Degree Overview - Master of Public Health vs. Master of Science in Public Health

Are you unsure about which program will benefit you in the long run when it comes to your public health graduate degree? There are many public health masters programs available, both professional and academic, at master and doctoral levels. You might encounter an MS or a master of public health but these two degree programs are not the same.

For people who are interested in learning about the basic concepts in public health, they should consider engaging in a Master of Public Health. In general, graduates from MPH programs can choose an area of concentration in one of the areas of public health, which is the focus of the coursework. When it comes to this, you can choose to specialize in areas like occupational health, epidemiology, or community health if you prefer.

A couple of core subjects have to be taken by people who engage in MPH degree courses. MPH students should also complete an internship, fieldwork or practicum of some sort and a culminating requirement, be it comprehensive exam, presentation or thesis. The Master of Public Health is often directly conferred by the Graduate School of Public Health at that school/university.

Students can have varying undergraduate disciplines and still be able to participate in such programs. What you have here are masteral courses that are ideal for undergraduates. For some schools, a doctorate degree is required before you get considered for an MPH degree.

Depending on the school that you choose, admission policies might differ. In some facilities, admission is only pegged at around 35%. Aside from a 3.0 GPA as an undergrad, it is very important for students in MPH programs to get a 50th-percentile on every GRE section at the very least.

For students that will only be focusing on their studies, a Master of Public Health degree can be finished in two years. A year is what you need if you are a professional with a doctorate degree as accelerated programs will be available in your case. Similar to most professional degree programs, students are normally not accommodated with considerable grant or scholarship options to fund their education.

For those who want to delve into professional research efforts, a master's of science in forms such as MS, MSc, ScM, or MSPH is available. Students may apply to a specific discipline and little coursework is applied outside of the discipline. Although the Master of Science in Public Health degree involves PH courses, it is still first and foremost a research endeavor.

If you want to be a professional in the public health industry, the Master of Science is really not a good degree to consider. What is tremendously important when it comes to a profession like this is interdisciplinary education. What you have here may require a defense from each student before graduation.

Options like academic doctoral programs such as PhD or ScD can be valuable to someone with an MS program in mind as the focus will be somewhat similar. Usual programs take two years for coursework and dissertation/thesis. For a masters of science degree, it is the School of Art and Sciences that grants the credentials to graduates.

When you compare Master of Public Health programs with MS programs, the latter is much more competitive not to mention hard to get into especially because of the requirements for course completion. Admission rates vary considerably. Although it rarely happens, there is still the possibility of an MS student to get something like a training grant from the company that he or she is working for.