New York University

Fresh off the plane from Accra, Ghana, I find myself home recovering from what has been a rushed yet rewarding semester. For the past six months, I have been enrolled in NYUs Cross-Continental MPH program, an accelerated MPH program that takes place on three continents. The first semester was in Washington, D.C., where I spent the summer learning foundational subjects like Epidemiology, the Biology of Public Health, and Biostatistics while attending public health conferences in the nations capital.... Read More After that, we were whisked off to Ghana, where I was forced to swiftly and comprehensively adjust to life in another part of the world. As a student in the Global Health concentration, this is exactly the type of experience I was looking for when I began my applications last year. A fully immersive, hands-on public health experience that prepares me for a job in my chosen field. While in Ghana, with the help of NYU, I interned at Marie Stopes International, an NGO that provides sexual and reproductive health services to women and girls all over the globe. I spent my work days learning about, and contributing to, active public health education and marketing campaigns, incorporating data analysis strategies that I learned at a weekly software training program at the University of Ghana. The skills I gained there are highly applicable to the real world and have instantly made me a marketable candidate for coveted jobs in the nonprofit and private sectors. And possibly more valuable, I feel, was experiencing West Africa as a resident and a health worker; something that I believe has made me a more open-minded and compassionate human being. I will spend the rest of my winter break recovering from jet lag and seeing friends and family, before I again leave the country to attend my third and final semester. In Florence, Italy, I will attempt to learn another language while attending courses like Human Rights and Migration Health in the Mediterranean and finishing my thesis in gender policy. Braced for a challenge and ready to adjust to life in yet another country, I am honestly honored and thrilled for these opportunities that I would otherwise have not been given. For someone who has a burgeoning interest in the health sciences or the sociology of medicine, or even for someone who is merely interested in living abroad, I would highly recommend this program. To those considering it, I would say that you will find yourself armed with essential skills in public health and a newfound altruistic appreciation for humanity as a whole.

Pros: You can work full-time. The MPH is possible to complete while working full-time, although your work schedule may need to be somewhat flexible for one to two days a week, depending. Some courses are offered before 5pm, and some core courses are offered online. This can help with fitting a normal workday into your schedule. However, keep in mind that you will be doing an internship, which will definitely require flexibility from your employer, at least in the second year of the program. Faculty... Read More are helpful and knowledgeable. Everyone works in the field and has amazing real-world experience. The college itself is new, though the degree is not, so they are more likely to listen to students at this point in time. Cons: As I said above, not every class is offered after 5pm (though they will try to tell you this when you're admitted). There are a lot of core courses--some are rigorous, others are not.

New York University is an amazing place to be for a graduate student. To be able to study public health in this prime location and to be amongst a diverse and educated staff and faculty is a privilege. I wasn't sure about my decision to attend NYU's College of Global Public Health at first but I am thankful that I did. Do your homework on every graduate program you're interested in, but make sure your decision also heavily considers community engagement and faculty diversity -- they make or break... Read More your experience.