Questions to Ask About MPH Programs
Questions for anyone comparing Master of Public Health programs, from a first open house to the week an offer has to be answered. The list moves the way the decision does: accreditation and getting in, then choosing a concentration, the practicum and capstone, online versus campus study, what it costs, and the jobs graduates hold. Some belong with an admissions officer, some with a professor in your concentration, and a few only a second-year student can answer.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The basics
Is this MPH accredited by CEPH, and when is the next accreditation review?
Why ask it
The Council on Education for Public Health publishes a list of accredited schools and programs with the date each is next due for review, so look the program up before you ask. What the program can add is what the last review told it to improve. Some employers, fellowships and credentials ask for a degree from an accredited program, so check with the ones you have in mind.
How many credits is the degree, and how long do full-time and part-time students really take to finish it?
Why ask it
Credit totals and lengths differ from one program to the next, and an accelerated one-year version packs the same requirements into far less time. The number to get is how long recent part-time students actually took. A practicum fitted around a job can add a semester to the plan on paper.
Do I need work experience in public health or health care to be admitted?
Why ask it
Some programs want a few years of work behind you and others admit straight from a bachelor's degree, so the answer tells you whether to apply now or later. Where experience is preferred but not required, find out what recently admitted students had. Volunteering, a research job and a year of national service may each be weighed differently from paid clinical work.
Is the GRE required, and do I apply through SOPHAS or directly to the university?
Why ask it
Test policies differ by school and sometimes by concentration, so read the page for the track you want, and where scores are optional ask how a file without them is read. SOPHAS is the shared application many public health schools use. It checks your transcripts after you submit, which takes time, so find out whether the file has to be submitted or fully verified by the school's deadline.
What share of the current class are nurses, physicians or other clinicians, and what share came straight from college?
Why ask it
The mix decides what a class discussion sounds like, and often when classes are scheduled. A room of clinicians argues from what they saw on shift, and one straight from college may need the health system explained from the start. Neither is better, so picture which room you would learn more in.
How much math or statistics do I need coming in, and what help is there for students who have been away from it for years?
Why ask it
Biostatistics and epidemiology are core courses in most MPH programs, whatever the concentration. A summer refresher, a math camp before the first semester or a tutoring room staffed by second-years are all good answers. 'Most people manage' is not one, and a current student can tell you how the first biostatistics exam went.
How does the MPH here differ from the MS or MSPH offered by the same department?
Why ask it
Degree names are not used the same way everywhere. Often the MPH is the practice degree with a practicum and the MS or MSPH leans toward research methods and a thesis, but check where this university draws the line. If a doctorate is on your mind, find out which of the two its own doctoral program tends to admit from.
How many MPH students enter each year, and are the core courses shared with other degree programs?
Why ask it
A core epidemiology lecture can hold the whole entering class plus students from nursing, medicine or a doctoral program, while a concentration course may seat fifteen. Get both numbers. Size matters most when you need a professor to know your work well enough to write a letter or vouch for you with a practicum site.
Is this a school of public health, or an MPH program housed in another college?
Why ask it
CEPH accredits whole schools and also single programs that sit inside another college, such as medicine or health sciences, and neither is the stronger mark. A school usually has more concentrations and electives to choose from. A program inside another college can be small enough that faculty know every student, so the count of full-time public health faculty is the figure to compare.
If the program is new or still seeking accreditation, what happens to students who graduate before a decision is made?
Why ask it
A program in applicant status is not yet accredited, and how its early graduates are treated depends on the accreditor's rules and the dates involved. Get the timeline in writing and read CEPH's own page on applicants. Skip this one when the program has held accreditation for years.
Can the MPH be paired with another degree, such as medicine, social work, nursing, law or business, and how many credits count toward both?
Why ask it
Shared credits are what make a dual degree cheaper than two separate ones, so get the number and the total time. You may have to be admitted to each school separately, and one practicum may or may not serve both degrees. Only worth raising if you are seriously weighing the second degree.
Concentrations
Which concentrations do you offer, and at what point do I have to commit to one?
