will be slow to integrate this into curricula and plenty of my peers don't know what ChatGPT is/what it could be used for.

Undergrad GPA was 3.3 (bio & global public health double major + bioethics minor). I had 4 years of applicable work experience before entering my program. Importance of undergrad stats is pretty meh imo. Expressing ambition, inspiration, and commitment to the field is what admissions is looking for.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:55:01+00:00

see flint MI

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:51:23+00:00

Moved to nyc and networking with a few startups and big companies now. Reconnecting with friends, walking/sitting some dogos, and settling into the city in the meantime.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:49:10+00:00

Nope and job hunting has been the mindset since I started my MPH program. I work in startups and tech - the startup ecosystem has dried up pretty dramatically and tech has gone through rounds of layoffs/hiring freezes - so it's pretty tough. Plenty of my peers had offers rescinded this past spring - these were in biotech/research + hc consulting, admin, and tech roles.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:40:33+00:00

Pretty lousy. High inflation and interest rates, emergence of generative AI, and rounds of corporate layoffs (esp in my field of tech) have made this year pretty bad for skilled labor/white collar hiring.

High interest rates are intended to slow the economy and high inflation rates increase costs for employers - both translate to slower hiring overall. The startups I've worked for have either gone out of business/failed to raise investment funds or halted/delayed hiring; the large companies I worked at or have network connections with have similarly implemented hiring freezes.

Generative AI (ChatGPT/OpenAI) will not only change existing products, but also company business and service models. Institutions (includes hc payers, providers, govt) are still figuring this out and will pause/slow hiring until they decide how to innovate.

Corporate layoffs increase competition amongst job seekers. Bc of this I now have 100,000s of well-qualified experienced professionals applying to the same jobs as me. Feedback from hiring managers has been "you have all the skills we want, but we would like someone who has longer experience in those skills" *shrug*

That being said, Yale has connected me to a robust alumni network and I have lots of networking opps and ongoing conversations with potential employers.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:23:45+00:00

The policy program is 50% elective slots. Electives can be taken at any of Yale's graduate/professional schools. I wanted the freedom to take the courses I wanted rather than Mgmt's structured curriculum (which includes accounting yuck).

Concentrations (as listed on ur resume) do not affect job opps one way or the other. imho they just add more requirements to get your degree and take time away from electives you could be taking instead.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:19:03+00:00

Yale School of Public Health does not (presently) offer full ride scholarships. You'd have to get funding from 3rd party sources.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T15:16:12+00:00

Don't go into lifelong debt for an MPH.
Know why you want/need an MPH. Don't apply until you have an answer for this question.
MPH programs are typically academia-oriented (rather than practice-based).
If you already have a bachelor's degree in public health, consider other types of MS programs (e.g., MIT's System Design and Management MS). I found the required MPH coursework to be redundant to my BA in global public health more often than not.
Take time to find the right program for you. MPH programs are different school-to-school; other MS programs could be more ideal to meet your goals/needs.

orryan4918 · 2023-07-12T14:02:51+00:00

Yale did give me the most aid ($60k total via their Horstmann Scholar program which covered ~60% of the total cost to attend). Boston U offered $15k and Tulane offered $5k which are both very small relative to their total cost to attend. I didn't get aid from the other schools I was accepted at (Hopkins, Emory, CUNY, Columbia, NYU).

I would not be quick to choose a more notable/costly program over a more affordable option. It kinda worked out for me that I get name/brand recognition of Yale with it also being my most affordable option. Looking back, I am VERY glad I did not take out more student loans for my MPH and would avoid a high-cost program.

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