Tufts' Bachelor's/Master of Public Health (MPH) dual degree program, previously available only to community health majors, will soon be open to all undergraduates.
"We were happy with the quality of students. We simply wanted to expand the program," Assistant Professor of Political Science Gary McKissick, the dual program's student advisor, said.
Although students still must apply to the program, starting with this spring's application cycle all sophomores can apply regardless of their major. Those accepted can walk away with both degrees in five years.
This count includes their freshman and sophomore years, meaning that students can get the degrees between a half a year and a year sooner than those who pursue both separately.
According to McKissick, the expansion makes sense because students pursuing other majors, including international relations (IR), may have as much of an interest in public health as community health majors.
"It simply didn't make sense to limit the program to only community health majors," he said. "There are problems in international health that are encountered by both community health majors as well as international relations majors. This program will give IR students a chance to encounter public health as a viable career choice."
According to Dr. Anthony Schlaff, co-director of Tufts Bachelor's/MPH program, this overlap was reflected in the IR curriculum overhaul approved last May. In the new curriculum, Global Health, Nutrition and the Environment is one of the new concentrations for the major.
"Adding a new Global Health concentration to the program, we expected a lot of students to be interested in the dual degree program," he said.
Senior Angela Lee, a dual degree student, thinks an influx of students will help the program.
"Allowing all Tufts undergrads to apply, and not only community health students, can only make the program that much stronger," she said in an e-mail. "I think it's a great decision that Tufts has made, because public health truly is an [interdisciplinary] field and we will need leaders and students with a diverse background," she said.
Lee, one of several seniors in the program, praised its intimacy. "The program is quite small, so the class sizes are also small," she said.
She said she chose to participate because "students have a lot of one-on-one contact and meaningful academic exchanges with professors, guest lecturers and experts in their respective fields."
It is due to the current level of intimacy that Doug Glandon, who is currently on the last year of his dual degree track, thinks that enrolling more students might weaken the individual attention given to students.
"Opening the BA/MPH program to all students regardless of major may increase enrollment and tuition revenue but I fear it will dilute the quality of the MPH education for all involved," he said in an e-mail.
Glandon said that the ability to offer small classes is critical. "The excellent courses and strong, supportive relationships I developed within the community health program as an undergraduate convinced me that the Tufts public health network was one I wanted to stick with," he said.
For the students who will now be able to enroll in the program, the ability to pursue the dual degree will offer several advantages. According to Glandon, the financial benefit is very much worthwhile.
"[The] program gives students the advantage of saving a year of studying and $40,000 in school costs if they are interested in pursuing an MPH," he said.
The program also offers a smooth transition for undergraduates to pursue public health at a higher level, according to Schlaff.
"This program is a nice way to make a leap from undergraduate to graduate or professional education," he said.