Why ask it
Epidemiology, biostatistics, health policy and management, community or behavioral health, environmental health and global health are the common ones, under names that vary by school. Some programs admit you directly into a concentration and others let you choose after the core courses. If you are undecided, the second kind gives you a semester of evidence before you pick.
Which concentration is this school best known for, and which is the newest?
Why ask it
Schools tend to have one or two concentrations with deep faculty, long-standing practicum partners and graduates who now do the hiring, and others that were added recently. A new one can be excellent and small. What settles it is how many faculty teach in yours and how many classes it has graduated.
How many courses separate one concentration from another once the shared core is done?
Why ask it
In some programs a concentration is four or five courses on top of a common core, and in others it shapes most of the degree. Two plans of study laid side by side, say epidemiology and health policy, show it faster than a description. A thin difference is fine for a generalist and disappointing for someone who wants depth in methods.
Can I change concentration after the first semester, and what did the last student who switched have to do?
Why ask it
Plenty of students arrive sure about global health and leave as epidemiologists. A switch can be a form, a fresh application or a matter of seats, and it may add a semester if the required courses run once a year. The recent example shows which of those it is here.
Which statistical software do epidemiology and biostatistics students learn, and do they work with real data sets?
Why ask it
R, SAS and Stata are the usual names, and job postings in your target field will show which one employers there want. Coursework on cleaned classroom data is a start. Messy surveillance, survey or registry data, with a write-up at the end, is what you can talk about in an interview.
Who teaches the health policy and management courses: people who have run a budget or drafted a bill, or career academics?
Why ask it
Both have a place, and the mix is what to listen for. The courses to check are health economics, finance and policy analysis, along with whether any assignment is written for a real agency or legislator. A school far from a capital or a large health system should be able to say where its policy students get that contact.
Where do global health students do their field work, and who pays for the travel?
Why ask it
Some programs place students abroad with long-standing partners, and others count work with a local refugee or migrant health organization as the global experience. Each can be good training. Get the cost of flights, insurance and housing, whether the travel funding is competitive, and what the school did the last time a destination became unsafe.
Do community health students plan and evaluate a real program with a partner organization?
Why ask it
Program planning and evaluation is the working skill of this concentration, and it is learned by doing it for someone who needs the result. Last year's partner, and what the students handed over, is the proof. A course that ends in a hypothetical plan is weaker preparation than one that ends in a report somebody put to use.
Which professors in my concentration take MPH students onto their research projects?
Why ask it
A named professor who worked with a master's student last year is worth more than a general yes, because at schools with doctoral programs the research jobs can go to doctoral students first. Read a recent paper by anyone you would want to work with and mention it when you write to them. Leave this out if you want a practice career with no research in it.
Is my advisor a professor in my concentration or a staff advisor for the whole program?
Why ask it
Staff advisors tend to know the requirements and the forms. A faculty advisor in your field is the person who can suggest a practicum site, supervise a capstone and write a letter. Many programs give you both, and then the thing to learn is how early you are matched with the professor.
Is there a generalist track, and who is it right for?
Why ask it
A generalist MPH suits people who already have a profession, such as a clinician or a manager who wants the public health frame around existing skills. For someone changing careers, a named concentration often gives employers a clearer idea of what you can do. Ask where the generalist graduates of the last two years went.
Which electives in my concentration ran this year, and which are in the catalog but have not been taught lately?
Why ask it
The elective that sold you on the program, perhaps infectious disease modeling or maternal and child health, may depend on one professor who is now on leave. Name the two or three you care about, and get the semester each last ran and how many seats it had.
If you were starting over, would you pick the same concentration?
Why ask it
One for a second-year student, who has seen which classmates got interviews and for what. If several say they wish they had taken more methods courses, or more management, adjust your own plan before you arrive. It is also a gentle way to hear what the concentration lacks.
Practicum and capstone
How many hours is the practicum, and in which term do most students complete it?
Why ask it
CEPH-accredited programs require an applied practice experience, and each sets its own hours and timing. A summer block suits full-time students, and hours spread across a year suit people with jobs. Two details change your planning: whether the hours can be split between sites, and which courses have to be finished before you start.
Who finds the practicum placement: a coordinator with standing partner sites, or the student?
