Public Health Degrees
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Salaries For Degrees in Public Health
People with a degree in Public Health can work in a variety of occupations. While no one can say with certainty what you personally will do with a degree in Public Health, our survey panel picked the following jobs as likely options:
- Epidemiologists
- Occupational health and safety specialists
- Health educators
- Medical and health services managers (Best salary!)
The median salary for people with a degree in Public Health is $55,085.28. The lifetime value of this degree is approximately $1,299,273.00.
Salaries are highly dependent on how skilled one is at negotiation, experience, policies at your employer, area, and a host of other factors. The estimates we show on these pages are just that: estimates. Your individual experience will likely vary.
Where does this come from?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, a unit of the US government, classifies all workers into some 800-odd occupational categories. We paid a team of freelancers to solicit their view on what type of degree a holder of each type of job would likely have majored in. For pairs which had a high degree of consensus, we created a link between the degree and the job.
From this, we calculated the average salary for Public Health degrees and converted it into a lifetime value. We then compared it against other degrees at the same level of schooling (such as associate's, bachelor's, or master's), so that you can make informed educational and employment decisions.
What Can a Public Health Student Expect to Learn?
The field of public health is growing, especially with efforts underway to reform health care. When some people think about the term public health, they are reminded of county health departments where children go to receive immunizations and where teens and young adults might go to receive information on birth control or family planning. However, the field of public health encompasses so much more and for those who hold public health degrees, the opportunities are unlimited. What a student an expect to learn in public health
Degrees in public health may be earned at the bachelors, masters, and doctorate levels. Additionally, most schools of public health also offer post-baccalaureate and post-graduate certificates in special areas related to public health. Students in public health degree programs are required to take a basic course of study in liberal arts. Courses under this area include:
- English
- Social sciences
- Psychology
- Biology
- Algebra
- Communications
Other courses may be required depending upon the requirements of the particular college or university where the student is enrolled.
Under the public health concentration, students will take courses such as community health, which provides an overview of health problems and issues; foundations of public health course that would provide background information on history of the field of public health. Other courses include teaching methods in:
- Public health
- Program planning
- Evaluation of public health programs
- Nutrition
- First aid
- Stress management
- Health promotion
- Human sexuality
- Epidemiology, which focuses on the determinants and distribution of diseases
Courses in environmental health are required in many programs. Environmental health covers threats to the environment, safe and healthy work places and food safety and quality.
Those matriculating at the graduate level in public health can expect advanced courses that focus heavily on research as well as courses in public health leadership, biostatistics and social research, advanced program planning and evaluation, health administration and teaching public health at the college level.
Public health degree programs prepare students to plan, implement and evaluate health education programs. Such programs might include teaching preventive health strategies to adults, conducting community health assessments to determine which health problems should be addressed in a community. Public health educators spend much time convening groups and training them to help address health issues in their communities.
Online schools Offering Accredited Public Health Degree Programs
Schools that offer public health degrees online include:
Some of these schools offer bachelor's level public health degrees, others offer master's and doctoral degrees in public health areas. Usually, the admission process for these schools is streamlined and students have the choice of beginning the program at their convenience and working at their own pace
There are also traditional universities that offer online degrees and certificates in public health. For example, the University of North Carolina offers a PhD in public health leadership online. However, the program has a very competitive admissions process. The University also offers various certificates in areas such as field epidemiology and core public health concepts.
Top Colleges & Universities Offering Campus-based Public Health Degrees
There are hundreds or more of offline or traditional colleges and universities that offer degrees in public health. Some of the well known universities that offer degrees include:
- UCLA
- UNC-Chapel Hill
- Harvard University
- John's Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- University of Maryland School of Public Health
- University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health
Famous Public Health Students
Among the well-known people who have studied pubic health is former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. David Satcher, who was appointed to the Surgeon General post by President Bill Clinton in 1998.
Perhaps the most well known student and public health pioneer is John Snow (pictured right). Snow, a surgeon, became famous for discovering the link between cholera and drinking water in London during the 19th century.
Snow was responsible for thwarting a cholera epidemic in London by determining that the source of the disease was a pump where people were obtaining contaminated drinking water.
Once he removed the handle from the now infamous Broad Street Pump, a public health puzzle was solved and many lives were spared.