Why ask it
Programs differ sharply here. Some have a coordinator and a list of agencies that take students every year, and others hand over a database and a deadline. If the search is yours, find out how long it took last year's students and how many started late because no agreement was signed in time.
Where did last year's students in my concentration do their practicum?
Why ask it
Ask for the full list of sites and not a selection of highlights: the county health department, a hospital quality office, a nonprofit, a research group down the hall. The list shows the program's real reach. If nothing on it resembles where you want to work, the next thing to learn is how a student sets up a new site.
Are practicum placements paid, and can hours at my current job count?
Why ask it
Many placements are unpaid, which is a real cost for anyone giving up shifts to do one, before travel to the site, a background check or parking are added. Programs that let a current employer serve as the site usually insist the project sits outside your normal duties. A working student who did it that way can describe the project, and the coordinator will know whether any stipends exist.
What do students have to produce during the practicum, and who decides whether it passes?
Why ask it
Hours alone are not the test. Students are generally expected to hand over finished work for the host organization, such as a data brief, an evaluation plan or a training guide, tied to named competencies. Those products go straight into a portfolio, so ask to see an example.
Who supervises me at the practicum site, and what happens if the placement falls apart partway through?
Why ask it
A site supervisor who has taken students before knows what a useful project looks like. Supervisors also change jobs, and grants end. The safeguards to listen for are a faculty member who checks in during the placement and a rule that completed hours carry over to a replacement site.
What form does the capstone take: a thesis, an applied project, a paper or an exam?
Why ask it
CEPH calls this the integrative learning experience, and programs meet it in quite different ways. A project for a real client and a comprehensive exam leave you with very different things to show an employer. The options can differ by concentration, so get the ones for yours and which of them students usually pick.
Could I read two or three recent capstone projects from my concentration?
Why ask it
Finished projects show the standard better than any description: the size of the question, the quality of the analysis, whether an outside organization was involved. Some schools post them in a public repository. If none can be shared, ask for the titles and the names of the partner organizations.
Can the capstone grow out of the practicum, and do students ever present or publish it?
Why ask it
Building one on the other lets you spend a year on a single problem and finish with deeper work. Some programs encourage it and some require the two to be separate. A poster at a state or national public health meeting is a realistic goal, so find out how many students presented one last year and who paid for the trip.
Is there a thesis option for students who may apply to a PhD or DrPH later?
Why ask it
Doctoral admissions committees generally want evidence that you can carry a research question from start to finish. If the program has no thesis, ask what graduates who went on to doctorates used as their writing sample, and whether a faculty member would supervise an independent study in its place.
Online or campus
Is the online MPH the same degree as the campus one, with the same faculty and the same accreditation?
Why ask it
Sometimes the online version is run by a separate unit with its own instructors, admission standards and price. Three things settle it: whether the diploma and transcript mention the format, whether the online program is covered by the same CEPH accreditation, and who taught its core courses this year.
Are online classes held live at set times or recorded to watch when I can?
Why ask it
Live sessions give you discussion and classmates you come to know, in exchange for fixed evenings. Recorded lectures fit around shift work and time zones but leave more of the pacing to you. Get the number of live hours a week, the time zone they fall in, and whether any visit to campus is required.
How large are the online sections, and who answers my questions: the professor or a section instructor?
Why ask it
Large online programs sometimes run many sections of one course, each led by an instructor working from the professor's recorded lectures. That can work well when the section leader is a practicing epidemiologist or health educator with time for you. A current online student can tell you who graded their work and how fast an email came back.
How do online students arrange a practicum where they live?
Why ask it
Away from campus, the program's local partner sites are no use to you, so an agreement with a new site often has to be set up from scratch. Ask who drafts that agreement, how long it takes, and whether the program has placed anyone in your state or country before.
Can you enroll online students who live in my state or country?
Why ask it
Rules on distance education depend on where the student lives, and a program may be open to residents of some places and closed to others. Give your location, get the confirmation in writing, and raise it again if you expect to move during the degree. Anyone who would study on a student visa should also check with the international student office how much of the degree may be taken online.
For the campus program, when do classes meet, and could I hold a job alongside them?
Why ask it
A schedule of weekday mornings rules out most employment, while evening or weekend blocks are built for people who work. This semester's schedule for your concentration shows which it is. A current student can say how many hours of paid work the people around them manage.
Do online and part-time students get the same advising, career help and research jobs as full-time students on campus?
Why ask it
Events at noon on a weekday and assistantships that require presence in the building quietly exclude people who study from a distance. Ask what was offered by video last semester and whether a remote student has ever held a research position with a faculty member.
Cost and funding
What is the full price of the degree, with every fee included?
Why ask it
Multiply the per-credit rate by the total credits, then find out what sits on top: technology and program fees, health insurance, a practicum fee, graduation charges. The rate may be fixed for your cohort or may rise each year. A written estimate for the whole degree is the only figure you can compare between schools.
Is tuition different for in-state, out-of-state and online students?
Why ask it
At public universities the gap between resident and non-resident rates can be the largest item in the comparison, and online programs sometimes charge one rate to everyone. Whether a student can gain resident status after the first year depends on the state and the university, so ask the residency office how it works there.
What scholarships does the school award to MPH students, and am I considered automatically?
Why ask it
Some awards go out with the admission letter and others need a separate essay by an earlier date, which is easy to miss. Two figures make the answer concrete: the share of last year's entering class that received anything from the school, and what a typical award came to.
Is a scholarship from the school renewed for the second year, and what would make me lose it?
Why ask it
Some awards cover the first year only, and others renew while you keep a set grade average and credit load. Dropping to part time for a practicum semester can matter here. Have the terms in the award letter before you compare offers, since a large one-year award can be worth less than a smaller one that renews.
How many MPH students hold a graduate assistantship, and what does it cover?
Why ask it
An assistantship can mean a tuition reduction, an hourly wage, or both, in return for a set number of hours a week. The practical question is how the master's students who have one found it. Some positions sit in the public health school, and others are in a campus office that has nothing to do with the degree.
Do you offer a tuition discount for health department staff, returned service volunteers or employees of partner organizations?
Why ask it
Agreements of this kind exist at some schools and are rarely advertised on the main tuition page. Mention your employer and any national service you have completed. Check with your own human resources office too, since tuition help from an employer often comes with conditions about staying afterward.
How much debt do recent graduates leave with, and how does it compare with what they earn?
Why ask it
Public health salaries vary widely by employer and region, and many of the jobs are in government and nonprofits. The financial aid office can explain current loan repayment and forgiveness rules, which carry conditions and change over time. What the program can tell you is the typical debt of its own graduates.
Careers
Where are graduates of my concentration working a year after finishing, by employer and job title?
Why ask it
Get the list by concentration, since a school-wide placement rate blends biostatisticians with health educators. Titles such as epidemiologist, program coordinator, policy analyst or data analyst tell you what the degree is hired for. Ask how the information was gathered and how many graduates answered.
How do graduates divide between government agencies, hospitals and health systems, nonprofits and private companies?
Why ask it
Every program has a lean. One near a state capital may feed its health department, and another may send much of its class into consulting, insurers or pharmaceutical firms. Set the split against the kind of employer you want, and find out which of those sectors comes to campus to recruit.
What starting salaries do graduates of my concentration report?
Why ask it
Pay differs a good deal between concentrations and between sectors, so one figure for the whole school hides more than it shows. You want the range, the year it was collected and the number of people behind it. Then compare it with postings for the jobs you want in the place you plan to live.
How many of last year's graduates were hired by their practicum site or through a contact made there?
Why ask it
If the number is high, choosing a practicum is close to choosing a first employer and deserves that much care. If it is low, ask how graduates did find their first job, because that route is the one you would be taking.
Does the program prepare students for the Certified in Public Health exam, and do employers of your graduates ask for it?
Why ask it
The CPH is a voluntary credential, and the board that runs it sets who may sit for the exam, so read its eligibility page for your situation. Whether it helps depends on the employer. Useful details are how many students take it, whether the school pays the fee or runs a review, and what graduates say it did for them.
For health education jobs, does the coursework meet the eligibility rules for the CHES exam?
Why ask it
Eligibility for the Certified Health Education Specialist exam is decided by the credentialing body, largely on the courses you have taken. If postings you are drawn to mention CHES, have an advisor map the concentration against those requirements before you enroll, not in your final semester.
Is there a career advisor who knows public health hiring, including government applications and post-graduate fellowships?
Why ask it
Government jobs and fellowships tend to run on long timelines with application formats of their own, and a general campus career office may not know them. Find out who reviews a federal or state application, which fellowships recent graduates won, and whether alumni can still use the service.
How many graduates go on to a PhD, a DrPH or a clinical degree, and where were they admitted?
Why ask it
A steady trickle into doctoral programs suggests that faculty write strong letters and that master's students get near research. If that is your plan, ask which professors those students worked with and whether they published anything along the way.
What can you do now that you could not do before you started the program?
Why ask it
This is for a current student, and the thing to listen for is concrete skills: clean a data set, write a logic model, read a budget, brief an official in two pages. A student who answers only with topics they learned about has described a degree that informs more than it trains. Put the same thing to someone in their final semester.
How to compare MPH programs with these questions
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you contact a program
Start with what the school has posted
CEPH's list of accredited schools and programs, the plan of study, the tuition page and the practicum handbook are usually online. Go through them first and turn each into a sharper question: not whether there is a practicum, but where the epidemiology students did theirs last summer.
Work backward from job postings
An MPH leads to very different jobs depending on the concentration. Write down two or three job titles you would want afterward and read a handful of current postings for them. The skills, software and credentials those postings name become your checklist for every program.
Match the group to the stage you are at
Before applying, The basics and Concentrations matter most, because they tell you whether to apply at all and to which track. With an offer in hand, move to Practicum and capstone, Cost and funding, and Careers, where the answers differ most between schools that looked alike on paper. Online or campus is for a shortlist with a distance program on it, and can be skipped otherwise.
Three people, three kinds of answer
Admissions staff
They hold the facts about deadlines, prerequisites, tuition, fees and scholarships, and they can put you in touch with everyone else. What to request from them is documents: the plan of study, a cost estimate for the whole degree, the list of practicum sites.
Faculty and the practicum coordinator
A concentration director knows which electives are running, who advises capstones and what the last accreditation review changed. The practicum coordinator, where there is one, knows the sites better than anyone. A twenty-minute call with each is a fair request from an admitted student.
Current students and recent graduates
They know what the first biostatistics exam was like, how long the practicum search took and which office answers its email. Have the program introduce you to a student in your concentration, and try to find a second one yourself through an alumni page or a professional network, so that you also hear from someone who was not picked to speak to you.
Setting programs side by side
Keep the same six lines for every school
Accreditation status, credits and length, the required courses in your concentration, how the practicum is arranged, total cost after aid, and where last year's graduates in your concentration work. One page per program with those six lines makes differences visible that a campus tour hides.
Get every number for your concentration
A school-wide placement rate, salary figure or class size blends tracks that have little in common: a biostatistics graduate and a health promotion graduate are hired by different employers at different pay. When a number is offered for the whole school, ask for the same one for your concentration, and for how many graduates it rests on.
Treat the online and campus versions as two programs
If a school offers both, check each one separately until you are told they are identical. Cost, faculty, cohort size, practicum support and career services can each differ, and the answers you were given may have described the other version.
Where MPH applicants go wrong
Taking accreditation on trust
A phrase such as 'aligned with CEPH standards' is not the same as appearing on CEPH's list. Look the program up yourself, and confirm that the format you are applying to is covered.
Choosing a concentration by its name
Two programs can both offer 'global health' and share almost no courses. Compare the required course lists and the practicum sites before you compare the titles.
Leaving the practicum for later
The practicum is where many students get the experience that goes on a resume, and for people with jobs or families it is the hardest part to fit in. Learn how it works before you accept, not in the semester it falls due.
Comparing tuition per credit
Programs differ in total credits, in fees and in how long students take, so a lower rate per credit can still be the more expensive degree. Compare the whole cost, less the aid you have been offered in writing.